I'm aware of panpipes being important instruments in the music of two parts of the world - South-Eastern Europe and South America.

So two questions occur. Did they develop independently in these two regions (to which I strongly suspect the answer will be "yes"). And are there any other parts of the world where the instrument is played in traditional music? (The Arab world? Africa? China?)

And a third question, has anyone ever used panpipes in other types of music, such as Irish? How did it work out?