I see no contradiction between the two. They are not mutually exclusive. That subject was over and done with, let’s leave it so.
Please…
This is a link to Phil Hardy’s site with an AMAZING video bit where Tony Hinnigan is “playing” the song he recorded for The Titanic durring an interview with Phil…
Phil Hardy has dome some great stuff on whistle that is outside the ITM genre. I really like it. Some carries the Celtic flavor into other styles, but some is just plain different.
There’s some great Bluesy and Jazzy stuff, particularly on the low whistle.
I also like Talbert’s stuff. (Peter, quit laughing! 
)
I wasn’t. Am now because you think I was. Talbert presented so much opportunity for taking the mickey it was too hard not take the opportunity at times. I don’t think I ever passed negative comment on his music (although it’s no secret his stuff is not for me), it was the verbiage that accompanied it that was the stuff of controversy [off to play with my inner palmtree now, thank you].
On Phil Hardy,
Phil Hardy is yet another good example. I’ve spent a lot of time at his site and have really been blessed by his pool of video footage of not only himself teaching and playing but of many top ranked players, playing live. Phil does have a multiplicity of styles in his whistle playing and I have learned much from him and his site and gladfully own a Chieftain tunalbe Low D and a Chieftain Messo A. I have to say that I’ve been on over 25 sites pertaining to the whistle and I vote his site as one of the best all around for equiptment, cd’s, tutoring and userfriendliness (if thats a word). As far as Phil’s Irish/Celtic and non-Irish/Celtic playing I have found his playing to be inspirational.
On Talbert St. Claire,
I have his cd and find it very inspirational. I don’t find it new agey personally but I find it “ambient” in nature, to a certain degree and find the whistle playing to be inovative IMO and a very good example of non-Irish/Celtic in nature but does have “overtones” at times.
WTA
Hi,
I can recommend the spanish (Galician) musician Hevia (Jose Angel Hevia).
He is an virtuoso on the galician bagpipe and also plays the low whistle on his album HEVIA. Stunning music with a fresh perspective on bagpipe playing and whistle playing.
Muliti talented swedish musician Ale Moller plays on a close relative to the whistel on the album HARJEDALSPIPAN.
I´m always looking for european folkmusic played on the whistle or its close relatives. Perhaps someone reding these lines can recommend some interesting music from the Balcans.
On a more personal level I´ve found that a lot of chinese folk- and art music is playable on the tin whistle. The chinese have several flute type instruments that closely resembles the tin whistle.
Good luck in your quest!
X: 49
T:Ziganoff
L:1/8
M:4/4
Q:1/4=200
C:Traditional Yiddish
S:Caravanserai - “Pig”
Z:Malcolm Downie
K:G
P:A
B ef|g e4 B ef|g e4 B ef|g2 g2 g2 fe|g g-g4 ga|!
|:b2 g2 a3 c’|b2 {a}gf e2 d2|g2 {a}bg a2 gf|[1e6 z2:|[2e4 z||!
B ef|g e4 B ef|g e4 B ef|g2 g2 g2 fe|g g-g4 ga|!
b2 g2 a3 c’|b2 {a}gf e2 d2|g2 {a}bg a2 gf|e6 z2||!
A2 A3 c BA|B2 G3 B AG|A2 D2 ddcA|B8|!
A2 A3 c BA|B2 B2 c2 BA|G2 G2 AAGF|E8:|!
e4 e4|e2 e2 e2 e2|eeBe gf e2|ddGB dc B2|A A2 d3 cA|!
B4 e4|eeBe gf e2|ddGB dc B2|A A2 c B2 AF|E8||!
…
I keep meaning to get round to having a go at playing this im not jewish and know noting of the music,but absolutely love some of the yiddish fiddle stuff,anyone ever try it on the whistle.
On the Galician front, don’t miss Carlos Nunez…
HI WTA, have a listen to the CDs by Mozaik. Although it is heavily ITM influenced (and bluegrass, and others), there is also some interesting balkan whistle-work and some very challenging time sigs.
You know, I almost sent a clip of him to William. I have the album The Other Side. Common mistake, he plays Atsurian Pipes, the difference is mainly the fingering (open on Galician vs. Closed on Asturian). Plus, the tunes are different, it is kind of like mixing up Scottish and Irish. Galician tunes are usually really happy and involve a couple odd chromatic notes in them where as Asturian tunes are very much like Irish tunes and based a lot on arppegios. I am not trying to be mean or anything so don’t take this the wrong way.
