whamlyn wrote:
If you check out the links below, you will see the man himself, and some friends of mine, playing at the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival last month.
I'm one of those people who Chris Wilkes is finishing up a keyless D flute for... been a long wait, but I'm sure it will be worth it. Mine's got a lefty cut on it and it will be interesting to seel how it compares to Olwell...unfortunately for me I don't think I can afford to keep both, so we'll see. Promise a full review when it comes - Tod
"ps Steampacket: How do you can find "sexy" Conal O'Grada's tone? Maybe Italians have a different idea of what is sexy... " asks Michel.
Well I like the tone "sounds" that say Conal gets when playing Irish traditional tunes. I find this type of flute playing "sexy" in that the bottom notes, barks, honks, the energy, the unexpected, etc. strike a chord, sorry about the pun, inside you. The rawness, roughness or wildness in this sound also suits the tradtional tunes somehow. We're talking folk music here, and to my ears, that is personally, I don't want to hear a pretty, refined, or pure sound, I prefer to hear something earthy, musty with balls, excuse me ladies, mind you musicians such as Tara Diamond, Catherine McEnvoy also achive this ballsyness. The master at achiving this sound is of course a flute player called Pat Mahon from Erskey. Pat is the music.
I've just been listening to Kevin Crawford playing his Grinter(s) on the CD "In good company". "The high road to Glin" has lots of bottom end notes in the first part and Kevin does a great job as usual, but I'd prefer to have a darker tone down there on those notes.
ok Steampacket, I understand what you mean.Personally I would describe
C.O'Grada's playing as masculine, forceful,SAVAGE!I'm a huge fan of his
playing too. However if you are looking for that kind of flute playing a Grinter could not be your cup of tea, in my opinion.
cheers
michel
Wow I enjoyed the photos! But what is that weird instrument that one guy is playing??????
Mary & Aaron,
This is getting a little off topic but...
The guy's name is Don Kavanagh and he is playing from a revolving harmonica holder. He keeps a bunch of harmonicas in different keys in the thing and called it his "six shooter" or "The Shotgun". He originally came from Dublin and now lives somewhere near Ottawa and for a man in his 80s, has more energy and wit than just about anyone I've met before.
After the festival he and his wife stayed in St. John's for a week or so to see the sights and do a bit more playing. Anyway, he comes to a session this one night and reaches into his bag and pulls out one of these small battery operated guitar amplifies and places it on the ledge behind him. Then he hooks up a little lapel microphone to it and starts playing away! If anybody else had done it I'm sure the reaction would have been different but because it was the 80-odd year old man everyone thought it was brilliant! Here's a link to a couple of more photos of Don and a bunch of other folks at a lunchtime session in St. John's. I think there's even a soundclip in there somewhere!
