That would be Alan Doherty:The new CD, which is due for release around the end of April, is being co-produced and engineered by Trevor Hutchinson, Lunasa's double bassist and all round musical enius. Alan explains, "It was funny how it happened. We were just going to go in and record in Trevor's studio and then he started coming up with ideas and we really liked what he suggested, so we didn't actually ask him to produce but that's how it ended up." Alan, the flute player, was asked by Howard Shaw, the music composer of 'The Lord of the Rings', to play on the movie's soundtrack. He tells how it came about.
"It was Gerry's Ma who put me in touch with the producers. They had rung her, as she is involved in the Irish Community in Wellington, New Zealand, and they asked her was there any good flute/tin whistle players around the town. I was in Australia at the time and got the phone call
there to come to Wellington to audition for the job. I had already been over there for a few months, was missing the tunes at home, and wasn't going to do the audition. I had heard of the book but had no idea of the scale of the movie. My friend, Alan Kelly who was with me in Australia, told me I'd be mad not to do it so I went ahead with it. We recorded for four or five days with a huge orchestra for about twelve hours each day."
Andrew takes up the story. "The whole piece was to be played in the key of 'C' and then they changed it to 'D' because Alan didn't have a C whistle!" Alan's contribution can be heard at the start of the movie as Gandalf the Wizard arrives in Hobbiton. Gráda are moving up the pecking order by headlining a double bill with De Jimbe in the Project Arts Centre on Friday the 15th February. Is that how the band see it? "It's a step up
okay", says Brendan, "but we are not under any illusions about instant success. We think it could take about three years for us to get established
and we have to make sure that every step we take is in the right direction and not a step backwards." A sensible approach for sure but if the prophets of trad are to be believed this could be Gráda's year. Anyone who goes to the Project on the 15th to hear the band should concur.
http://www.redhatmusic.com/Grada.htm#TourDatesAlan Doherty (flute/whistles/pipes) Alan has been in huge demand since his lead role in The Lord of the Rings soundtrack. He has just returned from a lengthy playing stint in Australasia and Europe. Highlights included a lead billing at the Woodford folk festival (Australia’s largest) and support acts for Joe Cocker, Blondie and, oddly enough, Metallica.
I have no clue or interest, but thought I'd bring this to the attention of the c&f community including whistleplayers in or near Tulsa, OK.
I think it's time to drop this whole whistle/flute thing and take up autoharp full time... the Irish music tradition needs more of that anyways.
