We
can
finN’d it
Help us find the lost Finnish bagpipe
säkkipilli
ABOUT OUR
Initiative
We are a non-profit initiative led by Gonçalo Cruz – doctoral candidate at the Sibelius Academy – amongst other researchers in Finland and neighbouring countries.
The Finnd’it initiative aims to gather all evidence of the presence of the Säkkipilli, bringing Finnish piping to international awareness.
Objectives
- Survey all evidence of the presence of Säkkipilli piping in Finland
- Create an open archive of all Finnish piping evidence, past and present.
- Provide scientific data for the promotion and development of Finnish piping traditions.
- Re-build the Finnish Säkkipilli into a working musical instrument.
- Promote the production of high-quality Säkkipilli, meeting both the needs of beginner and professional musicians.
Short-term goals
- Find multi-disciplinary research partners
- Secure institutional support and funding


Open survey
We are surveying all evidence of the presence of Säkkipilli piping in Finland, and we need your help!
Maybe you are aware of a piece of the puzzle, and you want to share it with us.
Today, with social media, it’s easier than ever to be connected, to share information, articles, photos, video.
Take pictures of a drawing in a book you saw, of a painting in an old church you recently visited, of a living piper in your town…
Neighbouring countries DO count!
Pipes like to travel, and normally don’t carry a passport! So if you are a neighbour to Finland and your country currently has, or had in the past bagpipes, please share your knowledge with us:
Help your own culture, by helping Finnish culture
Be part

Send US more
Evidencies
THIS IS HOW IT WORKS
We have a plan, and we need your help!

FIND it
We are surveying all evidences of the presence of Säkkipilli piping in Finland, and we need your help!

Build it
Build working Säkkipilli prototypes, that folk musicians can play, listen to, and discuss “what makes it Finnish”.

Play it
Bring awareness to piping in Finland.
Teach a young generation of musicians how to express themselves in this wonderful instrument.
Bagpipe
Finland has an incredible tradition of folk music for instrument like the Fiddle, Kantele, Jouhikko, Flutes…
But what happen to the Bagpipes? Why do Sweden, Estonia, Latvia… still have them?
Pipers in Finland, using bagpipes from around the world, wish to bring awareness to the Säkkipilli.
Together, we must add the Säkkipilli to the world family of bagpipes, along side the likes of the Scottish Bagpipes, the Iberian Gaitas, the Estonian Torupil and the Swedish Säckpipa.
We aim at offering a high quality Säkkipilli design for the needs of professional musician and an affordable easy to use instrument for Finnish pipe students.
Together let’s teach a young generation of musicians how to express themselves in this wonderful instrument.
About
Network
meetings

A free, public, open and regular “get together” to discuss and advance the study of bagpipes in the region.
Purpose
The Finnd’it network meetings are aimed at fostering cooperation between musicians, educators, makers and researchers of bagpipes in Finland and neighbouring countries.
All of us are missing pieces of the puzzle and only together we will be able to rescue our own country’s bagpipe traditions.
Objectives
- Meeting people – Networking
- Improve ties, bonds and personal commonalities
- Create institutional bridges across languages and nations
- Get close contact with instruments, sounds and techniques otherwise foreign
- Missing puzzle pieces – finding common ground as well as uniqueness
- Repertoire comparison – find the folk DNA and its travels
- Promote future international collaboration projects
- Look for International grant opportunities
- Opening opportunities for performing artists in the Finnd’it network’s countries and abroad
Next meeting
Helsinki 2023
To be determined with all of you
Time until next meeting
Day(s)
:
Hour(s)
:
Minute(s)
:
Second(s)
| Live & Zoom Session
FREE ADMISSION
LIVE at the Musiikkitalo, Helsinki
Last meetings
Helsinki 2019 | 2021


