A memory of puzzling sounds when I first arrived in Basel

Leaving the University of Basel English Department on Nadelberg on this cold winter evening, I heard a sound that reminded me of my first months in the city in late 1995. There were surely dark, cold evenings like this one where I heard an unfamiliar sound that began to puzzle me as I heard it again and again: distant music played on what I thought were pennywhistles. It seemed to be coming from underground. Only months later did I found out that the music was indeed coming from underground, from the cellar rooms where participants in Basel's Fasnacht were practicing their piccolos (not pennywhistles) for their marching with drums during carnival. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 7 December 2022)