this thread may exist already but i couldn’'t seem to find it.
i was wondering if people have discussed the differences in joanie madden’s and mary Bergin’s style of play. i know mary influenced joanie but i was curious about stylistic subtleties…my un-trained ear finds them similar
24 hours without an answer… Cramer, don’t you know better by now than to ask about a question about whistle playing in this forum?
I think when they get going they both have a very similar style, I can’t put words to set them apart style-wise. As far as choice of material & production of recordings Mary Bergin is a lot more traditional while Joannie is more “innovative”.
Shame on you! Asking a good question about playing the whistle… 
Good job, Brad, except that I’d categorize Joanie’s current work as more “commercial” than “innovative.” She plays in a traditional style, but seems to have jumped on the “New Age/Celtic” bandwagon as far as material and production goes.
A few Chiffers and I saw Joanie in a session two weeks ago. It was great to hear her play traditionnal stuff. She’s amazing on the whistle, and has the same type of very ornamented, fast playing as Mary Bergin does have. I can’t really say on the flute as she was playing with many other musicians and I couldnt distinguish her playing from the rest.
One way or the other, Maden doesnt have a style that appeals to me. There were whistle players far more impressive than her, when you talk about phrasing and style.
I was keeping my mouth shut because when I asked this question last year it ignited a flame war. But since you asked…
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=4649&highlight=joannie+madden+mary+bergin
thanks for the thread. my intent wasn’t to start a war :0. the reason why i asked was i made whistle mix cd and there were few songs by both that i didn’t know very well and i wasn’t really able to discern between the different styles.
It’s really refreshing to go back and re-read that thread, looking for the “flame war” and finding that the C&F version of a flame war amounts to little more than some good-natured, relatively polite teasing.
What a great bunch we have here.
i agree. i think that is one of the better threads i have read. i learned a lot. and if there was any ranting or raving it was productive and informative.
The most flaming post that I remember from it, isn’t there any more. Or my memory is defective.
Well, maybe you should check the facts before posting something.
…
Just joking. There hasnt been a flame war for quite a while and I miss that. let’s start one!
We could always bring back the war thread between Chris Laughlin and MurphyStout. That was the best there ever was.
I sort of see Joanie on the whistle the same way I see Eric Johnson on the guitar. They are both great, of course, but there are other instrumentalists which could probably blow them out of the water as far as style or technique. However, they are both so darned nice that I’ll probably keep buying CTL and EJ CD’s as long as they keep cranking them out.
I don’t know what you guys are talking about. It’s clear that Madden was a lineman before become a broadcaster and I can only imagine that Bergin would play down field.
