KAC
Guess that’s why he only took second in the All-Ireland Fleadh. Piker.
Rob
Actually, I heard he’d won. So much for competitions, eh?
Or, more to the point, so much for your assessment of Michael flatley’s flute playing. Cheers,
Rob
Ah, well, you have your opinion and I have mine.
Have you ever heard him? If you fancy what he does, more power to you, but I thought his playing abominable, and at the time, I’d never heard of him, so had no preconceived notions. He was opening (as a flute player, not a dancer) for Battlefield Band some years back.
My opinion doesn’t enter into it. You may not like him, but he certainly can play or he wouldn’t have won the Fleadh, now, would he? Words like “worst” and “abominable” tell me you’ve confused your own opinion with a realistic assessment of Flatley’s skills, as proven in fierce competition. Maybe you don’t like his style - why not just say that, rather than trying to imply that he can’t play? Anyone can see that he’s a accomplished player, whether he’s tasteful or not. Cheers,
Rob
Have you seen American Idol? or any of the bazillion rip off duplicates. They have winners too.
KAC
I take your point. He’s an accomplished player whose taste and style I do not recommend.
Some discussion here:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=27908&view=next
and
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/16472/comments
KAC
Sounds pretty good to me. Fast forward for some faster playing. It starts out slow.
Michael
OK Cubitt, your turn: Show us what you’ve got that makes Flatley seem like such a lousy player. 
Loren
I pray, for your sake, that you’re not equating A.I. with the Fleadh. If C.C.E. gets wind of this, you’ll be off the Christmas list and out of the will for sure.
Only in the sense that they are both contests an in the sense that winning a contest like getting a H.S. Diploma doesn’t necessarily say anything. Like the lion chasing two explorers, to survive one doesn’t have to outrun the lion, just outrun the other guy…
KAC
I freely admit that was quite good. Funny thing is, when I saw him, he played the same thing and it was awful, as was most of what he played that night. Since this arrangement is the one Matt Malloy plays, if he had played it like he does here, I would never have had such a bad impression. Now, I know anyone can have a bad night, but my impression of him is also based on some recordings I’ve heard, the tune he plays on Feet of Flames, and the fact that, even here, he does these annoying (to me) trills on slow tunes that drive me up the wall.
So, although I guess I stand corrected, I did have a basis for my opinion. My guess is that sometimes his ego may be stronger than his aesthetic sense, and he overloads his playing (at least at times) to the point of becoming too much.
Mr. Flatly plays well enough for sure.
I have always felt he got a bad rap.
Leaping about in heavy eye makeup will to that for a chap.
I learned his version of An Chúilfhionn aka Whispering Winds according to him. Its a nice variation.
There is far too much Flately love going on here…I feel obliged to post a bit of reality to remedy the situation:
I hope you’re able to sleep well tonight, because those images will be haunting me…
As shown above, flute playing talent does not correlate with taste.
Eric
Yeah, let’s get back to spit dripping out of flutes…
KAC
We aren’t too far off.
We went from spit to sap.
I think we should all dress like that at sessions. Should really kick things up ay?
Michael who?
Well, as I’ve said, there is more than one way to play a tune…and M. Flately has a wide range of expression, and often uses it…
The flute in that video is the one he told me was found in 4 separate pieces in 4 separate pubs…cute story the way he tells it…we were comparing it to my M&E Rudall at the time (which he claimed he had no idea even existed)
Go figure!