Baghèt

The baghèt is a bagpipe historically played in Bergamo and Brescia, corresponding to the region of Lombardy in modern Italy. It is a small double-reeded bagpipe with two drones, associated with rural musicians. The instrument became defunct in the mid-20th century, but is now played by some revivalists.

Even if certainly much older, the baghèt's existence is attested by the end of 14th century in a fresco in the castle of Bianzano. Other representations are Malpaga Castle in Piario in the church of St. Augustine in Bergamo, in the Dance Macabre by Simon Baschenis in the church of San Vigilio, Pinzolo (in Val Rendena province of Trento). The instruments played in iconographic sources all have a chanter to play the melody, as well as a drone, which rests on the shoulder. In several pictures the bagpipes is accompanied by a bombard.

Abundant evidences in iconography and texts suggest that a similar bagpipe was used in the surroundings of Brescia and Verona, even if no instrument seems to be found.

The baghèt was primarily a rural instrument, played during the winter season when work was slow, until the festival of Epiphany when it would be put away until the next winter. The instrument was primarily produced locally, and often passed down father to son. Seven original baghèts, not all complete, were discovered in the modern era in val Gandino and val Seriana; the oldest of them had been handed down in the same family of players since 1870.

The Bergamo bagpipes were virtually abandoned in the social disorder of the mid-1950s, according to research by Valter, the last player baghèt was Giacomo Ruggeri Casnigo (1905–1990). The city council of Casnigo has claimed the title "homeland of the baghét".

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