The pibgorn is a musical instrument from Wales. It is a type of idioglot reed aerophone, which means it uses a single reed to produce sound. Its name means "pipe-horn" in Welsh. It was also called cornicyll and pib-corn in the past. The reed is made from elder (Sambucus nigra) or reed (Arundo phragmites), similar to the reed in a bagpipe. This reed is an early version of the reed used in modern clarinets.
The pibgorn has a single chamber made from one piece of wood or bone. The chamber has a naturally shaped hole, and six small finger holes and a thumb hole are drilled into it. This allows the instrument to play notes in an octave range. Historically, the body was carved from wood or bone. Examples in the Museum of Welsh Life show that some pibgorns were made from elder. Another instrument in the museum, which cannot be played, may be made from the leg bone of an animal with hooves.
Modern pibgorns are made from fruitwood, exotic hardwoods, or plastics. The reed is protected by a cap made of cow-horn. The bell, which helps amplify the sound, is also shaped from cow-horn. The pibgorn can be attached to a bag, with or without a drone, and called pibau cwd. It can also be played directly by blowing into the reed-cap.
A double-pipe instrument, with two chanters ending in cow-horn and a shared stock, is in the Museum of Welsh Life. It is dated 1701, but its origin—whether Welsh or Mediterranean—is uncertain and has caused debate.
Early history
The pipes in Wales, including the pibgorn, are described in the laws of Hywel Dda, which were created before 950. The earliest written record of these laws dates to 1250 and explains that the king should recognize the role of a Pencerdd, one of three important court musicians, by providing them with a suitable instrument—such as a harp, crwth, or pipes. In modern Welsh writing, these instruments are called telyn, crwth, and pibau. A document from around 1330, called Brut y Tywysogion, mentions three types of wind instruments: "organ, pipes, and bag music."
The instrument itself is older than these records. It is part of a larger pattern of similar reed instruments, such as hornpipes and bag-hornpipes, found across Asia, Europe, and North Africa. These include the "Old British pibcorn or hornpipe," as well as instruments like alboka, arghul, and boha.
Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century references
William Morris wrote a letter to his brother, Richard Morris, a folklorist, in 1759. He described how pleasant it was to see young farmworkers carrying pibau cyrn (horn pipes) as they gathered cows and played songs called "Mwynen Mai" and "Meillionnen."
Daines Barrington, who showed a pibgorn at the Museum of Welsh Life to members of the Society of Antiquaries of London, reported that a landowner named Mr. Wynn of Penhesgedd in Anglesey offered a yearly prize for pibgorn playing near the end of the 1700s. A competition at Castellior Farm attracted 200 players. Siôn Wiliam Prichard (1749–1829) described Christmas celebrations at Castellior Farm, where the pibgorn and other instruments were played. Barrington said that a boy who won the prize played the pibgorn, and he noted that the instrument's sound was quite good, even though it was made from simple materials.
David Griffith (Clwydfardd), who died in 1894, remembered his father saying that playing the pibgorn was a common practice in the South during that time. Farmers’ servants often carried the instrument with them when leading cattle to fairs.
Early twentieth century
The Reverend Meredith Morris (Died 1922) from The Gwaun Valley in Pembrokeshire wrote in his autobiography in 1910: "Mabsantau, neithioirau, gwylnosau, and others were their important days, and the noisy celebrations on the village green were the main part of what made life meaningful. I do not remember much about the Gwylmabsant and the Gwylnos—I arrived 25 years too late for those special events—but I remember the neithior, which had fun-filled activities lasting all day and all night. We did not have the crwth, but we used the fiddle, and sometimes the harp or a homemade, less refined version of the pibgorn. I myself can play the simplified bibgorn reasonably well."
Contemporary use
After a long break of fifty years, the pibgorn, along with instruments like the crwth, bagpipes, and the triple harp, has become more popular again as part of a growing interest in Welsh folk music.
Some modern instruments use a tempered scale to work well with fixed pitch instruments such as the guitar or keyboard, and are often tuned to the note D. Historical instruments, however, use a variety of just scales and different pitches. Jonathan Shorland and D. Roy Saer, who were responsible for caring for the instruments, measured and played them. They found that the bone instrument could no longer be played because it had split. Of the two older pipes, the shorter one produced a six-finger key note close to F and played a scale similar to the Locrian mode. The longer instrument produced a six-finger key note near B flat and a scale that does not have a specific name (a major scale with a flat sixth). Shorland observed that the finger hole for the sixth note was shaped differently and much smaller than the others, and that the flat note was intentionally created.
Today, pibgorn makers in Wales include Jonathan Shorland, John Tose, John Glennydd, Keith Lewis, Gafin Morgan, and Gerard KilBride. In Scotland, Julian Goodacre (double-hornpipe). In the United States, Alan Keith, Sean Folsom, and Chad Fross.
Modern music for the pibgorn includes traditional folk songs and hymn tunes adapted for the instrument, as well as printed and written collections of dance music that can be adjusted to fit the instrument's range of one octave. It also includes music passed down through oral tradition.
Bands such as Fernhill, Calan, Mordekkers, Taran, Saith Rhyfeddod, Rigantona, Carreg Lafar, Crasdant, Calennig, and Aberjaber have included the pibgorn in their performances with mixed groups of musicians. In the United States, bands Oceans Apart and Moch Pryderi have also added the instrument to their line-up.
Current players of the pibgorn in Wales include Jonathan Shorland, Ceri Rhys Matthews, Stephen Rees, Andy McLaughlin, Hefin Wyn Jones, Patrick Rimes, Huw Roberts, Jem Hammond, Hafwen Lewis, Gafin Morgan, Antwn Owen Hicks, Rhodri Smith, Peni Ediker, Eva Ryan, Idris Morris Jones, Gerard KilBride, Mick Tems, and Peter Stacey. Players in the United States include John Good, Bill Reese, Sean Folsom, and Chad Fross. Corwen Broch is a player who lives in Scotland.
In recent years, the pibgorn, bagpipes, and bag-hornpipes have been used with electronic and digital dance music. This began with Ceri Rhys Matthews collaborating with Johnny R of R-Bennig on a dance mix called "Y bibgorn aur" in 1992. Later in the 1990s, a hip-hop group called Y Tystion included the pibgorn on their album "Shrug off ya complex, Y taffi triog." Lews Tewns also used the instrument in a recording for the "PUP Project," and in the "Wepun EX Project." The Mordekkers have combined pipe music with Drum and Bass styles in live performances at British festivals for many years. Recently, Celtech and Taran have also blended pibgorn and pipe music with Drum and Bass, Dub, and House styles.
Ceri Rhys Matthews has recorded an album of traditional music played only on the pibgorn and drone called "Pibddawns."