FUNKQUEST with The First Piper Ross Jennings

While looking for people who do 'Unusual Jobs' we found 'First Piper' Ross OC Jennings who travels the world playing the Bagpipes.

Are there really people who enjoy the sound of Bagpipes?

I bet you didn't think that those harsh, ear drum splitting, droney instruments could give you access to just about every country in the world.

How he gets there? Who he sees? How airport security and the police see him.

All this and more ...

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hi, Ron John Senior here.Welcome to funk Quest, the interview show
where not even we know what thequestions will be. This week we have
Ross Jennings, who is also knownas the First Piper. Ross is on
a mission to play bagpipes in everycountry in the world. So first of
all, Ross, tell us whoyou are and where you're dialing in from.

(00:22):
I think my name's Ross and Igot myself the first Piper because I'm
hoping to play the bagpipes in everycountry of the world, and I am
dialing in from Edinburgh actually, sonot too exotic Scotland for all the listeners
and misses that don't know where thatis. So hopefully Ross, we're going
to learn about your globe trotting adventure. The rules of funk Quest are simple.

(00:43):
Each funkster selects one of four icons. Behind each ock on is a
question which may or may not haveanything to do with the icon. The
funks to then has one minute totell a story, tell a joke,
or maybe even answer the question.Also question one, you can pick a
big wall cyclist, some walking boots, or a snow sledge on the Okay,

(01:06):
I'm going to pick the boots let'sdo the boots. How do you
transport your equipment your bagpipes. Ohthat's a good question because I can kind
of show you and try and describelisteners. So first off, I have
a as part of my travels,I do work with different brands, and
unbeknown to this, this this UStravel brand, they're called Cota Pacci.

(01:26):
They gave me a backpack many yearsago, and it turns out to be
the bank the perfect bagpipe backpack becauseit also fits in my laptop and different
bits like that my camera too,So I use that. That's my physical
thing and there's lots of little compartments. But I also with your bagpipes,
people think they're massive, and sofor the listeners, I'm kind of holding

(01:46):
up some of the tubes of mybagpipes. They kind of pull apart,
as you'd imagine lots of woodwind instrumentsdo. So they pack quite nicely.
But one thing I've got, whichis something's quite different from other pipers I
noticed because they don't seem to useone is this thing or a drone role,
which is sounds like something that youmight order it like a like a

(02:07):
sushi restaurant. A drone role.But it's a it's basically a piece of
cloth that I can slip my dronesinto the tubes of my bagpipes and then
it protects them and I can rollit up. They all tuck in here
and that quite nicely, and it'sit's slightly padded and that. So you
have one set, one one setof result the right word set. I
did one instrument. It looks likemini and when I'm carrying it, the

(02:29):
thing is you when I go throughairports and X ray machines, that's always
when you know someone's paying attention,because if they let it go, I
mean the UK find they know whatit is. Other countries, if it
goes to the X ray machine andthey don't pull me over, I think
you're not paying attention. How didit take to build them up from like
when you get to your hotel?How long would it take to build them
up to start playing? Minutes orit can be a couple of It can

(02:52):
be a couple of minutes. Thething which is can be a bit weird
is if you've gone to a newcountry and it's a different temperature, different
humidity. Just like any instrument,things work swell or shrink, so the
sound does change and then the tuningtakes a little bit longer. Excellent.
Go answer question two. You canpick a walkway, bridge, underwater scruba
diving, some tents, or amap of the North Atlantic scuba diving.

(03:15):
Where do you go for downtown?I mean you come be playing back bat
twenty four to seven? Where doyou go? Off the bat? Just
because I've just been for a run, I quite like doing exercise. It'll
be for a run or something eitherat the gym. I'm trying to get
back into swimming, and that's reallynice because it focuses. It gets me

(03:35):
to focus entirely on one thing.And swimming my mind can't wonder because I
need to count the laps that Ido, so it's quite good for mindfulness.
And then your your mind trails off. And then running I like it
because you're it's running is like havinga coffee sometimes because your mind just goes
nuts. I don't like really listeningto music because I feel that puts me
off, but that gives me someIt just makes you feel so good.

(03:58):
And I know, and I haven'tdone something like that, I feel really
grumpy and angsty. I'm just gonnasay I mean, is it stressful traveling
around the world. Do you needdowntime? I think you do. I'm
quite lucky that. I mean nowpost COVID things have changed a little bit
because I'm not non stop traveling.It's a bit more. I'll plan a
trip and then come back and havea bit of downtime, so I mean
that's part of it too, soI'm able to return to where I'm based.

