finbar furey

[john]

does finbar record on the pipes these days?
the only recordings i have are from the 70s

[Ted]

Unfortunately, he now considers himself a singer. IMO He is a far better piper than a singer.

[MichaelLoos]

... but obviously, his singing earns him much better money than his piping ever did.
Pity...

[pancelticpiper]

It's a head-scratcher, isn't it?

The finest piper nobody knows about!

I run into Irish people all the time, people interested in traditional music, who don't know that he plays the pipes. They only know him as a singer/stringed-instrument player.

He's still, for me, the greatest reg-player ever.

[MTGuru]

His was probably the first Irish piping I ever heard back when, on a recording from the public library. "Hmm, this looks interesting ..."

Yes, a shame.

[PhilD]

I think it was seeing the Furey's and Davy Arthur in concert when I was a teenager that ignited my love of the pipes. Finbar's playing was amazing.

[dunnp]

He brought the pipes and played them during his gigs in Lanzarote a few years ago.
Still very much playing them and making reeds. He sent me a reed for my chanter and some reed cane. A very down to earth legend and he was very kind and had all the time in the world for me.

I now live in Glasgow and did not get a chance to catch up with him during Celtic Connections though I believe he had his pipes in tow.

While the Boatman, Sweet Sixteen, Willie Mcbride, Red Rose cafe, etc. made his career
Plenty of piping on his CDs if you go looking for it but no pipes centric recording besides the early ones.

[bensdad]

I was playing an air in a session in Boston some years ago with my eyes closed. When I opened them who was sitting next to me? Finbar. He was very nice about it. Very generous man in my experience.

[myles]

[ Thread revival. ]

Bit of a dredge this one, but I was listening to some of his old stuff last night and wondered whether anyone ever got to the bottom of whether he was playing substantially sharp of modern concert pitch, as the Kennedy pipes usually did, or whether the sound engineers had additionally 'brightened up' the sound. He is practically a whole tone up on some tracks.

I have to say I'm not usually a fan of that bright, sharp sort of tone except when it's Finbar playing. It just suits his style somehow, those early recordings are incredible - at a guess it's because there's enough variation in his phrasing that the tone never sounds mechanical, as it can do with some pipers. His version of Sliabh na mBan was the first thing I heard on pipes, decades ago now, and the way he hangs onto and emphasises the Ds in the melody to increase the tension still impresses me every time.

[Oldpiping]

Last year I watched Finbar documentary & I was realy impressed with his slow playing http://youtu.be/lrjaRkTluZk at 43.40
It is just few seconds, but it shows his huge talent & great ear.

Can you recomend me which of his CDs to buy to get most of his slow airs recordings? Thank you

[Kerryman]

Here is the latest on Finbars plans - a recent article in The Irish Times

It says " He also just completed an album of uilleann pipe music, which he promises will be “an eye-opener”

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-styl ... -1.2067065

Liam

[s1m0n]

My favorite (grudging) FF record review was either in fRoots or IrishTrad magazine, and began "Well, the old bugger (or maybe buzzard) always could play..."

[benwalker]

http://www.recordsbymail.com/uploads/3- ... 708892.JPG
He is certainly in a princely piper pose .. Fantastic piping !

[rorybbellows]

That was in the day before God invented barber's .

RORY

[JR]

Bit of a dredge this one, but I was listening to some of his old stuff last night and wondered whether anyone ever got to the bottom of whether he was playing substantially sharp of modern concert pitch, as the Kennedy pipes usually did, or whether the sound engineers had additionally 'brightened up' the sound. He is practically a whole tone up on some tracks.

Plenty of records around that time were sped up & thus pitched up. Molloy Brady Peoples always stands out to me. Some tracks are sped up a full step on that. And Paul Brady's guitar solo set has some Eb drones on it. Still, an incredible record.