Dick Hensold is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

 based in the state of Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

. An active promoter of bagpipes

Bagpipes

Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...

, he plays Northumbrian smallpipes, Swedish pipes (säckpipa), Medieval great-pipes, reel pipes, Montgomery smallpipes, Great Highland bagpipes, recorder

Recorder

The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...

, seljefloyte, low whistle

Low whistle

The low whistle, or concert whistle, is a variation of the traditional tin whistle/pennywhistle, distinguished by its lower pitch and larger size. It is most closely associated with the performances of modern Irish musicians and groups such as Riverdance and Davy Spillane, and is increasingly...

 and string bass. He played the Edinburgh Folk Festival

Edinburgh Folk Festival

The Edinburgh Folk Festival has had a shadowy existence since about 1951. Hamish Henderson was instrumental in creating the first "People's Festival" in 1951, with funding from the British Council, The Communist Party and the Scottish TUC, this was revived in 2002 by the Scottish Socialist Party...

 in 1994, the Lowland and Border Piper's Society Collogue (Peebles, Scotland) in 1997, and has taught Northumbrian smallpipes at workshops in the United States, Canada, and Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

.

He has also studied Cambodian music for many years, and performs in the ensemble Light From Heaven (formerly called New International Trio), led by Cambodian master musician Bun Loeung, until his death in 2007.

He has released a solo CD titled "Big Music for Northumbrian Smallpipes," which includes music written and arranged by him, as well as some traditional tunes.

Discography

• New International Trio (Atomic Theory)
• Way Up North (Hungry Hill Records)
• Piper's Crow (Piper's Crow)
• Big Music for Northumbrian Smallpipes (Ten Thousand Lakes)