Favorite Irish Group (that plays a little whistle at least!)

rkottke · Post by **rkottke** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 1:09 pm

I was going through my Irish music CDs, and I just realized, there is one group that has I love to listen to more any other. That group is Altan. Two years ago they played, the Blue Idol tour, in Madison, Wisconsin in a small theather. Within 5 minutes, they had the whole place loving every thing they did. There were times, such as "Green Grow the Rushes" that everyone joined in, (including my classical music is the only music spouse.) They encouraged people to come up to the area in front of the stage and dance. The best dancer was a 10+year old little girl and the members of Altan made a big deal of her dancing. That made the little girl very proud and it made us very happy. For me the highlight was a whistle solo in a section of a piece they play, it was just so beautiful..

.

Since then, I have seen many Irish music groups. But none have approached Altan. When I hear the other groups, I hear just the music and maybe just a snatch of the feeling of their performances. When I hear Altan, the total experience comes back.

Altan is my favorite and I am sure others have theirs. I would like to get an idea what others see as their favorites.

chas · Post by **chas** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 2:00 pm

They're right up there among my favorites, too. I saw them live before buying any of their recorded music, and I initially found the recordings a bit of a letdown. Not any more. I will say that all the albums I own are from before Frankie died. There's just something about his flute playing that I can't get over, and there are still days that I wake up bummed that he won't be recording any more.

My absolute favorite these days is Deanta. Almost every day I wake up bummed that they aren't recording any more.

dubhlinn · Post by **dubhlinn** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 2:58 pm

Check out some of John Sheehans work on the whistle with the Dubliners.
Changed my outlook on life in general, and the whistle in particular.

Slan,
D.

Azalin · Post by **Azalin** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 6:11 pm

I would go for Deanta too, they're just awesome, far better than Solas (when they were ITM) and other ITM bands I've heard. I would like to meet some of the folks that were in the band, I wonder where they are now.

raindog1970 · Post by **raindog1970** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 6:50 pm

dubhlinn wrote:Check out some of John Sheehans work on the whistle with the Dubliners.

Sheehan is definitely one of the most underrated whistle players.
John is best known for his fiddle playing, but listen to track 5 of the 'Live in Carre' CD for an impressive example of his virtuosity on the whistle.
It's a tune set composed of 'Dunphy's Hornpipe', 'Leitrim Fancy', and 'Down The Broom'.
One of my all-time favorite recordings!

chas · Post by **chas** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 7:32 pm

Azalin wrote:I would go for Deanta too, they're just awesome, far better than Solas (when they were ITM) and other ITM bands I've heard. I would like to meet some of the folks that were in the band, I wonder where they are now.

Deirdre Havlin has been playing flute with a band called the London Lasses. I bought the album with her on it and was sorely disappointed. IIRC they have four melody instruments (2 fiddles, flute and box), a vocalist, and a guy playing the piano. Ms Havlin isn't featured much (unlike Deanta where all the players got their moments), and the piano player does a lot of oom-pah. She's just TOO good to be in a group like that.

Cloddagh Warnock plays a lot, at least in the summers. She seems to be in high demand as an accompanist in festivals, etc. I think she may be the most underrated Irish musician -- bouzouki and bodhran aren't the most glamorous instruments, but she's a really incredible accompanist on both.

BrassBlower · Post by **BrassBlower** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 9:52 pm

rkottke wrote: I was going through my Irish music CDs, and I just realized, there is one group that has I love to listen to more any other. That group is Altan. Two years ago they played, the Blue Idol tour, in Madison, Wisconsin in a small theather. Within 5 minutes, they had the whole place loving every thing they did. There were times, such as "Green Grow the Rushes" that everyone joined in, (including my classical music is the only music spouse.) They encouraged people to come up to the area in front of the stage and dance. The best dancer was a 10+year old little girl and the members of Altan made a big deal of her dancing. That made the little girl very proud and it made us very happy. For me the highlight was a whistle solo in a section of a piece they play, it was just so beautiful.. .

Since then, I have seen many Irish music groups. But none have approached Altan. When I hear the other groups, I hear just the music and maybe just a snatch of the feeling of their performances. When I hear Altan, the total experience comes back.

Altan is my favorite and I am sure others have theirs. I would like to get an idea what others see as their favorites.

For me it would be Cherish the Ladies, but Altan ranks right up there, too.

fancypiper · Post by **fancypiper** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 9:53 pm

Some albums I really enjoy:

Any Cherish the Ladies or Joanie Madden CD
Micho Russell "Ireland's Whistiling Ambasador"
Paddy Maloney and Sean Potts "Tin Whistles" (They are in Chiefains 1-10 IIRC)
Sean Ryan "Take the Air" and "The Minstrel's Fancy"
Vinnie Kilduff "The Boys from the Blue Hill"
Mary Bergin, of course "Fedoga Stain 1 & 2".
Mary is the sister of Antoinette, the singer and harper with Joe McKenna and is featured as guest artist on many albums.

IIRC, they have a band called "Sean Nua" now.

Hoed · Post by **Hoed** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 5:42 am

One of my favorite Irish trad. bands is Shantalla, it's members all living in Belgium. Their site and sound samples really are worth a visit:

http://www.shantalla.com

BrassBlower · Post by **BrassBlower** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 9:15 am

Hoed wrote:One of my favorite Irish trad. bands is Shantalla, it's members all living in Belgium. Their site and sound samples really are worth a visit:

http://www.shantalla.com

Another good non-Irish band for Irish trad listeners is the Swedish trad band Swåp, especially if you are a fan of Altan. To see a video, go to www.tvfolk.net, click on the Swedish flag, and find their name on the list. I especially like "Robert". No whistles, but some incredible Scandinavian fiddling.

While you're there, also click on the Faroe Islands flag and check out the videos by Markamot. Very, very nice whistle playing!

SirNick · Post by **SirNick** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 9:52 am

Do we have to limit it to Irish? I've been listening to the Scot. band Old Blind Dog lately. GREAT STUFF!!! (If I may so myself)

rkottke · Post by **rkottke** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 10:52 am

This is more than I hoped for. I got my love of the music of Altan stated and learned at lot of other players and groups. Now to get the CDs of some of those mentioned.

By the way, you cannot believe what I went through to get the music of Mary Jane Lamond, (Cape Breton). For two of the four CDs, I searched every local dealer and finally ordered them directly from Cape Breton. (Longer wait and no preview, but I did get some neat stamps...) The CDs were well worth the it!

starman · Post by **starman** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 3:01 pm

For those who want to hear more of Mary Bergin, she's part of the group Dordan.

Altan and Dervish are also OK by me. I don'thave anything by Deanta yet.

Mike

Chiff and Fipple Forums

Favorite Irish Group (that plays a little whistle at least!)

Favorite Irish Group (that plays a little whistle at least!)

Re: Favorite Irish Group (that plays a little whistle at lea

How about just about all whistle?

Fantastic!