Piping in Brazil Introduction Cristiano Bicudo and Myself This past October I had the wonderful opportunity to travel through Brazil with Cristiano Bicudo. We met in Rio de Janeiro, travelled to Petropolis, back to Rio and on to Sao Paulo, with a couple of days spent in the modern capital of Brasilia; a 22 day experience. I asked Cristiano to follow up with his understanding of the history of piping in Brazil, so that those not familiar may appreciate the rich pedigree of events, bands and people along the way. Preface A Brief History of Highland Piping and Drumming in Brazil 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 Celti...