The first concert of Irish music I went to was a Lunasa gig, in Oxford, almost exactly a year ago. They were barely four bars into their first tune when some pillock sitting just behind me and to my left yelled out:
“Woof!”
By the end of their first set, all of about 3 minutes, The Pillock must’ve yelled “Woof!” half a dozen times. Into my left ear’ole. I was obliged to turn in my seat and favour him with my Rottweiler look (learned it from a right nutter when I was a copper), which I’m pleased to say worked (for once!), and I wasn’t deafened by any further "Woof!"s from the twat. There were of course others near the back who continued to yell “Woof!” at random times throughout the concert though.
Since then, I’ve been to more concerts, and thanks to the Oxford Folk Festival, a few sessions (large and small). And without fail there’s been at least one gadger bellowing "Woof!"s all over the place. It’s extremely irritating. There was a very pleasant little afternoon session in a pub in Oxford, half a dozen extremely good players sat in the corner playing the music with style and feeling, a fantastic listening experience until some drunken twot decided to stamp his foot out of time with the music and yell “Woof!” every minute and half.
So, I have questions:
What is this “Woof!”? Is it an obligatory part of The Tradition, and thus would it be considered poor session etiquette to nail a Woofer’s pelvis to the floor? If it is traditional, is it an obligatory “audience ornament”? Is there a correct way to pronounce “Woof!” at a session or concert? And a correct time? How does one tell a seasoned pro Woofer from a wannabe (or worse someone faking an interest in the tradition)?
It extends beyond ITM to most every musical area. And of course “woof” must be an Irish or English thing. In the US, I most often hear it as some form of “rebel yell” a loud, high-pitched and way too long eeeeeaaaayyyaaahhhhooooo.. I go to a fair number of rock and roll or aging rocker shows and it has become a constant. I am baffled as why fellow audience members thinks it fits into Bruce Springsteen singing about “this city in ruins” or james taylor singing fire and rain. You don’t suppose there’s alcohol involved?
Gary, I’ve never experienced a woofer but I firmly believe it gives you the right to tie a lead (leash) round their neck and tie them up to the drainpipe by the outside gents urinals.
I must remember not to touch the button marked woofer on my sound system, just in case.
I can never get away from some dope yelling “skinnard, play skinnard”, no matter what genre it is.
I’m sorry that there are such dopes that go to concerts…I try to keep my excitement level to a minimum for the enjoyment of others, and i expect others to do the same. Obviously this minimum is on a sliding scale…one does what is appropriate for the genre of music, like not moshing at a symphonic performance…
At many Celtic-y concerts in the East Bay area here, a rather large and somewhat unhygienic woman gives very vocal support via that Middle Eastern ululation thing. Just about knocked me out of my chair at a Battlefield Band concert. As for the other sound, there was a band who played at the SF Tionol two years ago. One or two of 'em had this thing of yelling what sounded like “hup” everyonce in a while during fast reels. It was unconvincing because they audience had not yet got that comfortable with 'em.
Let the Weekender rule apply: no hups, woofs, woops, hooahs, etc. until at least one person in the audience does it. No shills, please.
This kinda reminds me of how, when people would offer “vocal support” to the monkies at the zoo (i.e. making faces, making noises at them), the monkies would respond by slinging feces at the spectators.
I don’t mind if people in the band make a little sound from time to time.
I would take a woofer, although it sounds very bizarre, over a jumpy screaming woman any time. I had a drunk one behind me at a concert and her husband kept telling us she knew someone in the band. Some consolation! There was no telling what was going to set her off and it got so that I was concentrating more on steadying myself for another shrill shriek in my ear than on listening to the music.
It’s “whooping” and as far as I can tell, is part of the tradition. It was written about in some book or other (I think Ciaran Carson’s Last Night’s Fun, or maybe one of the Breathnach books). Basically, it’s the method of showing encouragement, excitement, exhiliration, or other e-motions when good music is played.
For instance: The Mickie Smyth tracks from the Belfast Tionol. There is some whooping going on during his rendition of the Independance Hornpipe. Also, on Forty Years of Irish Piping, when Seamus plays the new copperplate on his whistle, there is some whooping there.
I whoop every now and then at the session. Depends on who and what is playing. If there is a certain fiddle player playing his Sligo reels, and he is more or less the only one playing, I’ll whoop to keep him going. I try to do it at appropriate places (end of a part, end of a tune, after a nice series of ornamentation or variation, after a juicy phrase, or just about anywhere I feel like it.)
I had a house party, where a song was sung (the Bodhran Song) and after every verse, the bodhran player (playing along, of course) whould “whoop”. It was pretty funny, so there was also a fair bit of laughter, and attempts by others to join in. (The song itself is humourous, so it’s ok!)
Anyway, whooping I could handle. It’s the “THUMP THUMP THUMP” on the floor right under my chair for 15 minutes of reels that pisses me off! I want to turn around and say: look, I’m trying to hear this set, and all I can hear is the thump going through my body. Cut it out!
I’ve seen Danu twice, and both times, they encouraged the audience to occasionally “whoop”. Of course, being proper New Englanders, we did it out of courtesy, but it was pretty unconvincing, thankfully–I don’t think I’d want to put up with the racket the rest of you endure.
I may be off base, but in certain dances, a hoot or holler is a traditional accent for certain formations. It adds energy to a dance, but can see where it might be distracting at a concert.
I think the Woofer was actually a whooper. See the “Whoop” doesn’t always end in a hard “p”. That’d be messy, unless the musicians were playing in the bathroom, like a certain pipe maker was at a certain recent Toronto piping weekend.. um… where was I going with this? Oh right… it often sounds more like whoo, or even yip, or… well… onomatopeia aside… it could easily have been mistaken for woof. And of course that guy went home thinking: “geeze, what was wrong with THAT guy?”
Woof? Are we talking about the yelp? If so, be very careful. A good few years back I was at a class given by Martin O’Connor. He spoke extensively about the yelp. It’s a build up of emotion on the part of the musician or the audience. So what’s the appropriate moment to yelp?
Changing from one part of a tune to another (part A to part B)
Changing from one tune to another (in the same set)
Changing tempo (going from jig to reel or reel to polka)
A guy I listened to got so angry with a crowd that requested it that he said “you want the F’n Unicorn song! I’ll give you the F’n Unicorn song!…. A long F’n time ago, In a place far F’n away…”
It is even more requested now. With the swearing thought, and usually a joke right before the part where the unicorns dieing.
“…and this the sad part, it is as sad as wining the masters as an armature…”
