Anyone else in love with the sound of uilleann pipes?

axisus

zepp76 said:

How have I missed this thread? Absolutely love the Uilleann pipes, well, all Irish folk music to be honest and am learning the high and low whistle at the moment (I know the whistle isn’t strictly original to Ireland but they made it their own). Playing airs on the whistle/Uilleann pipes helps me sleep at night. (Obviously from my phone not laid in bed playing!) and it sends me back off to Ireland where I had the time of my life, and will be back there again very soon hopefully.

Are the whistles hard to learn? I'd be interested to try that

zepp76

axisus said:

zepp76 said:

How have I missed this thread? Absolutely love the Uilleann pipes, well, all Irish folk music to be honest and am learning the high and low whistle at the moment (I know the whistle isn’t strictly original to Ireland but they made it their own). Playing airs on the whistle/Uilleann pipes helps me sleep at night. (Obviously from my phone not laid in bed playing!) and it sends me back off to Ireland where I had the time of my life, and will be back there again very soon hopefully.

Are the whistles hard to learn? I'd be interested to try that

The high whistle is much easier to learn than the low as it requires more breath control and wider fingering (oo-er). A good start is this forum http://forums.chiffandfipple.com/

you’ll find all the help you need there. Good luck in learning, it’s a beautiful thing when you get it right.

And here for a nice selection of whistles:

https://www.bigwhistle.co.uk/

TheMarlin

drwiddly said:

I used to have several Davey Spillane albums on vinyl. Atlantic Bridge is a superb album.

I just bought Atlantic Bridge on vinyl,  very nice. 

axisus

zepp76 said:

axisus said:

zepp76 said:

How have I missed this thread? Absolutely love the Uilleann pipes, well, all Irish folk music to be honest and am learning the high and low whistle at the moment (I know the whistle isn’t strictly original to Ireland but they made it their own). Playing airs on the whistle/Uilleann pipes helps me sleep at night. (Obviously from my phone not laid in bed playing!) and it sends me back off to Ireland where I had the time of my life, and will be back there again very soon hopefully.

Are the whistles hard to learn? I'd be interested to try that

The high whistle is much easier to learn than the low as it requires more breath control and wider fingering (oo-er). A good start is this forum http://forums.chiffandfipple.com/

you’ll find all the help you need there. Good luck in learning, it’s a beautiful thing when you get it right.

And here for a nice selection of whistles:

https://www.bigwhistle.co.uk/

I like the idea of the Shush one - quiet for practice!

zepp76

axisus said:

zepp76 said:

axisus said:

zepp76 said:

How have I missed this thread? Absolutely love the Uilleann pipes, well, all Irish folk music to be honest and am learning the high and low whistle at the moment (I know the whistle isn’t strictly original to Ireland but they made it their own). Playing airs on the whistle/Uilleann pipes helps me sleep at night. (Obviously from my phone not laid in bed playing!) and it sends me back off to Ireland where I had the time of my life, and will be back there again very soon hopefully.

Are the whistles hard to learn? I'd be interested to try that

The high whistle is much easier to learn than the low as it requires more breath control and wider fingering (oo-er). A good start is this forum http://forums.chiffandfipple.com/

you’ll find all the help you need there. Good luck in learning, it’s a beautiful thing when you get it right.

And here for a nice selection of whistles:

https://www.bigwhistle.co.uk/

I like the idea of the Shush one - quiet for practice!

I have a whistle with a “volume control slide” on it, I jest you not! What the makers didn’t warn me of was the extra amount of breath you need the more you “turn the volume down”. 

Stratavarious

The best in that family of instruments. My daughter’s band has a player.

But like Northumbrian pipes too.

https://youtu.be/fBwwWFGd9qE

axisus

Stratavarious said:

The best in that family of instruments. My daughter’s band has a player.

But like Northumbrian pipes too.

https://youtu.be/fBwwWFGd9qE

That was a good wee video!

TheMarlin

TheMarlin said:

drwiddly said:

I used to have several Davey Spillane albums on vinyl. Atlantic Bridge is a superb album.

I just bought Atlantic Bridge on vinyl,  very nice. 

Honestly, the production on this album is outstanding!!

boogieman

If you haven’t heard any Afro Celt Sound System material then give them a whirl. Uillean pipes and African drumming all crossed with techno beats. Davy Spillane played with them at one point. The first couple of albums are their best IMO. 

I also like Les Ramoneurs de Menhir. They’re a Breton take on Celtic folk music, playing traditional pipe music but mixed up with electric guitar and drum machine. I first saw them at a French punk festival (I’d actually gone out to see Eddie and the Hot Rods). Their guitarist is a complete nutter, apparently he’s the French equivalent of Johnny Rotten, one of the original French punk artists.  

https://youtu.be/dWzp5Y9f8RM

parker_knoll

Rocker said:

The 'held' note at the changeover is simply amazing.

An interesting thing about Planxty and much stuff after it (and heavily influenced by them) is it's not really traditional at all; it's folk repertoire, both British and Irish, but the instrumentation and arrangements was totally new - the guitar, banjos, bouzoukis (which were adapted with unison strings and down tuned) and even the way the pipes were used was all innovative. Now people think it's quite natural to see Greek instruments in an Irish 'traditional' band, and there's nothing traditional about DADGAD, or even guitars for that matter. It's all recent. 

axisus

boogieman said:

If you haven’t heard any Afro Celt Sound System material then give them a whirl. Uillean pipes and African drumming all crossed with techno beats. Davy Spillane played with them at one point. The first couple of albums are their best IMO. 

I bought the first one on release! I was in one of the big old London record stores and it was playing over the sound system. I went and asked what it was and handed my money over.

boogieman

axisus said:

boogieman said:

If you haven’t heard any Afro Celt Sound System material then give them a whirl. Uillean pipes and African drumming all crossed with techno beats. Davy Spillane played with them at one point. The first couple of albums are their best IMO. 

I bought the first one on release! I was in one of the big old London record stores and it was playing over the sound system. I went and asked what it was and handed my money over.

I saw them at a Womad thing at the South Bank supporting an African artist whose name escapes me, might’ve been Papa Wemba but I’m really not sure.  They’d just released their first album and they stole the show. 

GuyBoden

Love them