Peregrino Gris (Gray Pilgirm) is a Costa Rican group that plays Celtic music. Many people wonder how someone started a project like this one in Costa Rica, if in this country there is no Celtic tradition or even people that can play the rhythms and instruments of Celtic music. Everything started as inquietude of Eduardo Oviedo. He likes traditional music of different countries; this interest took him to the ancient Europe music. He discovered some musical instruments that enclose ancestral sounds of several parts of the world. This musical trip conducted him to the bagpipe, an instrument he knew since he was a kid because he had heard it and saw it in a television show; also, he had seen some books mentioning this amazing instrument. Eduardo felt in love with its inspirational sound and started to investigate the way to get one. He finally decided to get a Scottish highland bagpipe; this instrument was unknown in Costa Rica, but its antique magical sound and the history, the myths and the stories that surround it became a passion for Eduardo. At the beginning, he confronted some obstacles because the bagpipe presents many particularities that make it very different from others instruments. He only had a book and video to learn how to play the bagpipe; this was a unique experience and a totally new and different challenge for him. A year later, he also started to study the uilleann pipes (Irish bagpipes) and the whistles. After seven years of playing in a rock band along with his brother Rodrigo, both decided to found a group of instrumental music where they can develop the potency of the bagpipes and others instruments as the violin and the accordion. In addition, they were inspired by the J.R.R. Tolkien´s work; they worked in a deeper investigation about the culture and the traditional European music, and they wanted to provide a musical expansion and get a personal improvement. Since he was a child, Rodrigo, has composed many songs and instrumental pieces; also, he shares many of Eduardo’s fondness for ancestral music. For these reasons, Rodrigo started to compound some pieces for his brother and his bagpipe; even he took one of his oldest songs and perfectly adapted it to the Scottish bagpipe. The musical group was founded on March 11, 2001; by then, it was conformed by the Oviedo brothers, Eduardo (bagpipes, whistles, and flutes) and Rodrigo (guitar and keyboard); and Rafael Howell (violin and viola). Its first presentation was on March 17, 2001 to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day. In this appearance, the band did not have a name yet. That day, they met Connall French, an Irish young man who played the bodhrán (a type of drum used in traditional Irish music), he became another member of the group immediately. Through the first year, the band tried a traditional repertoire, and included original compositions; some of them existed for a long time before the group was founded but they were adjusted to the Celtic music. Occasionally, the band performed live presentations in La Cajeta restaurant in Cartago as part of “Mundo Loco en Vivo” (“Crazy World live”), a radio program of the recognized Costa Rican expert in percussion and producer, Bernal Monestel, who dedicates his program to wide world music. That year, in June, the group recorded a demo with five musical pieces to use it exclusively in promotional activities such as interviews, and to get sponsors in different media. Parallel to this production, the name of the project was defined: “Peregrino Gris” (Gray Pilgrim), named after the myth of the trilogy The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, and one of wizard Gandalf’s names. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.