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Sac de gemecs

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Sac de gemecs, at the Museu de la Música de Barcelona
Traditional Catalan folksong and sac de gemecs melody from an 1822 manuscript

The sac de gemecs (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈsaɡ ʒəˈmeks]; literally "bag of moans", also known as buna [ˈbuna] in Andorra or coixinera [kuʃiˈneɾə], gaita [ˈɡajtə] or botella [buˈteʎə]) is a type of bagpipes found in Catalonia (eastern Spain spilling over into southern France).

The instrument consists of a chanter, a mouthblown blowpipe, and three drones. The lowest drone (bordó llarg) plays a note two octaves below the tonic of the chanter. The middle drone (bordó mitjà) plays a fifth above the bass. The high drone (bordó petit) plays an octave below the chanter, thus one octave above the bass drone.

Folklore

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The instrument figures into the Andorran legend El buner d'Ordino, in which a bagpiper from the parish of Ordino, en route to a festival in Canillo, is chased and treed by wolves, but frightens them off by playing his buna.[1]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Àlvar Valls Oliva - Roser Carol Romàn; Àlvar Valls i Oliva; Roser Carol i Romàn (15 November 2010). Llegendes d'Andorra. L'Abadia de Montserrat. pp. 95–. ISBN 978-84-9883-340-9.
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