A journalist from Ireland has started a debate after the president of the United States claimed that bagpipes are from the Emerald Isles.
Donie O’Sullivan, a news correspondent for CNN, shared quote tweeted a post from Joe Biden, who has gone on record numerous time as a proud Irishman with family routes in County Mayo, most famously saying “BBC? I’m Irish?” to a reporter from the channel, getting serenaded by a set of the very distinctive sounding musical instrument, saying, “Bagpipes are Scottish”
Bagpipes are Scottish. https://t.co/cYJfPLjKx5— Donie O'Sullivan (@Donie O'Sullivan) 1616425336
Biden’s original tweet read, “They really know how to make an Irishman feel special at the White House,” as in the video, he is visibly touched and expresses how much his late mother would have loved his playing and tells the room “Happy St Patrick’s Day”
Underneath the tweet, Twitter users started discussing the origins of the bagpipe, if they were Irish, Scottish or even Middle Eastern. According to the illuminating discussion, there was an Irish genre of bagpipes, otherwise known as Uileann pipes, however one user pointed out that these are powered by the arm, and not by the mouth. Another one pointed out that they were also “musical” compared to the version made famous by Scots.
@donie Some historians believe that bagpipes originate from ancient Egypt and were brought to Scotland by invading… https://t.co/SQLzGZL2Ls— JPs Last Hurrah (@JPs Last Hurrah) 1616429975
@donie They are. But in my enormous Irish family, bagpipes have been adopted as an Irish tradition. We know they’re… https://t.co/YPYWUyzvTd— kegs (@kegs) 1616428694
@donie Total semantics and I’m no expert but aren’t these Uilleann pipes which are Irish though? Feel free to corr… https://t.co/3J74H8PcnH— Michael Kaplan (@Michael Kaplan) 1616425757
@OfficialKappy @donie No they’re not. Uileann pipes are powered by arm, the pipes in the video are blown into.— Dublin Comments (@Dublin Comments) 1616425945
@dublincomments @OfficialKappy @donie Uileann pipes are also musical— Ronald (@Ronald) 1616428527
@donie So much boat traffic I think it’s really all the same thing by now (signed, a Highlander, Lowlander, and Dubliner descendant)— 🗽💉𝚖𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚋𝚢𝚝𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚍𝚊𝚒💫💝 (@🗽💉𝚖𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚋𝚢𝚝𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚍𝚊𝚒💫💝) 1616429894
@Themindseye8 @donie Dude these are uilleann pipes. They have a bellows that you pump with your arm. Dude in the vi… https://t.co/EyXstAFW3m— Kissy B’icz (@Kissy B’icz) 1616426685
The bagpipes featured in the video, are known for being from Scotland, a land that shares a lot in common with the island of Ireland, namely a love of whiskey, stunning rural landscapes and a history of immigration between the two places. They also share a traditional dress of kilts, complete with a sporran.
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@gbrockell I worked in a tourism information place in college in Dublin and someone once asked me about driving to… https://t.co/iGjrkvptPw— Donie O'Sullivan (@Donie O'Sullivan) 1616426275
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