The Bagpipe Society

Sausage skins, bladders and bagpipes

After the pandemic years it was good to be back at Chateau d’Ars for Le Son Continu, and there was a surprise waiting for me on the programme - a talk by Denis le Vraux (who I know from the Instrumentarium in Chartres) on “le son des gogues et des vessies” - literally, the sound of bladders and sausages (or sausage skins).

The title is actually a quote from the rambunctious and rumbustious Rabelais, patron writer of French punsters and gourmets alike. So, if you didn’t know better, you might think it was a joke (une blague in French, which comes from the Dutch balg - bellows, bag, or belly). But in fact, Denis’ researches on medieval iconography show that Rabelais was quite accurate in referring to these materials. The Instrumentarium is a remarkable project, devoted to exploring the 322 different depictions of instruments in the cathedral. Luthiers were asked to reconstruct the instruments, and Denis has now built two bladderpipes after the two different depictions on the choir screen†.

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