Liam O`Flynn R.I.P

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Re: Liam O`Flynn R.I.P

Post by PJ »

Very sad, indeed. He was a giant of piping.
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Re: Liam O`Flynn R.I.P

Post by The Lurking Fear »

And just yesterday I was telling a co-worker to look up his piping and the old Planxty recordings.

Wow.

R.I.P. and thanks for the music.
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Re: Liam O`Flynn R.I.P

Post by jon1908 »

A great man and a great loss.

Someone who’s piping just seemed to get better and better.

I remember seeing him in a very under promoted concert near to where I was living in 1992. There were less than a dozen people there.

He’d spent the afternoon in Liverpool and his car had been broken into. He told the tale of walking back to the car, seeing the broken window and fearing that the pipes had been stolen, only to discover that the only thing taken was his bag of clothes. The pipes, in their battered leather case, hadn’t been touched.
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Re: Liam O`Flynn R.I.P

Post by Peter Duggan »

Timeless music from a timeless player... one of the first to bring uilleann pipes to my attention and still very much the touchstone.
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Re: Liam O`Flynn R.I.P

Post by benhall.1 »

What a fantastic musician. I never like to say that it's sad when it's a time like this - he had such a great musical life and gave so much. He was a huge inspiration to me early on in my musical life, when the sounds that he made with those pipes seemed almost magical. He seemed to be able to produce sounds no-one else could. I'm not a piper, so I tried to copy the sounds I heard on the fiddle. Probably did me no harm at all.

Thanks for the music, Liam.
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Re: Liam O`Flynn R.I.P

Post by Cayden »

Just read most sadly of Liam's passing. An incredible musician is truly an understatement. God rest ye Liam.

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Re: Liam O`Flynn R.I.P

Post by Kevin L. Rietmann »

What a loss. I'll always remember playing along with Planxty's first LP on a tenor recorder. Then getting a copy of a great tape of him in NYC, 1981. "There are so many mics up here, it's like the UN!" He put together elements of Rowsome/Clancy/Ennis into that great style, Todd Denman once called it Classic Piping, that's about right.
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Re: Liam O`Flynn R.I.P

Post by Mr.Gumby »

My brain hurts

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Re: Liam O`Flynn R.I.P

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Re: Liam O`Flynn R.I.P

Post by CaperMike »

Very touched by this news.

I saw Liam play at Louisbourg Cape Breton as part of the Celtic Colours Festival some time in the early 00s. For some reason I can still vividly remember his playing of I Buried My Wife and Danced on Top of Her as well as several Airs. Had a chance to chat after the concert and I was struck by his kind and generous nature.

A true gentleman and superlative piper.

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Re: Liam O`Flynn R.I.P

Post by bensdad »

Like every other Uilleann piper I am thinking about the loss of Liam Og O’Flynn. I first saw him with Planxty at Digbeth Town Hall in Birmingham in 1975. I had no clue what he was doing of course.
This clip is of him playing Planxty Hewlett, and it was the simple details of how he treated the repeated Gs in the second part of the tune— 1/8th note + short roll, slide to the G, long roll—that first clued me in to the link between technique and variation. That clued me in to how it became *music*. And then there was wearing out the rewind button on my Sony Pro Walkman while I transcribed every grace note in his playing of Johnny Cope.
His style was modest and graceful, with all the excess and flash burned off. A lot like the man himself. We are all the poorer for his loss.
So get out the pipes tonight and remember him, and every time you put some vibrato on the back D, remember him.

https://youtu.be/eXC2Sw9iSts
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Re: Liam O`Flynn R.I.P

Post by ennischanter »

No words from me. But I was very shocked and saddened to hear this news, he shall be missed something fierce.
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Re: Liam O`Flynn R.I.P

Post by rorybbellows »

As a crazy mixed up kid more used to dropping acid and listening to Jimi Hendrix ,when I heard this piece of music, specifically the piping at 0.32 and 4.38 is what put me on a different road. Try and ignore the dancing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_A4eODHvCM

RORY
PS still love Jimi, machine gun is possibly the best guitar playing ever.
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Re: Liam O`Flynn R.I.P

Post by Chino »

rorybbellows wrote:machine gun is possibly the best guitar playing ever.
I can confirm. :D
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Re: Liam O`Flynn R.I.P

Post by Derrick Gleeson »

On a very busy night in the pub back in the early '80's, Liam came into the kitchen to assemble and tune up his Pipes, I was a young boy sitting in the corner watching and listening.. he played an air and a couple of tunes, beautifully of course, then kindly answered my many questions. I'll never forget it, it was magic. Thanks Liam, R.I.P.
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