yep 
He barely plays flute anymore. anyway, Michael McGoldrick is god.
Nope
Nah. Rama is. 
One of the best for sure. He seems to do everything right. He has the power and honking when he wants, he has the beautiful subtleness when he needs and he has ornamentations like no other players Iāve heard. Itās really amazing that he is so extremely good on so many other instruments as well. If not the best flutist heās got to be the best multi-instrumentalist at least.
you mean Shameless Ego?
hmmm
I dunno.
With Matt, Michael, Sylvan, Michael, Deirdre, and, and andā¦
I donāt think there is such as thing as ābestā in the class.
A favorite, yesā¦but not best.
Who would judge them to see who wins?
Of course it has to be best for me, not best as a universal fact. My favorite is the best for me. So there! 
Short answer is ānoā. There is no such thing as ābestā at that level of musicianship - it comes down to personal taste. I will say though, that I can think of very few other traditional Irish musicians who are so accomplished on so many instruments.
i think it is a little in the foolish side to make a statement such as ā'Best flutist of all timeā, there are so many different styleās of flute playing, especially in celtic music,also in my travels through the music world over the years, i have listened to some fine flute players who have never done commercial recordings,
Seems to me this poor misinformed AiglosCelt is relatively new (maybe a few years) to the world of real traditional irish music, and should get quite a lot more exposure to the world of fine traditional flute players.
Back in 1989, the late author David Blum wrote a wonderful profile of Yo-Yo Ma for The New Yorker. Itās available in his book āQuintet: Five Journeys Toward Musical Fulfillmentā (Cornell University Press) and itās a great read for any musician, even if you have zero interest in classical music.
Anyway, thereās a relevant passage in his profile of Yo-Yo Ma:
One sometimes reads that So-and-So is the āgreatestā performer in a given field. But when it comes to artistic excellence there is no greatest performer, only a great performance, and that can occur unexpectedly. Iāve seen an English secondary-school production of Farquharās āThe Beauxā Strategemā that ran rings around the National Theatre for sheer acting skill and Restoration high spirits. A āgreatā violinist may possess genuine sensibility and enchanting beauty of tone, but does the enchantment cut through to the essense of the composer? Some of the truest performancesā¦distinctly lack the typical superstarās sense of ease and protective sheen.
Amen to that. Itās definitely a matter of context as well.
Heh, I understand that itās a rash generalization to say someone is the best, Mr. Egan just happens to be me personal favoriteā¦the god of honkin, sez I!
emhh..emhhā¦
pleaseā¦
you have forget Me!
itās true - Rich (rama) is one of them for sure, I canāt even say who is my favorite, I know there are things that I try to pick up for various flute players, sometimes itās even in the simplicity of there play, or the tone. I would not say that Grey Larsen is at the top, yet there is so much that I pick up from his way of playing, and even tune selection. Conal is great but I donāt know that I picked anything from his playing?
If I had to pick a best, my vote would go to Chris Norman, because he does so many different things and does them all well.
That said, Iām with Eilam, Dave M et al. The three whom Iāve listened to constantly the last year or so are Deirdre Havlin, Jack Coen, and Garry Shannon. Totally disparate styles, same end result: music that I love and hope to be able to play one of these days. I love Seamusās playing, but between the last two times I saw him (five years apart), I think he picked up a flute twice.
This reminds me of an earnest discussion I had with a fiddle-playing friendāhe prefers Matt Malloy and I was promoting Seamus. We agreed it was a matter of taste, and made the analogy that Matt was smooth and suave, like Fred Astaire, and Seamus was wild and energetic, like Gene Kelly. All far beyond the rest of the field, and no knock on anyone.
Come to think of it, Iāve always had a āthingā about Geneās backside. What, um, musculature!
M
blink :?
but seriously, I think thatās a quite good comparison
I am the Best!!!
Because I please my own soul, when playing the Irish Flute!
Playing music myself brings me far greater pleasure than listening to any of the āMastersā.
Iām sure no one else will argue in my behalf!
:roll: I have a dream āone day my wife will actually ask me to play my flute!ā
David,
Thatās a pretty harsh thing to say about someone. I also think itās the kind of statement that starts gossip and rumours that donāt actually seem to be based on anything, or at least nobody can say what itās really based on. If you are going to label Seamus Egan as āShameless Egoā maybe you would consider providing some justification for that statement? Otherwise it is just name-calling.
Chris
I was just listening to Seamus Tansey this morning. Talk about being blown away. How do he do what he do??? 