I am going to take up Galician Pipes in the near future, I have been working on tunes from my Susana Seivane albums as the fingerings are the same as Whsitle, except the Gaita Galega can go down to a C# (or B,A,G#,F they come in a couple different keys).
Nunez is like the Flook of Galician music. In the sense that he is not following the tradtion very closley.
IMO, the best Galician band out there is Os Cempes (The Centipedes in Galician), featuring the great Anton Varela on Gaita Galega.
Susana Seivane is a great Galician piper, probably my favorite, although her latest album (2004) is a little disappointing, I don’t think highly of drum sets.
Comtinue with your regular scheduled Whistle talk.
Both of them, but just a comment, Hevia plays Asturian bagpipe not Galician. They all sound similar to me (tuning, key and fingering differences mainly) but some Asturian or Galician musicians will easily remark the differences.
Hevia’s recordings have some modern mixture stuff that is not actually my baby. He plays the flute and low whistles as well. He also participates very closely in manufacturing high-end instruments ( Asturian bagpipes, Uillean, flutes and some other ) http://www.arhpa.com
There’s also a good piper called Anxo Lorenzo. This guy plays the whistle astonishingly well. Reminds me of Brian Finnegan’s style. I’m sorry the link didn’t include a sound clip:
You are quite right! Hevia plays the asturian bagpipe. I should check my sources better! But at least that´s in Spain, as far as I know. I spent a year in Spain 25 years ago studying the classical guitar. When I came to spain I had then the very common stereotype notion about spanish folk music as beeing only the gipsy flamenco tradition. But I discovered that there are a lot more than that. Hevia is an interesting very eclectic musician. His roots are obviously deeply rooted in the asturian tradition, but he have influences from celtic tradition and even plays on a synth bagpipe on his CD (No man´s land).
You are quite right! Hevia plays the asturian bagpipe. I should check my sources better! But at least that´s in Spain, as far as I know. I spent a year in Spain 25 years ago studying the classical guitar. When I came to spain I had then the very common stereotype notion about spanish folk music as beeing only the gipsy flamenco tradition. But I discovered that there are a lot more than that. Hevia is an interesting very eclectic musician. His roots are obviously deeply rooted in the asturian tradition, but he have influences from celtic tradition and even plays on a synth bagpipe on his CD (No man´s land).
Both pipes sound quite similar to me and there aren’t relevant distinctions between a Galician and an Asturian bloke, but you know…similar in nearly everything but different dialects, musical traditions and regional borders relationship…as Unseen stated, kinda Scots/Irish or Scots/English generalization.
You’re quite near! Both regions are up in the north west corner. I live at the centre spot of the Southest region. 1000 kms away from Galicia or Asturias, just to illustrate a bit.
And yes, he usually plays a synth pipe. He makes them and are also for sale (or they were just about to put them into market) I talked to the guy who was leading the computering issues. He is also a musician and talked very high of the flexibility and sensitiveness improvements of this bagpipes regarding the already existing midi devices but never listened to the actual results.
OK William. For kwela a good place to start would be Spokes Mishiyane’s CD King Kwela. I think a CD of various kwela artists was due for release. I’ll see if I can find it.
On Balkan Gypsy music—I think this is what you want too Falkbeer—the best known and perhaps best band is Taraf de Haidouks. Being a village band, a loose collection of individuals who come and go on stage as the tunes change, they don’t feature whistle all that much but their whistler, Falcaru, is as amazing as any whistler you will ever hear. Any of their early albums would be a good buy, you really can’t go wrong with this band. Falcaru is featured soloist on about 2 tracks per album but the rest of the soloists, fiddle, accordeon, cymbalum, are also extraordinary as are group dynamics. My favourite, although it’s a very close call, is Honourable Brigands, Magic Horses and Evil Eye. Falcaru is featured on track 8 (Doina si cintec) and 14 (Briu).
I imagine some online stores will have soundclips of both of these albums.
William, I get the impression you might enjoy some Native American flute music. I’ll leave it to others who know this music better than I do to make suggestions.
I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned L.E. McCullough’s Whistle Around the World yet. It even comes with scores.
Wombat,
Native American Flute music? Ohhhhhh, mmmmmmm. Me thinks yes…
WTA