Gaita de boto (bagpipe)

While the gaita di boto’s basic construction and sound share many characteristics with other bagpipes of the Iberian Peninsula, the cover of its bag takes the form of a child’s dress.　 Local lore relates that a blind piper in the region lost his daughter at a young age. Bereft, he placed her dress on his bagpipe so that when he played, he could recall the sensation of cradling her in his arms. The player literally breathes life into the instrument to inflate the bag, transforming it into an animated body. This association resonates with the longstanding corporality of the bagpipe in manuscript marginalia and art, where it is often portrayed as a living being or as an evocation of the body. A cover made in the form of a colorful, ruffled dress remains a distinguishing feature of the gaita de boto today.