(04:20):
I actually live in the Philippines,not in Scotland at the moment,
so I'll have my downtime there aswell. But it can be tiring because
you're non stop traveling all the time, staying in hotels and trying to then
constantly book accommodation and you're always onthe move. Can be a bit exhausting.
So it is important to have downtimetime three a cable car, some

(04:40):
binoculars, the cliffs White Cliffs ofDover, or some lions. Lions,
lions. When do you start planningyour trips and how do you plan them?
In an ideal world you're in advance, how good, But that doesn't
always happen. It tends to bea good couple of months. It depends
if I'm working with a with acompany, a tourism board. I work

(05:01):
with lots of tourism boards and governmentsreally, and that replies a bit more
planning because there's lots of stakeholders andthings like that that can take up to
six months. But I'm doing somethingin a couple of weeks time where I'm
working with the European Commission and thepretty last minute and that's the that's the
meeting. I have this evening andthey still haven't booked my flights and I
leave in about a week. Sohow would how would how and why would

(05:25):
they book you for a tourist campaign? How the bagpipe communities around the world?
How and why I would you?So I travel with my bankpipes,
yes, but I work a loton social media and I make lots of
little videos. So my video isall about culture and traditions because that matches
up quite nicely obviously with bagpipes andkilts, and I have to do little
musical collaborations. And this particular campaign, they want me to go to Eastern

(05:50):
Europe. Because of the war inUkraine, travel is being impacted, so
they want to do some campaign tokind of boost tourism to Eastern European countries,
Well, what connection is there havethey got with bagpipes any or they
just want you because it make them, makes them stand out. I think
it's it's quite an unusual topic.There's not many traveling pipes out there.

(06:11):
And the lovely thing about bagpipes andmusic, I mean it's cheesy, but
music's the international language, isn't it. You don't need words for it always
makes people smile or cry or runaway in the case of the bagpipes.
And the thing with well bagpipes inEurope in particular, which is always a
great fact I like to share,is that pretty much every country in Europe
has their own version of the bagpipes. So bagpipes are Scottish, yes,

(06:34):
but they don't just come from Scotland. Equivalent in France or well, I
know, the Spain because the isit a storious and Galicia is that district
of Spain? Is it knowledge exactly? Galicia has their own version of the
bagpipes, like and there's something likeover it. There's over one hundred and
twenty hundred and thirty different types ofbagpipes from forty different countries. So Italy

(06:55):
alone has four types of bagpipes,which is magmad excellent good answer answer question
for you can pick some hiking peoplethrough the forest, lady in the snow,
lookout from some cliffs, or whatit's like a snake, let's do
hiking in the snow? How muchphysical activity to do? How hard is
it to play them? When youfirst start, it's it's quite physical because

(07:19):
you've got to keep this bag inflated. To describe the bank pipes and how
they work, often some people thinkthat they are like a bellows that you
would pump underneath your arm to pumpa bang. There are different pipes like
that that the Elimp pipes from Ireland. You do some small pipes you have
to pump up using a bellows,but the Great Highland bank pipes are the
one I play. You inflate itwith a mouthpiece and you have to blowing

(07:44):
just puts air into the bag andthen you have to constantly keep pressure under
your arm on the bag. Andwhen you're first starting it is quite physical.
Then throw it in with If it'sreally hot and humid, it can
get pretty sweaty. So it isa very physical instrument to play. But
obviously the more you play, theless physically exhausting. It is the things
that are difficult, I suppose arecoordination to when you're just starting out,

(08:07):
and then if you're joining pipe pipebands, there's a lot of marching involved,
which depends on you've got to bein shape. Yeah, I think
you've got to be used to,although I have definitely met some pipers out
there who are very very good anddon't look maybe like they're super in shape,
but still manage it. Good.Good answer question five, which is

(08:30):
windsurfing, a campfire, the Pyramidsor or what a ladder? That's you?
Pyramids? Where have you been andwhere do you still want to go?
So far? I've picked in onehundred and seven countries and the one
hundred and seventh was actually Egypt,which is why I picked the Gser Pyramids
photos. That was perfect. Andmy aim to begin with is to go

(08:52):
to United Nations countries. So that'skind of one category, and I always
forget that's one hundred and ninety fourplus two plus the Vats again and another
territory I forget, So one hundredand ninety six minus one hundred and seven
eighty nine countries to go. Howlong are one hundred and seven taken it
has taken ten years. I'm inno rush. And when it comes to

