As Riverdance celebrates 20 years see how many pipers you can find among the list of past musicians.
I’ve probably missed some:
Matt Bashford
Mick O’Brien
John O’Brien
Tommy Martin
Declan Masterson
Martin McCormack
Mikie Smyth
John McSherry
Davy Spillane
Cillian Vallely
Eamonn Galldubh
Darragh Murphy
Flaithrí Neff
Ivan Goff
Wasn’t Ronan Browne involved in Riverdance in the beginning? May not the show, but the original Eurovision “Intermission”.
Yes,
Ronan Browne was the very first.
Eoin Kenny is also not listed.
Padraig, you missed Brian O’Brien.
There are 2 musicians listed that also play pipes but played other instruments in the band.
Aoife Ni Bhriain and David Downes.
Tommy
That’s quite a list. Kind of like Spinal Tap drummers.
Thankfully no bizarre gardening accidents.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but shouldn’t Liam O’Flynn be on that list also? Was he not the piper that played on the Eurovision show that was the catalyst for the Riverdance phenomenon!
Was he not the piper that played on the Eurovision show that was the catalyst for the Riverdance phenomenon!
Well he was on Timedance but that was more than ten years before Riverdance, hardly a catalyst. I wouldn’t say there’s much of a connection between the two (well Bill Whelan was playing keyboards in Timedance but that’s about it).
But do any of the pipes/pipers go to eleven?
Since when has a long time period stood in the way of a growing idea? 
Since when has a long time period stood in the way of a growing idea?
Well, ion that case you may as well include all members of Planxty in the list, especially Andy Irvine for introducing the Balkan rhythms to Ireland.
I’ve always thought that the Timedance - Riverdance connection has been overstated a bit over the years.
Bill Whelan wrote one of the 4 tunes that made up Timedance, the others by Donal Lunny and Junior Crehan. But it was very much a Planxty/Lunny production. Musically anyway.
The collaboration album with Andy Irvine and Davy Spillane (East Wind) would have sparked an interest in the eastern European dance rhythms which inspired most of the music in Riverdance. I think in the whole show there’s 2 reels and 1 slip jig so there’s not much in common with what Planxty would have done.
Although,
As a radio jingles composer, Bill Whelan would have worked for RTE a lot and would have been pitching tunes and ideas for musical productions to RTE all through the 80’s and early 90’s. So his perseverance paid off. Literally!
Tommy
Ok, I stand corrected.
were they all paid the same rate?
also, am i right in saying it was spillane on the recording of the seville suite tune that was later used in riverdance, and that it was ronan browne in the recorded version of the show? - a ‘single’ was released of the music used in the original performance, and later a recording of the whole show so was the single the same recording taken from the full show or different?
Fiddlesticks - catalysts have no “statute of limitations” - and - Whelan is down as either composer or co-composer of both.
Of course the 1981 Eurovision show was the catalyst for Riverdance.
Of course the 1981 Eurovision show was the catalyst for Riverdance.
I don’t think that at all but we’ll have to agree to disagree.
If anything the RTE “light entertainment department” was the real connection between the 2 events.
Whelan is down as either composer or co-composer of both.
He’s been mis-credited a lot.
The 3 tunes in Timedance are
The Humours of Barrack Street (Junior Crehan)
Isercleran (Lunny)
Ballymun Regatta (Bill Whelan and Donal Lunny)
The theme played on the whistle was written by Lunny.
were they all paid the same rate?
No.
The US tours used to pay a bit more than the European tours so it depended on where you ended up.
Wages fluctuated over the years too, like any business.
Tommy
also, am i right in saying it was spillane on the recording of the seville suite tune that was later used in riverdance
Davy was on the Seville Suite album but none of that music was used in Riverdance.
Tommy
The 3 tunes in Timedance are
The Humours of Barrack Street (Junior Crehan)
Isercleran (Lunny)
Ballymun Regatta (Bill Whelan and Donal Lunny)The theme played on the whistle was written by Lunny.
The record sleeve quotes them as co-writers for both pieces, fwiw. Barrack street was learned from Junior, he didn’t compose it. Some say they got the title wrong on that one. Some others say he inserted that extra beat just to wrong-foot them but I think it was a one-off mistake copied many times by many since. I heard him play it ‘correctly’ on a few occasions. I seem to remember there’s a notation from his playing in one of the CRE volumes.
But maybe this is all getting sidetracked and too bogged down in details that really don’t matter too much.
go to around 6.00 minutes here - it sounds like one of the riverdance tunes to me:
It might sound similar but it wasn’t in Riverdance.
Tommy