Who Do You Consider the Your Favorite Piper and Why?

PJ · Post by PJ » Wed Oct 12, 2005 11:31 am

For me it's an impossible question to answer. The name I'd choose would probably be the name on the CD I'm currently listening to. I'd change my mind as soon as I'd listen to a different CD.

Eamon · Post by **Eamon** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:01 pm

I agree with PJ, it is really hard to pick...I love whomever I am currently listening to, which is David Power and the Cheiftans at this moment. Tomorrow, who knows.

I do have a soft spot for Liam O'Flynn. I blame him for my love of the pipes...when my friend first played me "Raggle Taggle Gypsy", I was hooked. Within a year, my girlfriend brought me a practice set. Now I have a half set (and a fiance!). So by my reckoning, Liam owes my Kate $2500....

Eamon

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:06 pm

Eamon wrote: Within a year, my girlfriend brought me a practice set. Now I have a half set (and a fiance!). So by my reckoning, Liam owes my Kate $2500....

Eamon

So... ermmmm... will you then be getting regs for a wedding present?

PJ · Post by PJ » Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:43 pm

Eamon wrote:Within a year, my girlfriend brought me a practice set. Now I have a half set (and a fiance!). So by my reckoning, Liam owes my Kate $2500....

What happens when you get married - a full set?

I guess for the your fifthieth wedding anniversary you'll have a flat set.

OK - back on topic.

feadogin · Post by **feadogin** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:51 pm

My set was an engagement present from my fiancee.

J.

Eamon · Post by **Eamon** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:08 pm

Joseph E. Smith wrote:
So... ermmmm... will you then be getting regs for a wedding present?

That's the plan...and a week or two in Ireland for the honeymoon...perfect.

Eamon

And for PJ...now that we are back on topic...Listened to Finbar Furey and the "Curragh of Kildare" on the way back from lunch. Love those songs with the UP's in them, too...not enough of that...

smithand · Post by **smithand** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:22 pm

Rick wrote:In no particular order:

special mention:
David Power!
I hadn't heard anything from him till someone posted a link to some ram files.
Very impressing indeed!

Could you pass on the link, Rick?

Thanks,

Andrew

The Sporting Pitchfork · Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:54 pm

Douglas wrote:
P.S. is Fred Morrison any relation to Van Morrison?

There are a few lads here I will need to check into.

Surprised Fred is getting so much attention here...

No relation to Van the Man. He's Scottish, and though originally from Glasgow, he comes from a long line of pipers and Gaelic singers from South Uist in the Outer Hebrides. He started on the practice chanter when he was four and had won just about every single award and accolade in Scottish piping competitions by the time he was 22. He learnt most of his UP technique from Paddy Keenan (whom he met while busking in Brittany) and Pat Broderick.

I saw Fred in his debut show with the band Ceolas in Glasgow in 1998 and it quite simply was one of the most jaw-dropping musical spectacles I have ever seen...

http://www.fredmorrison.com

glands · Post by **glands** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 3:03 pm

Geez. It really is a simple question that has been posed. As simple as those in the vein of .....what is your favorite color...your favorite flavor of ice cream, etc.

Pick one.

For me, Benedict Koehler illustrates or embodies all that I like about piping.

The other guys I'd mention if I had no ability to narrow the focus have all been a major influence on his development so its the same as saying, Mike Rafferty, Liam O'Flynn, Brian McNamara, and Kevin Rowsome as well.

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 3:36 pm

Glands wrote:Geez. It really is a simple question that has been posed.

No, I don't believe it is. The question asks for consensus on the best UPiper. First of all, we have many people here from many backgrounds. The GHB/Scots crowd love Fred Morrison. There are obscure (to me) pipers from various places in Europe named. We don't all have access to BK, as he has no CD out. How can there be consensus when we can't all get a chance to have a thorough listening to all pipers?

Then there's the big one - PERSONAL TASTE. Just because I don't like a particular piper's style doesn't mean I don't acknowledge that piper isn't great in his/her own way - just that I don't like to listen to them. And as others have noted here, there are too many great pipers to not want to start naming them all.

That's why I questioned this thread in the first place. If the originator wanted a list of all the great pipers he should listen to, that would be something else entirely, and not the stated purpose of the thread.

djm

BigDavy · Post by **BigDavy** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 4:35 pm

DJM said

The GHB/Scots crowd love Fred Morrison.

Too true DJM, maybe we can convert you to him as well.

David

Bill Reeder · Post by **Bill Reeder** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 4:48 pm

djm wrote:
Glands wrote:Geez. It really is a simple question that has been posed.
No, I don't believe it is. The question asks for consensus on the best UPiper.

djm

DJM is right. The title of this thread has been edited a couple of times since it first appeared and the direction of the discussion has kind of lurched back and forth since then. It's difficult to have a reasonable discussion when this kind of thing occurs.

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 5:12 pm

Well, KD's edited first question is:
Question: Who do you consider to be the your favorite piper of all time and why?

And his second post says:
I am wanting this question to help me identify two things:
1) Which piper is considered the favorite by consensus and
2) To identify the pipers I haven't heard of so I may by chance get a listen to see what I am missing.

So if people say who their favorite piper is or who their favorites are or their favorites of the moment or a couple of their favorites then that will help KD identify pipers he hasn't heard of so he can try to listen to them.

Clearly the group will not be reaching an agreement about who is THE favorite, and KD will see that there is no one piper who stands out in everyone's mind as being their favorite. So he will learn something from that as well.

I'm just saying that for beginners, like me and KD, it is quite interesting to see how people think about these things. It is maybe a bit vague, but then I just wouldn't worry about that too much. Just say the favorites of today, even if they might change tomorrow. We are kind of eavesdropping on people who are chewin' the fat about pipers.

ausdag · Post by **ausdag** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:07 pm

Juan Pablo Plata · Post by **Juan Pablo Plata** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:23 pm

All of you have different reasons to have a favourite piper... but no one could say that Robbie Hannan isn´t the best piper playing the chanter out there. He is simply perfect in ornaments and timing, even at high speed. All of his super-triplets and silences between notes are perfectly studied, they are there for one and only reason. But sometimes he is like a machine with no heart, no "swing" (I repeat: ONLY SOMETIMES. Just listen to his interpretation of a lament in the Willie Clancy Week 2002 recording at Darcy´s Site, it´s the best I´ve heard with the lament at The Fox Chase by Finbar Furey. Soul and technique...wow. Listen how he fades the phrases...incredible)
Of course, I´m speaking only about chanter technique and we can´t forget in this category to Paddy Keenan, McSherry and O´Sullivan.

¿Regulators technique? No, Robbie isn´t the man. Vote for Ronan Browne, Paddy Keenan and Jerry o´Sullivan, in that order for me, and it doesn´t means that it´s the way I like the regs played (for that I have Seamus Ennis).
¿Flowing, smooth and elegant style? Liam o´Flynn (even with his sometimes out of tune pipes), and Mick O´Brien.

And Paddy Moloney, of course.

All I want to say is that there are no best piper at all, and there are lots of them out there to be known. Different approaches for the same wonderful instrument.

My prefered piper has not to be the best piper...and there are a lot, just listen all of them you can!

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Who Do You Consider the Your Favorite Piper and Why?

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