The new album from Troy and Dave Bainbridge (from the band Iona) will be available in the next few days! Armed with only their instruments and no idea what they were to play, ‘From Silence’ was recorded live in Lincoln Cathedral at the end of October. Details and soundbytes are in the Discography section of Troy’s website here’s a snippet, I kinda got a lump in my throat when I heard it 
http://www.troydonockley.co.uk/music/part3.mp3
I hope they were smart enough to use Willis’s organ or one of the other organs in the cathedral instead of solely depending on Juno style synth-pads.
Dionys
Nice…it sounded very Spillane. Does Donockley happen to play a Spillane chanter? - it had that very mellow tone to it that Davy’s chanters have.
I was thinking the same thing. Very muchlike Spillane’s Riverdance(yuck!) solo.
I understand that he plays a Dave Williams set but I may be wrong…
Goldy,
as far as I know Troy plays a Dave Williams full set. His style is not to my taste so I haven’t bothered to listen to the link.
Ken
Edit: sorry I’ve just been repeated what maw said.
goldy wrote, Very much like spillane’s Riverdance(yuck!)solo.
Two points here.
-
It ain’t Spillane’s Riverdance. :roll:
-
Don’t criticize other musicians till you can play any better your self.
If it had not been for Davy Spillane in Riverdance there would not have been so many young and older persons who have taking up the Uilleann Pipes in the last few years.
I regard Davy Spillane as a great musician both in Uilleann Pipes and Low Whistle is also a great music composer who has writing some great tunes,
not unlike some of his critics who sit playing some painful olde tunes. 
Time to come into the year 2004 not 1904. 
maybe you could send some samples of your playing in to clip & snips. 
Ooops, quick Reedman, Goldy didn’t write that!!!
It’s cool to bash Spillane these days,…allegedly…
I remember when Spillanes Shadow Hunter came out, I would go fishing off Mousehole listening to my personal stereo, very pleasant times. Didn’t improve my catch though.
Reedman wrote:
<Don’t criticize other musicians till you can play any better your self. >
My sister taught me the opposite, and I agree with her, there’s many a player without an ear and many an ear without an instrument, if you follow my meaning.
Alan
Yep’ Sure Doooo. 
Clips & snips spring to Mind 
Hmmm, Mickey Likes IT, Doe’s He, So He’s the Guilty One.
Sorry Goldy, 
Alan, Never let your sister teach you anything unless its getting pist. 
Davy Spillane is Extra Cool like Guinness. 
When I read Mickey’s post my impression was that he was saying ‘yuck’ to Riverdance rather than Spillane given that he was agreeing with the previous post by Goldy who said ‘Nice…’.
I personally like Spillanes tune but loath Riverdance.
Cheers,
DavidG
Davy Spillane’s piping is excellent in my book…but I will confess that I appreciate an ‘old style’ approach toward piping.
When Riverdance first came out in the ‘States’…prior to the the huge production it would later become…I was absolutely blown away. It inspired a generation of children to listen to Irish music and learn Irish Dance and for that I consider it wonderous thing. Again, not exactly my taste in Irish music, but that doesn’t make it any less great.
Personally, I find Donockly’s style of piping to be expressive and pleasing to the ear, and I really can’t find anything wrong with it, though my preference is to listen to folks like W. Clancy, L. O’Flynn, S. Ennis… etc …etc.
One shouldn’t be too quick to knock another’s playing style simply because it isn’t ‘their way’, or simply because knocking it is the ‘in’ thing to do.
Perhaps this wouldn’t get so many people upset if people were to clarify what it is they don’t like about a particular piper. To say Davy Spillane or Troy Donockley are poor pipers would be a serious error. However, if you were to say that the particular style of music these pipers may have chosen to play is not to your personal tastes it should be less objectionable to others. If they still complain after that, f*** 'em. 
djm
Joseph wrote:
Personally, I find Donockly’s style of piping to be expressive and pleasing to the ear, and I really can’t find anything wrong with it, though my preference is to listen to folks like W. Clancy, L. O’Flynn, S. Ennis… etc …etc.
