Then go: English; Music; Videos; “clip ‘Belgian TV’”
about half way through the interview he plays a couple of tunes on a whistle and - well you have to watch it…
I just can’t believe how good this man is. I have never heard anything like it. In fact, I’m having a hard time understanding how he can make a whistle sound the way he can. It makes me wonder if there are differences between the galacian whistle he plays and our whistes. If anyone knows more about this than I do, please let me know…
Looking at his whistle it screams Swayne to me. He uses a lot of tounging also. IMO, he plays too fast. Plus his piping is not very trad Galician style, mostly Irish style. I play a bit of Galician Pipes myself, and have been way more inspired by Susana Seivane.
Had a chance to spend some time with Carlos and the Chieftains when they were out just over a year back now. Great times! And Carlos is indeed a marvelous player - amazingly smooth and fluid.
Yep, he usually plays Swayne’s. In some of the clips there were some Chieftains or Overtones I think.
He may play traditional as well; he’s actually teacher of Galician bagpipes and flute at University. Years ago he opted for the show and his music is this sort pop/folk/rock or whatever you call it.
Not my fancy at all, but his fingering, tuning, accuracy is absolutely out of this world.
The Belgiam show clip is my favorite. The perfect example of how us, spaniards, speak English!!
People do have to make a living, and playing purely trad music rarely will get you to retirement age with any money in the bank. I’m all for trad as much as the next guy, but I can’t fault any of these folks for not wanting to be starving artists.
Does anybody really know what traditional Galician piping would have sounded like? Nunez claims to be returning to an earlier ‘lost’ style but I have no idea how you could argue the case convincingly.
There are some Galician chiffers that might add more accuracy. However, being the "Tradition Champion"it sounds a bit bombastic even pretencious to me. He certainly has studied styles, recorded the elder ones and so on. He may even be able to play like them, but it’s quite obvious his current style differs remarkably from the older pipers. This was recorded around 1928 by Os Gaiteiros de Soutelo de Montes, one of the most influential bands in Galicia:
Click on first entry “a gaita do fol” then in “partituras” to get some written music.
I’d never fault him, as Loren said. On the contrary, he’s a virtuoso when piping, whsitling and also with the recorder. He simply chose having a professional career and live (very well) on music, that’s all.
Did you know that Nuñez says that he ocassionally plays under water (not blowing and so on, just the chanter or a whistle) so as to gain finger speed, precision and endurance?
From what I’ve read I’d agree with you, Sylvester, as regards Nunez. It seems to me that he is playing in a sort of pan-Celtic style and trying to justify it’s Galician authenticity after the fact. I’m going just on the basis of a very superficial understanding of the Galician tradition though.
I think Nunez is pretty open and explicit about his interest in finding links between Galacian music and flamenco, as well as with other forms of celtic music. This seems to be what he wants to do, and he seems excited about it. It doesn’t make much sense, to me then, to criticize him for not being an antiquarian if that’s not what he’s trying to do. I’ve never heard him claim that he is returning to an earlier lost style of galacian playing, though, so if I’m wrong about his intentions, that would be different…Wombat: what what was the context of his claim?
Musical tastes aside, I have never heard anyone play like him.
I thought it looked like a Swayne too, but I know people like Yvon Le Coant make very similar looking whistles, so I figured it may have been something different. Interesting.
Fast playing is certainly a problem when people sacrifice music for the sake of it, but Nunez doesn’t sacrifice anything. It’s just impressive.
The tune he is playing is actually a GHB tune called “clumsy lover” and was composed by Neil Dickie.
Well, I see it as a part of the business. Nuñez is indeed a very talented musician. As a person he’s quite catching. He says interesting things in a cool way about music, quite poetic, I’d say. The percentage of posing for the media or sincere communication I know not.
He usually doesn’t play that fast. It’s just rather for the live show. Some colleagues in Spain accuse Nuñez of corruption, a victim of marketing, a product. However some opinions might be biased since he’s maybe the best selling folk artist here.
I think Nunez is pretty open and explicit about his interest in finding links between Galacian music and flamenco, as well as with other forms of celtic music. This seems to be what he wants to do, and he seems excited about it.
Canpiper, there is currently a tendency in Spain to mingle every kind of music with flamenco (chill-out, dance, techno, and a long so on) that lead us to a product very easy to accept by consumers because is cheerful but not too complex. Pure flamenco is hardly understood here, but light aproximations and fussion are eagerly approved and massively successful. So, I wouldn’t take those words seriously. Happened the same with cuban music, african, irish, and now, flamenco.
Cheers OnTheMoor. It’s a real shame that there is such a few recordings on the site. I’ll look for some extras.
To clarify what I meant. I never meant he was a bad player, quite the opposite. I have nothing wrong with epople who try to make a living off of playing as I will probably be trying to do that in a few years. I just don’t really like his music, I also find that he sacrifices music for ornaments. I am not this way about Irish or Scottish trad, I love bands/artists like Flook, Shooglenifty, Michael McGoldrick, John McSherry, and so on. It is not about purity, it is more of the mainstream/pop that annoys me. I love music that is a mix of trad and rock or trad and Jazz, I just can’t stand pop music. So even thought I love the above artists, I don’t like most stuff done by the Cheiftains. It is not about purity, it is about tastes.
I just watched the Belgian TV video. I’m always going to like the real traditional music best, but I have to say this fellow does seem nice and funny. When he was asked if he was the greatest piper in the world he said “No”. So, I’m not going to really ask any more of someone than that they recognize other players. I never saw anyone leap around so much playing the pipes! I think he is the “Jimi Hendrix” of the pipes as he said some Americans called him. I would like to hear him play some real traditional tunes though. Maybe when he gets older.
Gosh! I also enjoyed the clip a lot and found he seemed indeed passionate about what he does. I’m usually quite rational and tend to see things with a critical eye as some people’s comments in this thread, but if this guy is just pretending to be happy, I got really lured!
Irrespective of if his words were sincere or mere posing for the media, I think we would be happier if stopped overusing our critical mind and just had a more active heart, and I believe a musician that emphasizes technique over the feelings, has just the form without the main content.
Whether just appearance or the real thing, Nunez perfomance and contagious joy on that clip brought my usually cold and indifferent person to tears of joy.
Yep. Agreed. It’d be a surprise finding a guy playing like that if music was not a very important part in his life. As for business, he also knows the ropes. Nothing negative in that. Maybe a shame for some trad. lovers.
