Irish Instrument transcends cultural boundaries

Whistle
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I hope this is OK to post here. As a enthusiastic whistler I think of the the Whistle forum as my home. I wanted to share this wonderful experience and relate how Irish music and its instruments can reach literally anywhere, even the top of a lonely Kansas plateau.

This past Saturday evening my wife and I with over 6700 others sat at the top of a grassland plateau and listened to a “Symphony in the Flint Hills.” The whole of the 85 member Kansas City Symphony, 100 member Chorus, and the Paul Winter Consort traversed by wagon and tractor 1 ½ miles from the valley below to a site in the middle of the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. The performance was of “Grasslands: Prairie Voices” a 13 part compostition written by Eugene Friesen of the Consort. The view was frankly breathtaking. The grassland stretching in sight for miles just as nature had made it hundreds, perhaps thousands of years before. The music was wonderful, and at times overwhelming!

My view of the orchestra setting had been blocked when we first sat down. The day was one of the hottest we’ve had yet this year, hovering somewhere between 92 – 97 with intermittent clouds, but lots of sun. The fellow in front of me had an umbrella up before the concert started, so I had missed a unique instrument. All umbrellas went down at the start of the music. The percussion sound was just amazing! The K.C.Symphony and Chorus were great, but the percussion really brought the “passion” of the music together for me. Driving, pounding rhythm interlaced with traditional symphonic sound, wonderful! By the third movement, I literally was so taken by the music and the surroundings; my heart was pounding, my eyes were moist.

I had to find out where this percussion was coming from, the program mentioned two percussionists with the consort. I took out the small binoculars I had with me. I knew there was a player sitting on the stage floor with some kind of percussion arrangement, but here was another in a chair with mic boom holding some kind of flat drum. No – “it couldn’t be - could it?”. Here was this Mexican American man holding a huge “frame drum”, a Cooperman Bodhran!

Thank you Mother Ireland for bringing the instrument to life!


For any who wish to have more info:

http://www.symphonyintheflinthills.org/index.php

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Albert Alphonso, a Cuban-American, makes some of the nicest bodhrans (and plays them very well, too).

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I wondered if that would be he. He is a really neat player.

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Could be, though I can’t feature Albert playing a Cooperman drum. . .

Mark

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The link provided indicates that it was Glen Velez, who is a world-renowned frame drum virtuoso. He does play bodhran, but with his usual mind-boggling array of hand and finger techniques. He can also make a simple tambourine sound like a percussion ensemble. Amazing stuff.

Here’s a video clip.

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Thanks - I had not had the time to yet respond. I got the chance to speak shortly with Glen at intermission when complimenting him and his percussion partner. Seemed like a nice guy, and was very happy I recognized it as a Bodhran.

Certainly a different performance than what I saw John Joe Kelly do with one during a Flook concert.

It’s fascinating to see what these artists can do with 1 “simple” drum. It did indeed sound like an ensemble of percussion.