ABOUT the Meeting Organisers

Hosting the Events
Gonçalo Cruz (Portugal | Finland)
Gonçalo Cruz is a Musician, Researcher & Maker of Bagpipes & Woodwinds.
He holds a Bachelor and a Master degree in Architecture and is currently a Doctor of Music candidate at the Sibelius Academy – “Forgotten Bagpipes – The redesign of the Säkkipilli in Finland”.
Gonçalo has been involved in the revival process of local Gaita bagpipes in Portugal, by researching, playing, teaching and building bagpipes as well as maintaining a professional bagpipe making workshop that he has now moved to Helsinki, and transformed into a “Woodwind Research Lab.”
His research interests are in the disciplines of Music, Ethnomusicology, Organology, as well as Art & Design, History & Archaeology, with a special interest in the subjects of Instrument Building, Tuning and Temperament.
As a performing artist, Gonçalo has worked as a music composer and guest musician on live and recorded performances, interpreting an array of European bagpipes, and whistles. Although his bagpipes ground him in the folk music universe, his original compositions are meant as storytelling, always evocative of images, clearly influenced by cinema soundtracks. Gonçalo is keen on developing the concept of “Music as Design”, and is often involved in music projects that involve video production and the visual arts.
www.Finndit.org | www.GoncaloCruz.com
Sibelius Academy Support
Folk Music department
Prof. Kristiina Ilmonen (Finland)
Among the pioneers of the Finnish contemporary folk music movement, Dr. Kristiina Ilmonen is a performing musician, composer, educator and researcher.
Ilmonen performs solo with folk winds and in various ensembles, has toured in over 20 countries and plays on over 30 CDs. Free improvisation, artistic collaborations and site-specific ecologically conscious art have been important themes in her career.
Ilmonen’s research interests include artistic research, improvisation, collaborative creativity, historical Northern wind instruments and folk music pedagogy. She works since 2014 as the Professor of Folk Music at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki.
Music Technology department
Prof. Jan Schacher (Switzerland | Finland)
From 2003 onwards, Jan was an Associate Researcher at the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology at the Zurich University of the Arts, where he led research projects that dealt with a.o. Musical Gesture, Immersive Media, and Surround Sound from a position of artistic as well as systematic research.
Since 2021 Jan Schacher is Professor of Music and Technology at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts, Helsinki.
As an artist-researcher, Jan Schacher performs on stage and other environments, working with/through sound and presence. Trained as an instrumentalist, composer and digital artists, the focus of his practice has shifted from using sounds to be organised as music to seeing the body as the central site of action, perception, and culture. He investigates how the musician’s body, acting as resonator for sound’s presences, establishes and grounds the intertwined relationship between inner and outer perception, between tangible musical actions and the intangible presence of sound, between the different subject’s agencies towards/with/through sound.
RECENT NEWS
Here is what we have been up to lately
Bagpipe Network Meeting 2022
FREE ADMISSION, 4th March 2022 LIVE at the Musiikkitalo, Helsinki or via ZOOM https://uniarts.zoom.us/j/66930191508 We are happy to announce the 2nd edition of our Bagpipe Network meeting. The theme of this year's edition is Forgotten Woodwinds in Museums. FORGOTTEN...
#02 Piper Staccato – Marieke Van Ransbeeck
The second episode of "Piper Staccato - A short interview", this time with Marieke Van Ransbeeck Piper staccato, a podcast produced by Gonçalo Cruz, is aimed as an international pro-bono project creating cultural bridges. On this episode, this talented piper from...
The 2020 FIL – Festival Interceltique Lorient, not canceled!
The 2020 FIL – Festival Interceltique Lorient, appears not to have been cancelled… At least so far. Every year a different world culture is celebrated. This year’s edition, the 50th, is under the theme “Bretagne” (Brittany) and will take place from the 7th-16th of...
SibA Researcher Days 2020 – Gonçalo Cruz
Finnd'it founder, Gonçalo Cruz, presented his doctoral research “Forgotten Bagpipes – The Re-design of the Säkkipilli in Finland” at the Musiikkitalo (Helsinki Music Center) on Tuesday 10th March. He introduced the audience to our project - "The Finnd'ít initiative" -...
#01 Piper Staccato – Callum Armstrong
Piper staccato, a podcast produced by Gonçalo Cruz, is aimed as an international pro-bono project creating cultural bridges. On this episode, Callum Armstrong, a piper from England, lets us know how he became in love with bagpipes and tells us all about his current...
Visit to the Bagpipe Making Workshop
01 Bagpipe Network Meetings Latvian Dūdas
Available seats are limited! PLEASE inform us you will be attending by filling this FORM NOTE: If you already play some bagpipe, please become first a member of our Network, HERE and only afterwards enrol....
A Finnish Piper living at the National Theater
Patrik Weckman, a recent member of our growing Finnish piper’s network, has brought to our attention an interesting artwork by the painter Juho Rissanen (1873-1950). In picture 1 - “Kolme soittajaa” (Three players) - the 1928...

Contact
Helsinki – Finland
Tel. +358 45 251 87 27 (en) | +358 40 045 87 76 (fin) | +351 91 825 49 59 (pt|es)
info@Finndit.org