Cassandre Balosso-Bardin is an Assistant Professor in Cultural Musicology at KU Leuven, Belgium. She was previously a Senior Research Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (2022-23) and held an associate professorship at University of Lincoln, where she was hired as part of an emerging music department (2017-2023). She was awarded a PhD in ethnomusicology by SOAS, University of London in 2016. Cassandre is the founder of International Bagpipe Day (10 March) and is the founding director of the International Bagpipe Organisation. She is currently writing a lay book at bagpipes and culture (expected release: Spring 2026). Cassandre is also a professional musician and plays several types of bagpipes from Spain and France. 

The Scottish Highland Bagpipes are a well-known romanticized symbol for the strong-spirited Scottish Highlanders. Despite its strong global presence today and its prominence as a national instrument, the Highland pipes were saved from extinction after the Jacobite wars through its assimilation and standardization into the British Army in the late 18^th to early 19^th century (Cheape 2008).  Within this military context, they developed as a martial instrument, symbolizing prestige and power. Colonial-era texts associate the pipes with acts of immense bravery, describing heroic pipers playing for soldiers during the harshest battles, ultimately leading them to victory (Winwood Reade 1874). Throughout the British Empire, bagpipes became a strong sonic and visual representation of the British Army. New military pipe band were created around the world, where locals were taught the instrument. In several colonial territories, the Highland Bagpipes then made their way to vernacular music, adapting to local forms of music-making. This sometimes led to the quasi-disappearance of vernacular bagpipes, such as the endangered masaq in Rajasthan (Cooke 1987). 

While the British Empire is no more, the cultural hegemony of the Great Highland Bagpipes remains to this day. Indeed, despite the instrument being only one amongst over 130 different types of bagpipes, most will only have this exemplar in mind when asked about the bagpipe. One might think that the rise of the internet, with its multiple sources of information might have rectified the overbearing presence of the Great Highland Bagpipe, highlighting other types of well-known bagpipes such as the uilleann pipes, or the gaida, Bulgaria’s national instrument. This is, however, not the case. Recent research into bagpipes and AI (Balosso-Bardin and Giani forthcoming) shows that the highland bagpipes retain this hegemonic presence and are probably set to do so for a long time. Through this case study, this paper will discuss the longlasting repercussions of colonialism, echoing through postcolonial times, demonstrating how historical events are shaping contemporary practice and knowledge-making.