Bagpiping buskers banned from Vancouver sidewalks but mayor orders rule review

Some people in Vancouver are getting puffed up over the city's plans to ban bagpiping buskers.

With summer approaching, buskers will be staking out favourite spots on downtown sidewalks.

But the Vancouver Province reports the city's engineering department has warned it's reviewing busking permits for some instruments such as bagpipes, bongos, drums and tambourines because of noise complaints.

The restriction is buried in a list of busking rules on the city's web page covering street entertainment.

"The City reserves the right to decline issuing permits involving instruments that have proven problematic in the past (some percussion instruments, bagpipes etc.)," the guidelines say.

That's upset Kyle Banta, a piper who's earned awards for his playing.

"To listen to someone who's played for 14 years, who has won the major competitions in North America, should be a treat," Banta, who also teaches piping, told the Province.

Banta has an ally in Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, who honoured his Scots heritage by wearing a kilt to his inauguration last December.

"The clans won't stand for it!" Robertson joked before telling the Province he's asked city staff to review the ban.

"Buskers play a very important role in making Vancouver's streets lively and dynamic, particularly in our vibrant downtown.

"My first reaction is that a complete ban on bagpipes and percussion instruments across the city is ridiculous and culturally insensitive."

The ban outrages Jack Lee, the pipe sergeant of the Simon Fraser University Pipe Ban, which has won the world piping championship six times.

"To ban bagpipes is so short-sighted — one of the great instruments of the world, and one of the oldest instruments of the world," Lee told the Globe and Mail.

"Bagpipes are not really that loud. When my next-door neighbour starts his lawnmower, it's far louder than I would be if I blew my bagpipes up."