Chiff and Fipple Forums

Was reading chiff posts of old and found this clip of Dan O’Dowd.
https://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditio ... 4XX-1200V0

Does anyone know if this is the original chanter being played?
I had it in my head that Dan played a chanter of his own make with the set but can’t recall where I read that now.

This photo shoot from NPU shows three chanters with the set.

https://api.pipers.ie/api/AssetContent/Get?id=6890

Is the set still being played somewhere?

Just idle curiosity after hearing the clip of Dan today.

I remember Dan usually playing the Kenna chanter.

Clancy used it for the Seoda Ceoil recordings.

Tonally, that sounds more Kenna than Egan to my ear, but that's a pretty subjective assessment.
Saw the O'Dowd set at some point in the last decade, and it was still in the family at the time. Although I didn't get to blow any air through the chanter (the Egan chanter was with it, can't remember whether the Kenna was also), I have played another Egan C and two C#s, all of which sounded 'of a family' and quite different from the linked recording. That said, the same chanter can sound very different with different reeds, as we all know all too well.

I am not sure that the light coloured chanter is a Kenna but I recall Dan saying the Egan chanter sounded too harsh for his liking. There could be a social context to Dan's use of the other chanter, it being exactly the same length as Sean Reid's Coyne . The point being that although Dan's pipes are said to be in the key of C they are slightly flat of that mark, as is the Sean Reid Coyne set. This is not a problem until people use them as a model for producing sets to use with modern C instruments.

I had the opportunity to play the set when Dan and May visited Australia in 1979. I also took measurements of the chanter and made one or two copies of it .

Thanks Dunnp for posting the link to all those recordings of Dan, though I did not managed to open the files.