John Bell in Germany

[Claus von Weiss]

Well, I'm rather excited, as John Bell from the Iona Community this weekend is gonna be in Germany for the very first time. And what's best, on Saturday and Sunday we're gonna join him performing with "Planxties & Airs".

I'm really looking forward to meeting the man indeed!

Cheers
Claus

[Mikethebook]

Pardon my ignorance but what is the connection netween John Bell and whistles?

[Feadoggie]

Not to steal anyone's thunder, but I would imagine Claus's having the opportunity to play with Bell is the whistle connection.

Cool beans, as they say.

[Claus von Weiss]

Quite rightly so, Feadoggie!

"Planxties & Airs", that's my wife and me playing the church organ (my wife obviously) and the whiste (your's truly of course).

If you wanna hear, what that sounds like: http://www.planxties-airs.de/beispiele.htm

And we feel quite honoured indeed to be invited to share the stage (or rather the church) with John Bell.

Cheers
Claus (rather connected to the whistle )

[MTGuru]

Claus, the combination of organ with whistle is quite lovely indeed. I'd almost say surprisingly nice, because I'm not sure I ever thought of that combination before. But it makes sense. Both are pipes, and the whistle sounds bird-like in that context, or like a renegade organ pipe gone mad on melody. And to give credit where due, your wife's tasteful accompaniment style is perfect.

One suggestion: You really should learn proper Irish ornamentation - cuts, rolls, etc. That would add a lot to your playing of the traditional Irish tunes.

[Claus von Weiss]

What a great character indeed! We really enjoyed this weekend with John, he's such a charismatic, charming and lovely person. And he obviously enjoyed "Planxties & Airs" as well. I hope, we soon will have the chance to meet him and work with him again. There are some interesting plans in the pipeline ...

Thanks for your nice words, MTGuru, I passed on your compliments to Ulrike! Concerning your suggestion ... when I started on the whistle twelve years ago of course first thing was to study the traditional Irish ornamentation. But to be honest, although I do have the greatest respect to this style, it is obviously not my way. Maybe I'm spoiled by playing English Folk on various instruments for more than four decades now. I just do feel more like myself playing the whistle (and Irish material) with a more English approach (as found on the tabor pipe for example) than in the proper Irish way. I always felt, that Irish trad is so much more conservative than English trad, where much more liberty (of course with all due respect) is used when treating traditional material. It wasn't by chance, that we called our ensemble playing English Folk "Morris Open(!)" then. But I'll gladly use your suggestion as a reminder to revisit traditional Irish ornamentation and probably to profit from that.

Cheers
Claus

[hoopy mike]

Pardon my ignorance but what is the connection netween John Bell and whistles?

Y'know that whole bells and whistles thing...

[Claus von Weiss]