There is little doubt
that Martian Bagpipes have been with us
for some time.
Ezekiel 47 gives
us a tantalising clue ‘Came he
among the Midianites and blew an hairy
trumpet. And the Midianites heard the
hairy trumpet and saw that is was
red’.
18th century
showman Pascalle De La Sodimaine is
said to have toured Europe and America
exhibiting his ‘Musette
Marsienne’ In 1787. The
instrument was destroyed by fire at the
Continental Theatre, Lexington,
Massachussets the following year.
The First
authenticated example of a Martian
Bagpipe was discovered in Tunguska,
central Siberia in 1908 after what is
believed to have been a meteorite
explosion. Ivan Ibramovich
stumbled upon a perfectly preserved
example amongst hundreds of square
miles of carbonised forest. The
instrument was taken to St.Petersberg
where it became the talk of the
Imperial court.
Tchaikovski was
fascinated by the instrument and wrote
a concerto for Martian Bagpipes in K
minor. Due to his untimely death
the work was never performed and is now
sadly lost. It is said that his
death could have been due to radiation
sickness caused by prolonged
contact with the still
‘active’ pipes.
Although
popular under Lenin they did not find
favour during the Stalinist era and
little is known of the Soviet martian
pipes scene during this period.
In 1947
Martian pipe fever gripped America
after the infamous ‘Roswell
Incident’. To this day the
U.S. Government denies the existence of
Martian Bagpipes but witnesses claim
that as many as six complete sets
including spare reeds and a tutor book
were removed to the area 51 facility.
With the
fall of the Soviet Union came the
revelation that not only did the
Russians have at least 3 sets of
Martian bagpipes, but that from
1974-1979 they had launched a secret
Mars mission to collect tunes and
instruments - apparently Brehznev was a
keen player who would relax after Polit
bureau meetings by playing Martian folk
songs on the original Tunguska set.
The music on
this C.D. consists of Soviet field
recording’s from the 1974-79 Mars
mission, the Dimos Consort and more.
