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Can anyone tell me which Flat chanter (Froment C or B), Mick O'Brien used in his CD The Ancient Voice of Ireland. What I know is that most of the tunes are in concert pitch? If you know which tunes are in flat pitch, please tell me also this information.

And all you guys who don't like this CD becouse it is nontraditional, PLEASE ignore this post

Best to all, Thanks

soft&warm wrote:Can anyone tell me which Flat chanter (Froment C or B), Mick O'Brien used in his CD The Ancient Voice of Ireland. What I know is that most of the tunes are in concert pitch? If you know which tunes are in flat pitch, please tell me also this information.

Most of the album, as you note, is at concert pitch. There are four tracks (Carrickfergus, My Lagan Love, She Moved Through the Fair, and Peggy Gordon) played on a C chanter. I don't know if it's a Froment chanter, but I do know that Mick has B and Bb sets made by M. Froment. Mick's concert-pitch set was made by Willie Rowsome in 1921. That's the instrument shown on the album cover.

And all you guys who don't like this CD becouse it is nontraditional, PLEASE ignore this post

I don't dislike this album for that particular reason. That doesn't mean I actually like it, though.

Thank you wery much for your answer

These are all "traditional" tunes. That is the whole point of album. It is the production settings, designed for tourists, that many object to. There are few players to match Mick O'Brien.

djm

Well, he's a teacher and a part-time musician with a family to care for, so albums like that are one way of getting some relatively quick and easy money. Ronan Browne has done one, too. And he's done soundtracks for Japanese video games...And I seem to recall when I lived in Japan hearing a Japanese pop song with a flat set on it, and I suspect that was probably Ronan as well (though I have no way of knowing for sure). At any rate, now the guy has a nice recording studio in Connemara, so I'm sure he doesn't lose sleep over any of it.

Back when I spent some time in Ireland, I became friends with a piper in Dingle named Con Durham. Watching him play several times a week was a real formative influence on me as a beginning piper at the time. Con had this album out called "Champions of Ireland: Uilleann Pipes" which was part of a series of "Champions" recordings of traditional musicians by some fly-by-night record company in Dublin. People used to give Con a hard time over this tacky album, but the story behind it is kind of interesting. The record company approached him about five years before and paid him a flat fee of 500 pounds for one day of recording. Con just came in and played tunes for about five to six hours while an engineer rolled the tape...The tapes just sat around for about five years and then this album suddenly appeared. The tunes on it are all good traditional tunes (there are some very nice sets of polkas and slides on it), but someone had come in and overdubbed a crapload of electric guitar and keyboards all over the place so as to appeal to the kind of people that would buy a CD on the way from the rest stop back to the tour bus. A good example of how really nice music can be completely ruined, however there are plenty of higher-profile recordings out there that have been victims of similar treatment.

The appropriate line is "he was young and needed the money".

Listen to yous all...if ye could play half as well then I would say ye might qualify to criticize
The CD doesnae say its the pure drop on its cover so I don't know whit all the blather is aboot.It says" Haunting Irish Melodies In The Tradition Of Titanic" bit unfortunate really but there ye go.

Ye can even see the Iceberg just above his knee.
Uilliam

The Sporting Pitchfork wrote:
Back when I spent some time in Ireland, I became friends with a piper in Dingle named Con Durham. Watching him play several times a week was a real formative influence on me as a beginning piper at the time. Con had this album out called "Champions of Ireland: Uilleann Pipes" which was part of a series of "Champions" recordings of traditional musicians by some fly-by-night record company in Dublin. People used to give Con a hard time over this tacky album, but the story behind it is kind of interesting.

I was given that album for christmas a couple of years back, and after a first -and hesitant- listen, it's been one of my guilty pleasures since then. I've been playing his version of the Kerry/Newmarket/West Cork Polka set since I was able to get it into my fingers. I'm glad to hear the story as well. Thanks, SPF, yer great!

Mark

edited to say: I have just done my best to ignore all the washy electro-stuffs. I want to hear the piping. Still, I probably wouldn't have bought it myself. That whole judging the book by the cover thing.

I actually really like that Ancient Voice of Ireland CD.

And for some reason I like the heavy synth intro to Laggan Love. I know a lot of pipers hate it, but to me it's one of the few times that heavy synth backing has worked well on an air. (Laggan Love is played on a C chanter.)

One side point, The Ancient Voice of Ireland and another Mick CD The May Morning Dew display a resourceful use of what appear to be photos taken at the same shoot of Mick in bluejeans and a blue plaid shirt: in various guises these photos appear on the covers of both albums, on the CD itself, in the booklet, etc. They got a lot of mileage out of that shoot.

pancelticpiper wrote:One side point, The Ancient Voice of Ireland and another Mick CD The May Morning Dew display a resourceful use of what appear to be photos taken at the same shoot of Mick in bluejeans and a blue plaid shirt: in various guises these photos appear on the covers of both albums, on the CD itself, in the booklet, etc. They got a lot of mileage out of that shoot.

That is correct and not just still photographs. The American Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) produced a documentary (which won some big awards) on the origin and history of the song "Danny Boy" -- Danny Boy: In Sunshine or in Shadow, which closes with Mick O'Brien playing the tune on uilleann pipes (I believe in the same clothes sitting on the same stool).

Maybe thats the only set o clothes he had for a long time

Uilliam wrote:Maybe thats the only set o clothes he had for a long time

You kill me, Uilliam!

Uilliam wrote:Maybe thats the only set o clothes he had for a long time

Well, he certainly wouldn't be the first...