The Los Angeles Times published “If it’s possible to become a pop star playing traditional music on bagpipes and recorder, Núñez could be the man,” – and this could even be an understatement for one sees few pop stars nowadays taking to the stage with such panache, passion, fervour and enthusiasm. Acutely aware that traditional music can so quickly become complacent and static without innovation, he strives to make music that is current, dynamic and exciting, whilst still retaining all of its original charm and carefully respecting Galicia’s musical legacy. He is an embodiment of the spirit and soul of the ancestral music of Galicia and has become an international icon through his successful endeavours to introduce the world to the native music of his homeland.Ĭarlos is a performer in a class of his own, continuously pushing boundaries to create fresh, fascinating music that can keep up with the times in this fast paced, modern world. Núñezwas born in 1971 and raised in the Galician port of Vigo, where he first began to play the gaita at only eight years of age. Info: 392-2787, Ticketmaster.Carlos Núñez is the world’s most famous player of the gaita, the bagpipes of Galicia and its richly vibrant, uniquely expressive sounds of Celtic traditional music. “For me, the Galician pipes is the fiesta, the party.”Ĭontact Entertainment Editor Bill Dean at 374-5039 or at and follow on Twitter Spanish bagpiper performs Celtic music from the northwest of Spain And then the Galician pipes are in the middle.” “Then you have on the other side the Irish pipes, which are very mellow. “The Scottish pipes are very powerful they are the fire,” says Núñez, who releases his 11th album, “Inter-Celtic,” on Tuesday. In performances and on his own 10 albums, Núñez has widely popularized the sound of the Galician pipes, which have a smoother, lighter tone than the Scottish bagpipes and also sound distinctively different from the uilleann pipes, the national bagpipe of Ireland. So this is why maybe many people in America say 'Carlos is like the Jimi Hendrix of the pipes.'”

It's a powerful instrument that has this kind of sound that's very electric. “One of the things I learned is that the Galician pipes, the gaita, are the electric guitar of the Middle Ages.

In the United States, rock performers were so captivated by Núñez's sound that they dubbed him “the Jimi Hendrix of the pipes,” he says. And Núñez appears on three other Chieftains albums in addition to “Santiago.” Núñez first performed with The Chieftains in a 1994 concert at Carnegie Hall that celebrated Who singer Roger Daltrey's 50th birthday. that says the Irish come from Galicia, from the northwest of Spain.”

And the Scottish masters of piping say that Scotland and Ireland received the pipes from Galicia centuries ago. “The Galician pipes have seen 1,000 years of history. “They loved the fact that the pipes from Ireland and from Scotland come from Galicia, from the northwest of Spain,” Núñez says. In a phone call from Miami, where he began a tour of North America on Wednesday, Núñez said The Chieftains embraced the northwest region of Spain for its Celtic music and for its heritage in influencing the music of Ireland and other parts of the Celtic world centuries ago via boats. Where: University Auditorium, 333 Newell DriveĪnd Núñez - who returns to Gainesville on Friday for a performance with his own band at University Auditorium - is considered Galicia's best-known Celtic musician, a virtuoso known around the world for his prowess on the gaita, or Galician pipes, the region's traditional bagpipe. What: Spanish bagpiper performs Celtic music from the northwest of Spain Galicia, whose capital is Santiago de Compostela, is often described as Spain's “Celtic” region, an area so steeped in the music played by The Chieftains that group leader Paddy Maloney called it “the world's most undiscovered Celtic country” in the album's liner notes. The Chieftains called the musician, Carlos Núñez, their “seventh member” after he performed on the group's 1996 album, “Santiago,” a tribute to the region of Galicia in the northwest portion of Spain. In their 2005 performance at the Phillips Center, The Chieftains introduced a young piper who dazzled the audience with the sweet sound of a different sort of bagpipes.

Spanish bagpipe player