Marktsackpfeife

The term „Marktsackpfeife" (literally "market bagpipes", also known as "German pipes", often abbreviated as MSP) commonly refers to a type of bagpipe which has been developed in East Germany at the beginning of 1980s for the specific purpose to be played at faires and markets as a modern interpretation of a certain type of Medieval bapipes.

Since no actual chanters of this type of bagpipe have survived and/or have been recovered so far, the MSP has to be classified as a purely modern musical instrument having a historically informed exterior.

First attempts to reconstruct bagpipes from Middle Ages were already made in 1970s in West Germany, the only type of source, however, was Medieval art and written descriptions with no physical examples to study and copy.

During their collaboration, Mr. Stecker built and gave Mr. Streisand several shawms tuned in F, several modifications took place and the pitch of those chanters was gradually raised; F sharp to G and finally to A.

Bands like Corvus Corax, In Extremo and Saltatio Mortis are among those who popularized the instrument far beyond what is today loosely referred to as "medieval music".