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Píobaire, An, Volume 4, Issue 38, Page 6

Píobaire, An, Volume 4, Issue 38, Page 6
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periodical Publisher
Na Píobairí Uilleann
periodical Editor
Chairman, NPU
periodical Title
Píobaire, An
volume Number
4
issue Content
~ Exhibition at NGI ~Pipers, and followers of traditionalmusic in general, will enjoy the exhibi-tion currently showing at the NationalGallery of Ireland, entitled “A time and aplace - Two Centuries of Irish Social Life”.Prominents among the pictures exhibited areseveral which depict Irish traditional music,song and dance. The pipes are featured in atleast five pictures, possibly more, and otherinstruments, singers and dancers are also fea-tured.The great attraction of this type of themedexhibition is the opportunity to view manyworks together rather than having to visit sev-eral galleries to see them. There are also, ofcourse, several works included that comefrom private collections and would not nor-mally be accessible anyway.Included on this and the following pages arereproductions of some of the paintings in theexhibition. One of them, Charles HenryCook’s “St. Patrick’s Day”, was featuredbefore in An Píobaire (Vol 4, issue 33) , but itwas impossible to assess the accuracy of thedepiction of the pipes in a small reproduction.When looking at it close up, it is apparant thatthe instrument is a curious mixture. The piperhas a popping strap on his thigh, but the bot-tom of the chanter has the characteristic bellshape of the pastoral pipes. It is as if Cookcaught the position from a sketch but thedetail of the instrument from a studio prop.The exhibition runs from October 18th toJanuary 28th in the National Gallery inMerrion Square/Clare Street. There is a seriesof lectures in tandem with the the show,details of which can be found on the Gallery’swebsite www.nationalgallery.ie. Admissionto the exhibition costs €10 with concessionsfor students and children. A fully illustratedcatalogue is available from the Gallery at€29.95.Maria Spilsbury Taylor – Detail of “Harvest Dance at Rosanna, Co. Wicklow” (1815)10Paul ReidThe 15th Annual Chris Langan tradi-tional Irish Music weekend was held inToronto over the April 27-30th week-end. This was a change from its usual date ofthe second weekend in January, a move madeto find some kinder weather. The springweekend turned out to be beautiful and thechanged date was appreciated by many of theparticipants. It was certainly kinder to thepiper’s reeds and the flute player’s lips.The weekend took the usual form of an open-ing session on Thursday, concerts Friday andSaturday, workshops on Saturday in a varietyof instruments, finishing off with morninglectures on Sunday, brunch and a pipers chair.Headliners for this year’s weekend were MickO’Brien and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh,Benedict Koehler, Brian Holleran and MikeRafferty on flutes and Patrick Ourceau on fid-dle.The Friday concert at The Tranzac Club asusual showcased the local musicians andteachers and we got a taste of things to comewhen Mick and Caoimhín finished off theofficial evening’s events. