Chiff and Fipple Forums

Thanks to this forum I was referred to the music of Mary Bergin as a fine example of traditional irish tin whistle music.
I was pleased to find two Mary Bergin albums were available as part of my Amazon Prime membership. "Feodoga Stain" and "Feodoga Stain 2" are both available as part of Amazon Prime music. Please note that is NOT Amazon's Music Unlimited plan, for which you have to pay an extra fee. I unsure if this access is available in other, non-USA countries.

My experience listening to Ms. Bergin's playing has been very enlightening. I have listened to a large number of whistle performances on youtube over the past few weeks. Much traditional Irish music is very fast with lots of ornamentation and articulation. To my ears, many of the youtube performances seem to become somewhat muddled with tricky passages seeming to become only approximations of the intended music. When I listened to Ms. Bergin I experienced none of that. It seemed as if the clouds parted and it was like: OH! THAT is what it is supposed to sound like! Her performances are a treat for the ears. It is strikingly easy to hear the virtuosity of her playing.

N.B. I am a novice whistle player so people should not assume I know anything about the whistle or traditional Irish music. I am just passing on my personal experiences and reactions.

Hooligan - lovely that you’ve discovered and appreciate Mary Bergin. I remember the thrill of hearing her for the first time (on cassette tape!) so many years ago - that’s what got me playing the whistle. Both of her whistle albums are available on Spotify if you have that, and you should also check out her small group called Dordan. Happy listening!

Mary Bergin is just plain wonderful.

This is a video of MB teaching a beginner to play whistle; I found it well worth watching. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=108701

Here is a little snippet of her playing the tune O'Rourkes with Ross Ainslie, another excellent whistler. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=108693

If you want to hear young Mary Bergin (well, in her twenties at any rate) playing some great music, check out the two albums made by Éamon De Buitléar agus Ceoltóirí Laighean that Mary played on. The two records were titled The Star of Munster and An Bóthar Cam, which are out of print -but Gael-Linn re-released both albums together on CD as Cnuas in 2010. Young Paddy Glackin also. Highly recommended, some great music here.

https://www.amazon.com/Cnuas-%C3%89amon ... B003TBD9MI

If you want to hear young Mary Bergin (well, in her twenties at any rate) playing some great music, check out the two albums made by Éamon De Buitléar agus Ceoltóirí Laighean that Mary played on.

There's also an album with Cór Cuil Aodha that she on, as Máire de Burca, from around the same time

I agree that Mary Bergin is an inspiration. I quit playing whistle out of frustration over my ability and my whistle's intonation about the time she made her Feadoga Stain. If I had heard it back then, I might have stayed with whistle.

It is notable that she uses quite a bit of tonguing.

Also of note is her frequent use of a tongued half-roll, which give her style sharp punctuation. (She starts a half-roll with a tongue and a cut at the same time.)

Also notable is that she traditionally/normally played old-school Generation whistles of many different keys. I have never heard whether she carefully selected her whistles or tweaked them.

The Cnuas CD is available to listen to free Spotify. The other one doesn't seem to be.