“A Chinese bagpipe can come as cheap as $500 but if you go for an original instrument from Scotland, you have to pay anything up to $1,500,” he added. Rakah Fakhoury, who hails from the industrial Jordanian city of Zarqa and heads the Latin Church scout band, said a hybrid version put together in Jordan can be bought for about $500, though “Chinese bagpipes can be cheaper.”īy contrast, Khatabeh said, the cost of a genuine, high-quality instrument can exceed $1,000. One thing common to Jordan’s bagpipers, whether from the army or church scout groups, is that they entertain people for no apparent pecuniary purpose. Noting that the audiences sometimes dictated the songs played at weddings, he said: “Whenever it is a Palestinian audience, people are excited when we play popular songs like ‘Wen a Ramallah’ (Going to Ramallah), while rural audiences love the folkloric Dahia tunes.” “The kids love the fact that they can play popular national songs, well-known international tunes as well as spiritual religious hymns,” he told Arab News. Hanna Ismair, another church scout leader, said the bagpipe enabled young people to play both local and foreign tunes. The bagpiper has gained a following among young Jordanians. “The melancholy funeral song ‘Amazing Grace,’ the song praising the army ‘Jeshan Jesh Al-Watan’ and the wedding song ‘Mubarak Mubarak’ are always on demand and appreciated,” he added. In addition to its popularity with upcoming musical groups, the instrument has gained wide currency in the country’s Christian community.īashar Muasher, director of the Latin Patriarchate scouts in the Amman neighborhood of Masdar, said the bagpipe was extremely popular with church-based scouts, both male and female. Khatabeh’s remarkable career mirrors the history of the bagpipe itself in Jordan. In addition to the over-500 individuals that Khatabeh has trained in Jordan’s armed forces, he has mentored young aspiring bagpipe players in six public schools with the support of the American aid agency USAID.
“The eight holes reflect a musical scale much like the piano, beginning and ending with (the fifth note) sol.” Khatabeh said a player must have powerful teeth that can clutch the wooden portion of the bagpipe as well as strong and wide fingers that can cover its eight holes.
I began practicing on the instrument only in the second year.”
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“We learned how to read and understand notes. “The first year was totally theoretical,” he told Arab News, referring to the physics of the bagpipe, which uses enclosed reeds that are fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. It took Khatabeh two years to master the instrument. This meant he had to learn how to play the bagpipe. In 1996, Ahmad Khatabeh, a member of the Jordanian armed forces, decided to join the army’s musical band. In the Middle East, the British began fielding bagpipe bands during the days of the Transjordan Mandate in the early 1920s, when they were helping set up and train the protectorate’s army.ĭespite the passage of decades and the termination of the Mandate, the instrument became a fixture of military bands and popular culture in Jordan and Oman. In Britain as also in Commonwealth countries such as Canada, New Zealand and Australia, the Great Highland bagpipe became a favored musical instrument of military bands, often played during formal ceremonies. The instrument’s popularity received a further boost in the 20th century when large numbers of bagpipers were trained for military service during the two world wars. For centuries, pipe bands have been a reassuring presence at parades, weddings, festivals and funerals throughout the world.ĭuring the expansion of British colonial rule, spearheaded by military forces that included Scottish Highland regiments, the bagpipe became a familiar sight across the empire. The bagpipe is a windblown device that can produce a wide range of musical tunes. Many foreign militaries patterned after the British Army as well as police and fire services have adopted the tradition. Images are known to have been found of ancient Greeks playing piped instruments. A sculpture of bagpipers has reportedly been found on a Hittite slab from 1,000 B.C.
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