Top Ten "Living" Whistlers... who are they? 8/2012

[ytliek]

Gaelic Storm was the band playing in the bowels of the Titanic in the movie.

that's where I heard the negative

Are you from Connecticut? Just wondering as I saw your reference to the P.V. O'Donnell Branch of Comhaltas. P.V was an incredible fiddle player and his Donnegal roots were evident in his music.

yes, local to that branch

[ytliek]

BTW, the idea for the original post came right out of "The Clark Tin Whistle" handbook by Bill Ochs. Acknowledgements mentions the musicians who influenced him, short list, (while knowing there is a long list too), and he mentions his teachers. My original post isn't anything new, I just wanted to focus on "living" whistle players for narrowing purposes. I could've posted it another way "Who Taught The Teachers of Whistling, ah tradition". I'm really trying to explore the depths of the whistle tradition.

[kenny]

I'd like to add a few names which the OP might not have heard of, haven't been mentionded above, and have recordings available :

Finbar Furey - my favourite piece of whistle music ever is Finbar playing "The Lament For Oliver Goldsmith", followed by "The High Reel" at a Thurso Folk Festival [ far north of Scotland ] in the late 1970s.
Desi Wilkinson
Cormac Breathnach - especially for the first "Deiseal" recording.
Frankie Gavin
Peter Phelan - Dublin, tutor at the Willie Clancy week
Brian Hughes
Vinnie Kilduff
Breda Smyth
Enda Seery

...and one exception to the "living" rule, because he only departed from us recently, and I've just spent 3 days in the company of the group he played with for years, - Darach de Brun, RIP.

[ytliek]

I'd like to add a few names which the OP might not have heard of, haven't been mentionded above, and have recordings available :

Finbar Furey - my favourite piece of whistle music ever is Finbar playing "The Lament For Oliver Goldsmith", followed by "The High Reel" at a Thurso Folk Festival [ far north of Scotland ] in the late 1970s.
Desi Wilkinson
Cormac Breathnach - especially for the first "Deiseal" recording.
Frankie Gavin
Peter Phelan - Dublin, tutor at the Willie Clancy week
Brian Hughes
Vinnie Kilduff
Breda Smyth
Enda Seery

...and one exception to the "living" rule, because he only departed from us recently, and I've just spent 3 days in the company of the group he played with for years, - Darach de Brun, RIP.

First, @ DaveAuty, I just heard Sean Ryan's "Brodericks/TheGalwayRambler", yes I'll have to research more, thankyou

and kenny, that's just what I'm looking for, the names I wouldn't come across easily, but, worthy of looking into! thankyou

[Mr.Gumby]

Wouldn't it, for starters, be just as easy to work your way through the list of Whistle Recordings to see what you like?

[ytliek]

Wouldn't it, for starters, be just as easy to work your way through the list of Whistle Recordings to see what you like?

yes, I know that list, but, for now I was trying to narrow my list to the "living" whistlers, if I ever get a chance to see them perform live. I know I'm on a long journey, "pushing a rock up a hill"

I do know that I especially liked Noreen O'Sullivan's whistling. For whatever reason there is a real hook there, and that's thanks to kenny and you Mr G

[Mr.Gumby]

Every now and again people arrive here full of enthusiasm that carries them away in every direction. often it proves not sustainable in the long run and they burn out. That's why I suggested you just listen to whatever you come across, allow for a bit of serendipity and follow up on what you like and take that in thoroughly.

You probably know the story of the two bulls. An old bull and a young bull are standing at the top of a hill and look down into a valley where there's a herd of cows. 'Ah great!' roars the young bull, 'let's run down and do a few of them'. 'Nah' says the old bull, 'Let's not exhaust ourselves. We'll walk down at our leisure and ride them all'.

[ytliek]

Every now and again people arrive here full of enthusiasm that carries them away in every direction. often it proves not sustainable in the long run and they burn out. That's why I suggested you just listen to whatever you come across, allow for a bit of serendipity and follow up on what you like and take that in thoroughly.

You probably know the story of the two bulls. An old bull and a young bull are standing at the top of a hill and look down into a valley where there's a herd of cows. 'Ah great!' roars the young bull, 'let's run down and do a few of them'. 'Nah' says the old bull, 'Let's not exhaust ourselves. We'll walk down at our leisure and ride them all'.

Do I know it (I could've wrote it) that's older than Noah (still good though), keep in mind that I'm a newbie to whistling, look over to your left... that's me, been around a bit, and its not my first rodeo

I learned to walk a long time ago, that's exactly my intention, to ride'em all, er, just the ♀ that is

[ytliek]

You probably know the story of the two bulls.

Bulls???... speaking of Golden Oldies, I'm sure you heard about the husband and wife, planning to attend a Halloween costume party. They've decided to go dressed as a heifer, but are arguing who will be the "head" and who will be the "tail" and after arguing quite some time, they decide to flip a coin , and up into the air the coin goes coming down heads, husband says, "heads I won, and you'll be the tail". So dressed in full heifer costume, off the husband and wife go driving auto to Halloween party. After some time has passed, suddenly, the auto has mechanical breakdown. The wife says, "oh no, what are we going to do now, the party, the PARTY!", while the husband replies, "we'll just walk thru that yonder pasture, down the hill, and over to the roadway beyond, and the party house isn't that far to walk, let's go".

The wife replies , "but, but, ...there is a BULL in that pasture, oh no , what are we going to do now, the party!, oh no". The husband says, "we'll just keep moving across the pasture quietly, AND JUST KEEP MOVING"! Then, halfway across the pasture the wife says, "the BULL!, the BULL is stomping its feet, and snorting mad, , oh no what are we going to do now? and the BULL its, its CHARGING this way!", The wife frantically yells, "the BULL its going to run us down, what do we do now?" The husband turns to his wife, calmly, and says, "I'm going to eat grass... you, you brace yourself"!


and to ALL the ladies on the forum and anyone else offended, in advance, I sincerely apologize, (old sailor days) the original post was asking for top ten living whistlers and not the top ten jokes, truely, I apologize, sorry, men, eh?.