I’m not an Irish speaker, but I believe it is pronounced something like “kyol-tori kool-an”, although some might pronounce it as “hool-an”, depending on where you’re from, whether or not you have a throat cold, and how much you had to drink last night. 
djm
Derek played the hammers ‘backward’ giving it a more metallic ring. Paddy Moloney had heard him try it and insisted that he play it that way from then on. More consistent with the ancient Irish sound.
Thanks, djm!
Ok, along similiar lines, what about the form of tune, or music referred to as an air? I heard somewhere that the air is relatively new to the pipes and Traditional Irish music, coming after dance music. Is this correct?
The term “air” means simply the melody of a song. It gets used for just about any kind of slow tune. I’m not sure its even an Irish term, but probably an English term applied to Irish sung music. I’m not sure what you mean about it not being traditional. Slow Irish songs have been recorded back as far as Shakespeare’s time. They were tunes common on harp. I don’t doubt that the limitations of a one-octave set of highland-type pipes would have limited the number of Irish song melodies (airs) that could be piped, but the flexibility of UPs is so appropriate for playing fine melodies like traditional Irish airs that I 'm sure that they were used for playing airs almost from their inception.
djm
Huh. I always thought an “air” was more akin to the essence of a song, as opposed to a strictly instrumental version. The feel of a tune as opposed to the notes.
This explains -to me- why some airs are not in a regular rhythmn. They float and stagger, sway and jig, they make us happy, they make us sad. (Tragically, this can cause an emission of that most ineffable of qualities, the cheese factor.)
They depend -to me- on the emotive quality the piper is trying to express, and rhythmn isn’t always in the equation. Bach may argue, but I’d be surprised, 'cos he’s dead.
Mark
JQP, topics of a similar ilk (not elk) have come up before about the arhythmic way Irish songs are sung in Gaelic. Sean-nós singing is a whole world unto itself, but it is the source for the odd timings you hear when some airs are played on UPs. Best to get some sean-nós recordings to get the feel for why these airs are played the way they are. Note that this is just a way of interpreting a song. There really is a structured tune underneath, and you have to be familiar with both the underlying tune plus the Gaelic lyrics to appreciate what an individual singer/piper is doing in their interpretation of that air.
djm
I was discussinng the subject of songs/lyrics/air playing with a singer the other night.
We came to the conclusion that while it is far from neccesary to know the words of a song to play it’s air, a knowledge of them in the context of a good rendition will certainly help in the area of pacing and phrasing the melody- putting it into chunks and playing it at a good pace/changing pace approprietly if needs be etc.
Seamus Ennis (and other great players I’m sure) believed in phrasing the tune much as a singer would phrase it (ie. stopping the chanter where the singer might choose to take breaths and varying it likewise). This can be learned ( I think it’s more of an acquired feeling) without having to memorise the actual words.
There is the self appointed ‘purist’ school of course that believes that you shouldn’t be playing the air if you don’t know the words of the song which is of course nonsense. Melody is a much more abstract form and needs it’s own attention to be focused on differently on an instrument. The benefits of a knowledge of the sung words and subsequent phrasing are of a more integral and organic use than ‘having’ to remember all the lyrics when you are playing. This would of course shift the required mental/emotional focus from the matter at hand.
Regards,
Harry.
Thanks, Harry. That helps to clarify things even more. I don’t speak Irish, but I can learn the tempo changes and phrases of an air by listening to a sung version. I think it is the unevenness of the sung version that confuses many people when listening to an air played on UPs. The tune really makes no sense at all without an appreciation of the sung version.
Even more on topic and a good example is the air Mná na hÉireann, written by O’Riada. If have yet to hear a sung version of this in the sean-nós style. I would be leery of trying to play this without knowing how it sounds when sung.
djm
Thanks Djm, Harry;
Do either of you (or your lovely assistants) have any suggestions for sean-nos singers? Recordings of them, I mean, not the singers themselves.
I saw Triona and Maighread Ni Dhomhniall a few years ago at a ‘Return to Camden Town’ concert, and they were brilliant, but I was more interested (at that point) with John Joe Kelly’s rather incredible bodhranning (eh?). They’re the only sean-nos singers I know of, and as I’m not a gaelic-speaker I’m not going to be following the lyrics too well. But from what Harry’s said, it’s less the lyrics per se and more an understanding of how a singer performs the peice.
Is there such a thing as sean-nos singing in English? I’m not trying to suggest that there should be, you understand, just asking if there is.
What’s ‘sean-nos’ mean, anyway?
There, enough questions.
Mark
Huh? How would you know that?
I seem to recall reading in Ciaran Carson’s little ITM book that the whole thing about the tiompan being related to the modern hammer dulcimer was total BS but that Bell and the Chieftains managed to sell the idea on an uncomprehending audience.
I’ve always liked John Rea’s hammered dulcimer playing. Too bad he wasn’t recorded more.
Sean-nos means “old style.” It’s actually a bit of a neologism, ironically, but these days it’s the most popular term to denote singing in Irish.
Harry’s point re:Seumas Ennis was right on. While it’s rather silly to think that you need to know all the words to an air (or be a native Irish speaker, yadda,yadda, yadda) in order to play it, it should come as no surprise that a lot of the best slow air players also tend to be good singers who are well acquainted with the words. It certainly doesn’t hurt to have at least a vague idea of how the singer phrases it when it comes to how you choose to pace/phrase the air.
About five years ago when I was living in Glasgow, I had the fortune of getting a few lessons with Allan MacDonald, a brilliant piper, fine singer, and stark raving mad drinker. When I learned slow airs and ceol mor from him, he always made a point of having me record both him playing the tune and singing the song, something which I found quite helpful.
Mark, sean-nós simply means old-style, or the old-fashioned way. It is typically sung acapella (unaccompanied voice). The singer, especially in Connemara style, will pick different notes or parts of phrases to draw out or emphasize, while main phrases can be surprisingly run quickly together. It is almost anathema to sing the tune straight. 
Yes, the words can be in Gaelic or English. Many tunes have several totally different lyrics set to them, some in English, some in Irish. Obviously, the older tunes are usually in Gaelic. Interestingly, there are songs that are half-and-half, possibly from a time when some listeners might not be too familiar with one or the other language. Micho Russell used to sing some of these.
Who to listen too? That’s like asking whose UP playing to listen too, i.e. everyone has their favourites, and it will probably cause another on-line feud. Here are a few classic names in the genre: Joe Heaney, Diarmid O’Sullivan, Elizabeth Cronin, Darach Ó Catháin, Seán 'ac Dhonncha, Meaiti Jó Shéamus Ó Fátharta, Peadar Ó Ceannabháin. There is no better site to find sean-nós CDs than Cló Iar-Connachta (CIC): http://www.cic.ie/cgi-bin/index.asp
That should keep you off the streets for a while.
djm
Thanks for the answers, you’ve cleared up a few things for me, and I must say that URL was helpful. I’ll pick up a few of the CDs, I think.
I don’t sing in public unless people are holding guns at me, but I can learn to carry the tune, at least. Sounds like a good way to learn a peice.
As for staying off the streets, we’ve had 10 cm. of snow in the last eight hours, and there’s more coming. I’m probably not going anywhere for a while. It’s so cold I’ve seen Winnipeggers actually wearing sweaters and toques. Must be bad.
Mark