Chiff and Fipple Forums

Akiba wrote:Who are some other fluters like fiddlers combinations? To be honest, I know there are flute / fiddle duos that blend well together, but does that make them the flute equivalent of such-and-such fiddler? For example, Matt Molloy and Tommy Peoples played together and recorded a bit, but I would not say either is particularly like the other. Matt Molloy and Sean Keane? John Wynne and John McEvoy, maybe? Or Peter Horan and Fred Finn?

There's the Willy Kelly/Mike Rafferty album too. . . they blend really well but sound totally distinctive on the solo tracks.

Flutulator wrote:
There's the Willy Kelly/Mike Rafferty album too. . . they blend really well but sound totally distinctive on the solo tracks.

Actually Willie and his wife Siobhan, who's a brilliant flute player, are probably my ultimate reference point for fiddle-flute duos.

I believe Martin Hayes hails from East Clare, perhaps flute players from the same region may exhibit a similar playing style to Martin?

Uni Flute wrote:I believe Martin Hayes hails from East Clare, perhaps flute players from the same region may exhibit a similar playing style to Martin?

As others have said, Martin's style that you hear in his recent recordings is quite personal (with big influences from Martin Rochford and Paddy Canny plus his own father of course). He can and does play in a much more straightforward style for dances (e.g., in ceili bands), but I don't think you'd find flute players from East Clare emulating his style.

There are actually Martin Hayes impersonaters out there now on the fiddle, who copy his whole persona right down to the double foot tapping and the long sets that build up from a slow air to reels.

It's not really a style that lends itself to the flute very much, at least the traditional Irish flute. If you want dynamic range and lyrical playing on simple-system flute, I'd suggest listening to Jean-Michel Veillon's Breton flute playing.

As I mentioned before Leo MacNamara not only grew up in East Clare, Scariff, but also played with Martin's Father as well as Martin for shows. Leo does have the East Clare style down having learned and grown up there but it is the East Clare flute style. I am not sure there is a fiddle style on the flute.

Ah, some more lovely music suggestions, definitely, and I'll be looking for that tg4 program as soon as I have the time to sit down and watch it. I think my initial query could have been phrased better-- although what I've heard of Clare flute players is interesting, and I'd love to hear more, what I was initially after wasn't so much someone who sounds like Martin Hayes but plays the flute per se, or who has the same regional style, or would complement his playing particularly well, but more about whether or not there were some flute players approaching tunes the way he does in that Lonesome Touch album-- playing with and exploring dance tunes using perhaps a wider sonic palette than is typical, more of a listening-oriented style perhaps, which of course is not the only mode in which the man plays by any means. Maybe it makes more sense in my head! I think I made things more confusing by saying 'or just relaxed tempi' or something like that-- several fluters who are not in a rush to get to the end on heavy rotation over here. Just idle curiosity on my part, as I couldn't immiediately think of an answer myself, and my listening (and playing, such as it is) generally veers towards a more straightforward approach to the tunes. Some suggestions above have certainly fallen into that category I think, and all of its been great listening, so thank you.

The concept of regional style is a much discussed an often misunderstood one. I think in the case of Martin Hayes, you see a player who has taken all his influences and developed them into a personal style. Many of these influences will be the ones he took in when he was (very) young. These will be his local players although perhaps not all of them, and players he encountered through other connections, Tommy Potts for example.

There are a number of fiddleplayers in the mix, that 'lonesome touch' thing is clear in the playing of particularly Martin Rochford, Paddy Canny and is most likely tied to earlier players like Pat Canny (the father) and the man who in turn taught him, Pat MacNamara who traveled the area teaching the fiddle a few generations ago. Other fiddleplayers in the area had some of that touch as well, Martin Woods for one. Those slides may well have been developed on from the ones Vincent Griffin uses in his playing. And there's ofcourse the father, P Joe but I have heard Hayes talk about Junior Crehan, Bobby Casey and the West Clare players as well.

Flute wise he cites Joe Bane as an influence, although perhaps more through his attitudes to music than actual style. It may be worth looking up some of the duets that were recorded of Bane with Bill Malley. Concertinaplayer John Naughton was also in the picture, certainly like he last two as a provider of local repertoire. But I wouldn't underestimate the impact of the musicians who came through the Tulla band over the years either, Hayes started playing with the band at an early age. I have also heard him talk about how the battering some of the West Clare dancers influenced his thinking about the rhythms of the music.

But again, they're all influences that have contributed elements that he combined into his own style of playing. They're all bits you take over time and adapt into your own thinking and playing. And perhaps a regional style is not more than those bits you carry on from local players, things that linger in a place.

It may be worth exploring the styles of some Clare players on the Clare library website:
Clare library : live recordings

Another person occurred to me when thinking about people whose flute playing has some of the "lonesome" sound and (sometimes) slower pacing: Paddy Carty from East Galway. Again, he didn't use dynamic range (he played a Radcliff system flute, quite powerfully) and he could play at a very fast clip, but his playing definitely had that lonesome touch. According to Sean Moloney, who used to play with him a lot (Sean also has that quality in his playing), Carty's music took a darker more introspective turn after his daughter died in a boating accident. Carty also played frequently with Paddy Fahy, and since many of Fahy's compositions are in minor keys it probably contributes to general mood we associate with Carty's playing.

There was a lot of influencing between East Galway and East Clare. Rochford used to go across the Sliabh Aughties and spend time with the Whytes and Moloneys. It was, as he put it, 'ten miles as the crow flies'.

I have a tape where Peter Loughlin and Paddy Canny are joined by Carty. H e sure went at it at some clip. Interesting enough the tunes they went for were more the classic Michael Coleman ones, Ballinasloe Fair and those.

Mr.Gumby wrote: It may be worth exploring the styles of some Clare players on the Clare library website:
Clare library : live recordings

Amazing site, Mr. Gumby.

I came upon this recording and transcription of Junior Creehan playing one his own laments. I hear a lot of Martin Hayes in it.

http://music.clarelibrary.ie/fotoweb/Pr ... 2230FFEEDD

Sorry, tried to send a PM and got it in the wrong place....

Best wishes.

Steve