Just back from Denmark’s Tönder Festival www.tf.dk
A nice weekend although it was wet and muddy on the camping grounds our first day there, Friday. The music was very good this year. Liam O’Flynn performed the Brendan voyage on the Wednesday which we missed, but we were able to hear Cillian Valleley with Lunasa, Mick O’Brien with Vamp (Norwegian band), Donnacha with Danu, and on the Sunday I was surprised to see Mick Coyne of Ennis up on stage. Also met up with Morten Holm and got to see and hear his newly accquired Brad Angus full Bb set and a new Dave Williams D chanter. The Brad Angus set isn’t running on all six cylinders yet, but the Williams chanter was in good form. Mick O’Brien met Morten on the Saturday afternoon in the new Tönder festival pub, and they roadtested the Angus set and Williams chanter. I’ll let Morten tell you about that. Mick was amazing able to get into playing mode after only a few hours sleep ((Tönder is famous for the all nighter sessions).
The Sunday afternoon ceildh concert was one of the best, and in tent two very Irish dominated, with pipers Mick O’Brian, Mick Coyne, Cillian Vallely playing on stage with members of Danu, Lunasa, in different combinations. A big plus was box player Seamus Beagley & guitarist Joe Murray’s set. Great music and singing. Mick Coyne told us afterwards that Seamus had only got to Denmark an hour before we went on stage. I’ll try and get some photos up this week from the event. So we heard a few different sets this year, Mick O’Brien’s Froment, Mick Coyne’s O’Briain set & Cillian Valleley’s Dave William’s set. My own Williams set was playing alright, the regs a bit wonky during the start of the Saturday afternoon session around 3-4 pm., so didn’t use them at all, but as it dried up and got warmer inside they came in tune later during the evening around 9 pm and were going all right for the rest of the evening.
Tom - you still have my chanter reed in your Williams Bb. I knew this would happend.
And you forgot to mention Jarlath Henderson, young superpiper from Armagh, was there as “invited guest musician”, he’ll probably show up with his band next year.
Well, not much to tell about the roadtest. Micks expert opinion on the Angus set was on the whole, what I had expected. Playabilty great, tuning, not-so-great. With the chanter reeds provided for the set (and I must say, Brad shipped 15 extra assorted reeds + a handfull of drone reeds with the set) the chanter was flat in the lower octave and sharp in the upper octave, and had some problems with the bottom D. The drones & regs were completely off.
That said, I have to point out that the conditions for adjusting the set was not really favourable at Tønder. The bellows was my own, made for my D-set, finished on thursday, and still leaking. And probably it was not the healthiest thing for the set to stay in a tent in that weather, coming from a nice, warm, dry appartment…
I have had both the drones and the regs (partially) going well in tune, and well balanced at home. I’ll have to work a bit on the chanter though, I have had difficulty tuning it…
I suspect that the set took a severe climate shock coming half way around the world. And just to clarify: I love the Angus set. It is well made, got a nice tone and looks beautiful. The tuning issues will be dealt with, when I get the time…
Another treat of the day was when Ole Buhl from DK showed up with his home made B-set:
Yes - he made all of it. Very very impressive. Not the most beautiful set in the world, but it sounded wonderful.
Are you joking about the reed Morten? I’m sure I took it out of the Williams? I’ll have a look tonight after work to make sure.
The Angus Bb was certainly a very well made, nice looking set of pipes. Mick O’Brian said it reminded him of Geoff Wooff’s instruments. There were as Morten said some tuning issues with the chanter to sort out. I had my Wooff C shipped from Australia and Geoff Wooff sent two reeds from Ireland, but I wasn’t able to get the chanter working satisfactorily. This was in December 2000. Then at Miltown 2001 I gave Geoff the chanter and the next day got it back with a new reed and it’s been going great ever since, no problems at all. It can take a while to get reeds adjusted and settled in and then hopefully they’ll remain stable for the most part.
Danish piper Ole Buhl’s B set that he made himself was an amazing set. Especially Ole’s description of how he made the set, took three years to complete. Fair play to you Ole, quite an achivement, very impressive. Mick O’Brien had a go and it played very well, and was in tune. Ole had even made his reeds. The regulators were each put together from four pieces of wood, they were square bores in them except at the throat and bell. Ole said he was inspired by Craig Fisher’s square chanter and he adapted Craig’s measurements for the regs. They really worked and played in tune.
Yes, forgot about Jarlath. I never saw him though. I heard he was there with his Dave Williams set and a couple of friends. Someone said that he played in the club tent on the Friday night, but that the sound system wasn’t that good.
extra assorted reeds + a handfull of drone reeds with the set) the chanter was flat in the lower octave and sharp in the upper octave, and had some problems with the bottom D. The drones & regs were completely off.
