I just bought two CDs: “Tin Whistles”, Paddy Moloney and Sean Potts and “The Irish Low Whsitle”, Joe mcKenna.
WOW!!! Moloney and Potts (Chieftens fame) play solo and duet throughout the album. What an outstanding blend of whistles. One aire in Bb knocked my socks off - well . . .
Joe McKenna plays low D mostly and a Bb bamboo. I confess to the Joe McKenna being a new name to me but I’ll sure seek out more of his stuff. All I have to do now is learn how to learn by ear!
BillG
Hi Bill,
this is wierd, I also bought the same 2 CD’s together!! I’ll have to be honest and say that I’ve hardly listened to Moloney and Potts as I was blown away by Joe McKenna. The only other Joe McKenna CD’S I’ve heard of are “At Home” With Joe on pipes and his wife Antoinette on harp and “The best of Joe and Antoinette McKenna” same as above. You probably know this but Antoinette is Mary Bergin’s sister.
Cheers, Mac
I like the McKenna cd as well. Not everyone I know likes it that well, however. Just to point out, it is not entirely “pure drop” traditional. This bugs some people, especially if they buy without knowing ahead of time. But, I, myself, love it.
Tony
Bill, Joe McKenna has also recorded with a band called “Sean Nua” (if you know your Irish you’ll know that that’s an oxymoron). All of his stuff is available here in the U.S. on Shanachie Records (he’s their European rep.). He’s a great guy and a lovely player.
Joe McKenna is mostly a uillean pipe player, and often plays with his wife, Antoinette. She in turn is the sister of Mary Bergin, whose whistle CDs you should be getting next. The best thing about the McKenna CD is the low A duet he does with Mary Bergin: Contentment is wealth/Moncoin. Very sweet.
With respect to the fine Joe McKenna CD–“The Irish Low Whistle”, would that be a Low B Flat on which he is playing Caoineadh Eoghain Rua (“Lament for Owen Rowe”)? I had the good fortune to hear him play this live, probably in July of 2001 (2000? right after the CD came out, anyway). Big whistle, deep sound. A tune sure to add ‘bottom’ to your repertory. I concur with the observation about ‘Contentment is Wealth/The Mooncoin Jig.’ ‘Echo’s Calling’ is a great starter tune to play along with for folks trying to piece together their first entire tune (!) on a low D, especially when no one else is home. All in all, a great CD.
Tom D.
Just bought the McKenna CD myself 2 weeks ago! My two favourites are Rowesomes/The Ballintore Fancy and The Buachaill Dreota/Jackie Tar (the latter is an English hornpipe, not Scottish as mentioned in the cover). I love the duet on Lucky in Love too.
One point of note: the little pic of Mary Bergin shows her holding a little black whistle which is definitely not a Gen - so what is it? O’Riordan?
I am listening to the Tin Whistles CD as I type this! I really do enjoy the slightly raw aspect of just two whistlers (and the occasional bodhran-ist) without anything fancy being done to the sound.
Americans are pretty heavily accustomed to hearing music that is tweaked until it can’t actually be done live. I think that’s one of the things that really attracts me to Irish and other folk music. It feels more real, somehow.
-Patrick
On 2002-09-05 14:36, Patrick wrote:
Americans are pretty heavily accustomed to hearing music that is tweaked until it can’t actually be done live. I think that’s one of the things that really attracts me to Irish and other folk music. It feels more real, somehow.
I agree with Patrick. I much prefer to hear recordings with almost no “production”. Even IrTrad CDs coming out of Ireland often have reverb added or overdubbing. It’s a difference in point of view: is the CD product the more important or is the musical performance more important?
Mike