The Highland bagpipe, widely considered 'Scotland's national instrument', is one of the most recognized icons of traditional music in the world. It is also among the least understood. However, since the bagpipe?s unprecedented surge in public visibility and scholarly attention since the 1990s, a greater interest in the emic has led the consideration of both the globalization of Highland piping and piping as rooted in local culture. The contributors of this collection discuss the bagpipe in oral and written history, anthropology, ethnography, musicology, material culture and modal aesthetics. The book will appeal to ethnomusicologists, anthropologists, as well as those interested in international bagpipe studies and traditions.