Vasek Rout - a passion for bagpipes
Vaclav, or Vasek, Rout is a photographer by day, but in his free time his passion is the Scottish highland bagpipes, which he dreamed of learning from a young age. With the political changes of 1989 he got his chance to travel and learn piping from Scottish masters and he now leads a Czech band called Czeltic, who play Scottish and Irish music. I spoke to Vasek after a concert at the Salmovka Literary Cafe near Prague's Karlovo namesti, and began by asking him when he had first heard the Scottish bagpipes.
"I think the first time was at a bagpipe festival in Strachonice, because there were many pipe bands, not only Scottish, there were bands from Austria, from Hungary, from China maybe."
How old were you then?
"Five, 6, 7, a very young boy. I had to wait till after the revolution to start to find some more information, and to get some more music from abroad, so I travelled abroad. And in '97 I think I met with two different people. The first was Chip Daring, an American guy living in the Czech Republic, a piper, and his dream was to establish the first highland pipe band in Eastern Europe. And the second man was a leader of a Celtic band in the Czech Republic and I started playing the banjo with them, and afterwards I tried to sing."
You told me earlier you've just been to Scotland - do you have trouble understanding the Scottish accent?
"It was horrible the first time. I remember I went every year to a piping centre, to a school to learn the pipes, and my first teacher was from the north of Scotland and when we started the lesson, when we started to practice, he started to talk and I just looked at him and after ten minutes I said I'm sorry sir, do you speak English?' He started to laugh and after laughing for a few minutes he started to speak again, slowly but with the same accent. It was my first meeting with Scottish English. Now I don't have such a problem, I have a problem, but not so much as the first time. It's not English - it's a different language!"
The first time I met you, you were wearing a kilt. How do people react to you in the kilt, say on the street if you're going way to a concert?
"When people see me in the kilt, they say 'are you Scottish, are you American?'. I say 'no, I'm a Czech'. They are surprised. I think, especially in Eastern Europe, in the Czech Republic, in Slovakia, in Poland, when I wear a kilt, or anybody wears a kilt people look at him and start to be more warm. So, it's really nice to see the reaction of people because for them it's something different. I never met with a negative reaction."
I've always wanted to know what the sporran, the thing you wear on the front of a kilt, is for- what's it for?
"I use it for my wallet, mobile phone."
Does your mobile vibrate?
"Of course, why not it's very, very, very nice, very gentle (laughs)".
I'm curious to know where you practise - in the middle of a field or somewhere?
"In the winter I practise in a heavy metal band's rehearsal room. The owner of this room said that the heavy metal band is a little bit quieter than me. And in the summer mostly (I practise) outside of Prague. I go into some field or the woods to practise, because there are only animals there and they can't do anything to me."
Tell me about the Czech bagpipes - they're called 'dudy', is that right?
"Exactly, in Czech it is 'dudy'. The difference between Czech pipes and Scottish or Irish pipesit's a totally different instrument. I tell everybody who asks me it's like the trumpet and the flute, because Czech bagpipes have a different key, a different style of playing. There are only a few similarities. You have a reed, a bag, and that's all - it's a totally different instrument."
If you've learned the highland pipes can you also play the Czech dudy'?
"I tried in Scotland, because a friend of mine, Ian McDonald, is the pipe major of the Milston and district pipe band and he's a collector of pipes from all around the world, and of course he has Czech pipes. I tried to play them, but no way!"
Are the Czech pipes particular to some regions of the country?
"In the Czech Republic you have several regions known for piping. The most famous is in south Bohemia, what we call Prachen, south-west Bohemia, we call Chodsko. In the region of Plzen - it was a place associated with very, very famous Czech pipers. And in north Moravia there is another part of the country associated with piping. And, just for your information - for me it was a real surprise - the famous aristocratic family in the Czech Republic the Schwarzenbergs had their own pipe band, or pipe and drums, for ceremonial occasions. From the 17th century to the middle of the 19th. Afterwards they changed it for a classical brass band."
You told me earlier that after World War I there was some kind of competition between Czech pipers and Scottish pipers.
"I'm not sure It was about 1929, 1930...there was a radio competition between two pipers. Each country chose the best piper. From the Czech lands it was Mr Bilek form Plzen and Mr Bilek won and got the official title the King of the Pipers."
Do you ever go to conventions of pipers from around the world?
"In the Czech Republic there is a really huge festival in Strachonice every two years. It's very famous, a very old festival. Every two years there you can meet pipers from all around the world, with all kinds of pipes. That means from Austria, from Hungary, from Poland, from Russia, from Romania, from Bulgaria, from Scotland, from Galicia, from Italy, from Germany, from all around the world different types of piping and different kinds of piping. Because it's not only classical piping, because you can meet guys from Germany playing almost rock with pipes, you can meet guys playing really heavy metal with highland pipes. For me it's really interesting because it's not a dead instrument, it's still a living instrument, so I like it."
You were telling me earlier that when you play for example in Poland you get a more lively reaction from the crowd than here in the Czech Republic. Why do you think that is?
"Czech people more stand in Poland or in Slovakia people dance and really have fun. In the Czech Republic people like it, they listen to it, but still wait. I like to play in Poland, it's great. We've played there several times, especially in one place called Skotia - it is a place where almost 200 years ago Scottish people, maybe fifty families of Scottish people, came and started to live there so they call it Skotia, it means like Scottish. There was a huge festival, about 10,000 people and it was very warm, because it was a Celtic festival, it was very nice."
How do Scottish people and Irish people react to your music when they go to your concerts - do they like what you play?
"They are surprised first of all and I think they feel very good."