(09:13):
visiting a country, I will tryto give it at least a week,
no matter how small the country is. Apart from the vat again, I
mean that was just stepping in andgetting kicked out. But if it's a
small country, I'll try and giveit it's a whole week, because I
mean even a week, it's hardto measure it. You have to allow
yourself opportunities to meet people, interact, and with the bagpipes it's quite conspicuous,

(09:37):
so you have these fun interactions withpeople wherever you go. So would
you just walk up to like amarket square on a Sunday dinner time or
whatever and just start playing and peoplejust come out in their houses and gather
around it like are the pied piper? I lure them out of their houses
after Sunday lunch. Yes, andno. I try and do three things
when I'm visiting a new country.I will try and pipe in a school

(10:00):
because I like working with kids.It's fun to share. It's fun to
share a little bit about the bagpipes, the history of it, the kilts
too, and I mean kids areawesome Number two, I like to do
a bit of a physical challenge.It's fun to play the bagpipes on hills
and mountains because it sounds awesome.So I like to hike up something and
play on top. And then thethird thing will be to try and play,
as you said, in a publicspace, because then you have these

(10:22):
really lovely interactions. And for me, that's why I really like what I'm
doing, because the bagpipes are thiswonderful cultural catalyst for really heartwarming interactions no
matter where I've been, So thereare people surprised, do they know what
they are? Have their own versionThis mad crazy person comes around, interestingly
two reactions in places where maybe ifI don't speak the language, the go

(10:46):
to response is oh Ireland Ireland orbrave Hearts, Brave Art, nog Gibson
now Gibson, Brave Art. Sono matter where you go, there is
some sort of reference points. I'veonly there's only been a few places in
the world I've been to where theyhaven't had a context. And I remember
I was in Rwanda and I wasjust piping on next to a lake and
next to a bunch of kids,and they had no like they didn't even

(11:07):
know what was happening and this manwearing his skirts and this super super noisy
instrument. They were a bit freakedout, but then warmed up and warmed
up after a while. What language, dopeak. I speak Mandarin because I
grew up. I spent a lotof time growing up in China, and
which is why I don't sound superScottish. And I also speak Spanish because

(11:28):
i've I've just spent the past threeyears living in Guatemala. Good, well,
that's the end of the questions.I hope you're going to now show
is how these uh, how yourinstrument works? Yeah, I mean a
grammar. I'm very I'm very sneakynowadays. Good thanking this for technology,
because like an instrument, you haveto tune it, and nowadays you have
apps which will be tuned. SoI have a bagpipe tuning app about tuning

(11:52):
app which is sows you the frequencyof the note that you're playing, because
depending on where you are, it'llchange the note. So the first thing
I'm going to show you a lot. I don't know if you're your audients
will be able to see me.But this thing here is called a chanter
chanter chant and the chant. Chanceis it's kind of recorder shaped, but
it's slightly different because it has aread at the top and it's a double

(12:15):
read. Who a double read verysimilar to the reed of a obo bassoon.
So bangpipes are a woodwind instrument,a double reeded woodwind instrument, and
this is where all the noise comesfrom. So this is the sound of
the read on its own. Solike every worst kids party nightmare. Yeah,
you know when you put two bladesof grass together when you and need

(12:35):
to blow through it. That's it. That's the basic of a read.
And then if I attach the reedto the this chance, which is basically
it would have been woods, butit's a conical piece of plastic with holes
in it. And this is whenit gets really flipping loud. So I'm
actually just gonna put air plugs inmyself because I'm inside. My neighbors are
gonna hate me. But here wego. That's not to sound more familiar.

(13:03):
Yes, that is, that's justthe chance on its own, So
that's not complete yet. Now nowI know the tuning of that, I
can then tune my drones, whichthis might sound familiar because this is often
the first sound you hear when youare, you hear pipers pipe up,
you hear this kind of like right, and that is them kicking in their

(13:24):
drones. So I've got the blowpipein my mouth, so I need to
inflate my bag, and so assoon as the bag is fully inflated,
what I want to do is squeeze. And so what I'll do is I'll
keep on keep on topping it upby keeping this tube blowpipe in my mouth.