Tucked away in some of Troy’s work particularly on the Iona albums is a fair bit of trad simply named ‘reels’ or ‘jigs’, such as Rip the Calico… Maid at the Spinning Wheel… etc And he’s a pretty mean player too but I admit he does lean towards expression 
Maybe Riverdance got/gets young people into a certain brand of Irish music and dance, a brand of it that is well outside the interests of most of the very good musicians that I know (although some will ‘take the shilling’ and do the circus gig if it is shiny enough). I personally have yet to see ‘this sort of thing’ imporoving the fortunes, transmission, recording, integrity etc. of the music as I know it best. Some would have us believe that the dance shows have youngsters beating down the doors of the great musical stylists thirsting for knowledge in the same way they would thirst for a Pepsi during a particularly well mimed “Riverdance”, I can assure you that this is not happening. What it is doing is making young and not-so-young people more concious of the commercial possibilities of Irish traditional-ish music. “It makes money now”=cool apparently, and it must be cool if they buy it in The States… does that seem like a particularly healthy self confidence to you? More would have us believe that people will get into traditional style through ‘this sort of thing’ …again, given the relatively hugh numbers now playing ITM, I have yet to see (or rather hear) the significant results (bearing in mind that some of us don’t judge ITMs health simply by the numbers playing it (or something like it) but rather treat it as a recognisible set of modes of expression that are inherently unique, expressive, intricate and prone to an individual’s inspiration).
Conflict will arise in blurring the distinction between piping as a dignified and enduring artform (that has always relied on the inspired input and innovations of individuals) and piping as a part of a commercial arts package designed to explode the senses, give you an erection, make you by the CD, video and T-Shirt, and make all involved a nice few pennies.
Yet again I think that the bar has been lowered where solo playing, style and musicianship are concerned here. Yet again transient ‘pop’ sensibilities are being applied to the music and dance and are being arrogantly overstated and lauded as ‘a development’ by those who don’t display any great knowledge of the artform. Yet again it is selling like hotcakes… it always will. I only hope there will always be a few around who will recognise it for the rediculous shite that it is.
Regards,
Harry.
Oh, Harry, you are soooo PC. 
djm
Harry you sound a touch arrogant there… I suppose if that attitude prevailed through music since the dawn of time, we’d still be banging a few bones and maybe making some cuckoo noises 
Things develop and so does music but heh why can’t we all live together and appreiciate different styles
…sure it happens, but I refuse to believe that the ‘bar has been lowered’, that’s a load of hooey. If anything, good piping is on the increase and the bar is rising…in spite of recordings you do not like, or commercialism.
I have to wonder myself, if the ‘old masters’ had any sort of access to the tools a modern musician does, including recording studios, ease of travel, the internet etc. etc. would they still sound the way they did? I for one very much doubt it.
The fact is our ears can tell what we like and don’t like fairly soon after we hear it. And old ennis recordings will never exceed the musical coloring and soundscape or whatever you want to call it in Spillane-esqe recordings. For my own part, I think that Spillane as a businessman needs a lot of work, and while I will never rush out to buy one of his albums, I do respect his work as a musician. Same with many of the ‘newer’ pipers such as McSherry, Keenan, Maloney etc…who are considered by some to be too fringe to be anything like trad. playing.
What is a tradition if not always evolving and growing? If you want it to be like it always was, I’d suggest looking into a small hut somewhere on the west coast, installing solar panels, buying every recording possible of pipers from 100+ years ago and bar the door. Then wear out your CD player to your hearts content. The world is a dynamic place, and it isn’t all bad. Try to appreciate new players for what they can bring, not for what they aren’t playing on this or that recording. Without them, your tradition will die today. Done, gone extinct. Without them, all you have are old, poor quality recordings - not a living tradition.
Best to all
(edited for spelling)
You better go wash your ears and listen again!