I’m relatively new to the pennywhistle and low D whistles and was wondering if the air “Lament for Frankie” on the Solas album is played on a low D whistle. If so, God that sounds great!
Mark
It’s played on a Bb flute, I believe one of a handful that Patrick Olwell has made. It’s easy to play along an octave higher on a Bb whistle.
Don’t miss the original on Altan’s Blackwater.
Lament for Frankie (per Altan, haven’t caught the Solas version yet) is probably the tune that will forever have me regretting that I never took up the fiddle.
Almost like synesthesia, every time I hear it I can see 2-3 moths fluttering in the night, close to the ground in a dappled, vague, stray shaft of moonlight in a woodsy clearing no bigger than a hand, as if you’re on your belly watching them dance. It floors me every time.
N
Please telll me more. I haven’t any recollection of this tune but may have heard it . I also play a bflat flute so always am desperate for suitable music. Has anybody got the abc notation whatever for it yet please?
The lament for Frankie, (Titled: A Tune for Frankie) should be heard from an Altan album. It was written by Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh.
From The Blackwater album notes:…
A Tune For Frankie> . Frankie Kennedy was from Andersonstown in Belfast. He played flute and was known as one of the top flute players in the country. He married Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh and the two of them along with Ciaran Curran and Mark Kelly founded Altan over 10 years ago (1980’s). Sadly, Frankie died in September of '94 after a long struggle with cancer. He will always remain an insperation to all who loved and knew him.
I have “The Best of Altan” album, and Frankie’s recordings of The Sunset Reel and An Feochan, contributed to my decision to pursue Irish whistle and flute. Listening to Frankie play and then to his wifes tribute touches the heart in tune beyond what words could bare.
You can find the tune on JC’s Tune finder at <a href=http://ecf-guest.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/findtune?P=tune+for+frankie&F2=find+%28wide%29&L=100>A Tune For Frankie.
Selkie, this is one worth learning, IMHO. If you can beg, borrow, or steal a copy of Altan’s ‘Blackwater’, do so without delay! As for ABC notation, I don’t know. If I can find it, I’ll provide a link. BUT…ya just gotta hear Mairead’s fiddle mourning away at it. I’m sure the Solas version is brilliant, bur Mairead composed it, and Frankie Kennedy was her loss. It’s an intimate experience to hear it; almost like overhearing a private grief, and you can’t stop yourself from eavesdropping. 
But then, I get a bit lyric now and then. 
Hi,
Is Bb the tune’s original key signature? I can’t play a lament like that in Bb, I find that key too awkward on the concertina; I’d rather play it a half-step up or down (yes, I’d rather play in B than in Bb.)
Caj
Caj, that should be just fine. Close enuf; the beauty of the piece is in the low notes, to me. I tried playing it on D flute a while back, and dropped it because the feel wasn’t right. It was OK, still dark sounding, but not enough depth for me.
N
We’re obviously talking about two different tunes here. The one on the Solas album was written by Win Horan and Seamus Egan, also for Frankie Kennedy, I believe.
Charlie, which Solas album is that?
Nanohedron,
Not Charlie here, but I’ve got the CD in front of me here…It’s on the album just called Solas. Yes, two different tunes. The Altan tune, as Lee has been pointed out, is A Tune for Frankie. This one is called Lament for Frankie. They are both stunning.
Carol
Oops, that’s right. ‘A Tune for Frankie’. Thanks, Carol. 
So many people talking about Solas…I take it that, being eponymous, 'twas the first album? I have one of their more recent ones, couldn’t listen to it. Too jazzy for me.
Yes, their first. 1996.
I heard them live last fall and their venue should have tipped me off a little: House of Blues. Seamus Egan played the {whispers} electric guitar. But he also played a rockin’ set with the Bb flute as well as the D flute and a whole host of other instruments, including mandolin and banjo. The opening act was Liz Carroll and Jim DeWan, and Carroll’s Lament of the First Generation stole the show for me. I love the early Solas albums though.
Carol