(13:46):
And then, uh, these dronesthere are three notes. They're two
are tenor drones, same same notes, same octive and then there's one really
long pipe which is a base dronem hm. So those are all the

(14:20):
dreads together, tuned really nicely,but actually one stuck slightly. So don't
give me a sick now. Thelast thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonnattach
with this reason the chance it intothe bag. So that is just goes
into a tube which is tied andthen sealed the airsides to the bag that
sits underneath my arm. And thenwhen I cleay it together, it'll sound

(14:41):
like this. We all recognize thatas the music from the EastEnders so well

(15:03):
done. So would there any ofthese pieces ever ever malfunction or how do
you get spares? They do,And I carry around a week case that
has a hard case that has allthe reads in them just in case they
read rots or breaks. So Iknock it slightly. The bank pipes itself
gets snapped. Then I'm slightly stuffed. So what I'd have to do is

(15:26):
just come back and get a newset. But thankfully touch word excellent.
So next trip is what Eastern Europe. Actually, as part of my work,
what I do is which is whyI often come back to Scotland to
see my family of course, andthen and I host trips. I work
as a bit of a guide.I create different trips and do different trails
around Scotland and will create my ownitinerary. So I've got that on Saturday

(15:48):
for a week and it's with agroup of Americans and the then next week
to Eastern Europe, and I thinkactually the trip starts in Moldova, So
I'm very excited. Okay, Whichis the top three countries that you you
want to urge on your boocket inthis still the one that I always think
about is Iran. I'd love togo to Iran. They've got their own
bagpipe culture. They are version ofthe bankpipes. Obviously, a massive country

(16:10):
with an incredible history, not superadeasy to go to at the moment,
so I might might hold off fornow until things settle down a little bit.
Actually, to us, I thinkit would be okay. I'm half
Irish too, so I have myIrish passports, usually for the naughty passport,
and that makes things easier. I'vealways loved the idea of going to
the DRC, the Democratic Republic ofCongo, because it's just such a massive

(16:37):
country that everyone seems to forget aboutand they only talk about it in negative
light, which is quite sad.But it is full of all these resources,
one of the largest rainforests in theworld, and it seems an amazing
place. And then lastly, Venezuela. Venezuela too. I do love Latin
America, having lived in Guatemala,so so any opportunity to go back to
Latin America, particularly to a placeI haven't been to, is awesome.

(17:00):
Have you ever got pulled by thepolice, Yes, I've got. I
do always tell this story, butit's my great go to funny story with
the first country I went to afterI decided I was going to pipe in
every country was Tunisia. I've neverbeen before. It was a year after
the Arab Spring, so I didn'tknow what to expect when I got there.
I went it was the public transportoutside cities wasn't great, so I

(17:22):
had to rent a car. Drivingout of the capital city on the first
day, I was pulled over onto the side of the road by some
police people. One of the policepeople walk up to my window and tap
on my window with their gun,which is scary, and gesture for me
to give them my documents. AndI don't speak French really or any Tunisian,
Arabic some words here there, andthey asked for my documents, I
assume, so I slip out mypassport and the car registration documents, all

(17:47):
written in Arabic. And as soonas they see the car registration documents,
they lose it. They shouting atme, and I have no idea what's
going on. I can only assumethey're either trying to get something out of
me or I don't know. Something'seight Anyway, Before I know it,
I'm out of the car and they'vesnatched keys away from me passport. They're
very angry. They march me tothe trunk. They make me open my

(18:08):
one bag just clothes. I lookat them, they're still pissed off and
frosty face. Get to my bagpipebag and I open it up. They
kind of freeze and they smile andone guy goes mezzle with no. Luckily,
I knew what that meant. Mezzwoodmeans bagpipes into nisia in and they
go yellow and yellow for those ofyou listening, basically is a very very

(18:30):
common word in the Middle East,which means let's go, let's hear it,
let's do it yellow, and theygo mezz with an impromperable concert.
Got the police off you bike,Yeah, and they throw bagpipes over my
shoulder and they lose it and theyare going literally lily mushallerndla. Suddenly they're
my best friends, and they honestly. One guy gives me a hug.
You're so excited, and they throwmy keys back, send me on my
way, and before I leave,one guy goes, yeah, yeah,

(18:56):
nice. And then that evening Irealized why they was so friendly and kind.
It is because the national instrument ofTunisia is also the bagpipes. Ross
fantastic episode, excellent. Thank youso much for being on. How can
we find out more about you andfollow you and listen to more videos?
So I am on most social mediaplatforms apart from only fans, so you
can find me at the first Piperand yeah, that's it. Drop me

(19:19):
a message if you ever want tolearn about the bankpipes or travel to My
favorite thing to do is suggesting differentplaces to go and kind of helping people
with tips and travel Ross. Thankyou so much for being on having me,
for having me