by Cristiano Bicudo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

The first pipers to arrive in Brazil were Portuguese at the time of our discovery in 1500. They obviously did not play Highland pipes but their own Portuguese version of the instrument. Galician piper Carlos Nunez developed an interesting theory, by which he claims that the Northeast of Brazil kept elements of the original music of Celtic influence that landed here with the Portuguese pipers in the 1500s. These elements, according to him, are still present in traditional Brazilian types of music like baiao. However, the bagpipe itself did not survive as an instrument of Brazilian music, being replaced mainly by the accordion.

But when did the Highland pipes make its first appearance in Brazil?

This may have occurred at some point in the 1800s, after Brazil declared its independence (1822). Britain was a traditional ally of Portugal and it continued to be an ally and trading partner of Brazil for most of the 19^th century. If no Scottish piper reached our shores in the times of our Empire, on the other hand, there is no doubt that it occurred in the times of the Republic in the early 20^th century. At that time, British investments increased considerably in Brazil, and many executives of Scottish origin were sent here. Following this, two St Andrew Societies were founded, one in Rio de Janeiro (1906) and the other one in So Paulo (1924). The St Andrew Society in SP keeps a record of the few pipers who played for the society in those days. They were all native Scots just like the rest of the members of the society and provided the entertainment for events like Burns suppers, St Andrews Day celebrations, etc. There is even a report of one of them giving chanter lessons at the local British school in SP in the 60s or 70s, but this was totally out of reach for the average Brazilian, so this initiative of the British community did not succeed.

Gradually over the years these Scottish pipers ceased their musical activities in SP because of age or because they were sent back to the UK. So much that by the late 70s and through most of the 80s, St Andrew Society of SP piping was entirely provided by pipers from the British Caledonian Airways Pipe Band flown in straight from the UK for their events.

Meanwhile, another initiative, entirely independent from the local British communities, was taking shape, as the Brazilian Navy got hold of a large number of sets of Highland pipes in 1951 and wanted to put them to use in their existing marine band based in Rio de Janeiro. It is not very clear how the Brazilian navy got hold of the sets of pipes; it might have been a present from the Royal Navy. Anyway, the pipes were left untouched for some years because of a total lack of instruction.

Eventually, the Brazilian marine band musicians learned the pipes on their own; self taught, probably borrowing technique from other conventional woodwind instruments. This improvised bagpipe technique remained in the Brazilian navy band for decades, probably meeting the requirements of the conductor of their martial band, but certainly keeping them away from the historical technique of the pipes. This prevented them from studying and playing the more intricate types of Highland music like jigs, strathspeys and reels.

Nevertheless, the marine band did have an impact on Brazilian civilian martial bands. In the 60s and 70s, there are reports of some Scottish bands popping up in the South and Southeast of Brazil, in the national league of fanfares and martial bands, most likely a fashion of those days. (So much that special rules for martial bands with bagpipes were enacted in the national league championship regulations!). There were at least five such bands:

1. Banda do Colgio Corao de Maria from Santos, State of So Paulo
2. Banda Corao de Maria from Santa Maria, State of Rio Grande do Sul (though similarly named bands, they are two different groups name is common amongst Christian schools in Brazil)
3. Banda Escocesa do Colgio So Carlos, from Caxias do Sul, State of Rio Grande do Sul
4. Banda Marcial Wolney Aguiar (BMWA), based in Petropolis, State of Rio de Janeiro
5. Drages Iguauanos, from Nova Iguau, State of Rio de Janeiro.

Of note, the first three were made up of girls only. With no exceptions they were all bands that had adopted Highland outfits and a Scottish theme, but were for the most part only carrying sets of pipes or playing simple marches. One of these bands, however, went a bit further. BMWA initially played Galician bagpipes, but in the late 1960s they acquired sets of Highland pipes and got instruction straight from navy pipers in Rio. By doing so, they also adopted the same style of improvised technique for the pipes that had been created by the Brazilian navy band. On the other hand, unlike the navy band, they attempted to play more Scottish tunes in an authentic way. The lack of instructors, nevertheless, was once again a major obstacle for their musical evolution. This did not stop them from becoming famous in their hometown of Petrpolis with a large pipe corps of 10 pipers plus. And who would have thought, piping would establish a firm root in that town to this day, thanks to the musical work of BMWA! They were undoubtedly the most successful civilian band to play the pipes in Brazil for many years. The other bands in the list gradually adopted other musical themes and styles or simply disappeared when the Scottish fashion vanished.

The next band initiative to take place in Brazil didnt occur until the mid 1990s with the Scottish Link Pipe Band (SLPB) from SP, Brazil. SLPB had no relation with any of the previous initiatives and was the direct result of my brother Marcos and myself first having contact with British Caledonian Airways piper John Martin in the mid 80s and subsequent formal lessons at the College of Piping in Glasgow. SLPB made an impact on the bands that were playing pipes in Brazil at the time, none of them being real pipe bands. BMWA was in contact with SLPB from our very beginning. Later, marine piper J Paulo Filho (from Rio) visited me in SP and realized that a number of changes could be implemented with the pipe corps of the navy band. The navy bands 2011 visit to Scotland to participate in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo helped to connect them with pipe bands abroad. But it was only after J Paulo retired from the navy that he could himself pursue his own piping dreams.

He started teaching the pipes to students of a school in So Gonalo (Vieira Brum) and went on to form a band made up with boys of the more impoverished areas of that same town (favelas). His social project flourished with very few resources and was renamed Brazilian Piper, setting standards for other similar initiatives in So Gonalo.

In 2009, a split of the SLPB band created the St Andrew Society of So Paulo Pipes and Drums, and three years later a split in the St Andrews band created a third pipe band in the city of SP, the So Paulo Scots.

So all these Brazilian band initiatives have roots outside the British community, which is interesting as in both Argentina and Uruguay the local bands evolved directly from the local British and Scottish communities, many of their members retaining British surnames from their ancestors. Not being directly rooted in the local British and Scottish communities in Brazil allowed Brazilian pipe bands to keep their own musical identity, having great respect for the Scottish traditional repertoire, but also including some Brazilian tunes of their own in their shows.

This street scene, impromptu at Brooklinfest in Sao Paulo last October gives you a taste of some of the more trad Brazilian music.... the Brazil Caledonia with a drum ensemble, totally unrehearsed:

Cristiano and brother Marcus (Front on left)