Saw the movie last night, and it is every bit as fabulous as the book was. The Newfoundland scenery and depictions of local flavour brought back many wonderful memories. The whistle playing was hauntingly beautiful (no specific tunes recognizable to me), and was featured about 4 or 5 times including the opening music. Mostly airs, but some melded into jigs or slides. Whistle was joined by bodhran, uillean pipes, probably a synthesizer, and occasional fiddle, and the music is clearly “celtic” style. I saw the “Pennywhistle” word on the credits right underneath “Uillean Pipes”, but I missed the name of the whistle player. Anybody know who it is, or care to guess the type of whistle used ?
I can’t help with your questions, but Miramax films has a web site for the film. Click on the “Score” option and a few of the tracks have short recordings that you can listen to.
http://www.miramaxhighlights.com/theshippingnews/sco_index.html
Thanks for the Miramax site…its quick load, quick play, lists the tune names, and the whistle comes right in at the begining of the track. The first tune aptly titled “Shipping News” is, as I recall, repeated during the movie on several occasions and at length.
The score from “The Shipping News” is supposed to be available on CD on Jan 23 - I assume the whistle player should be credited on the CD liner?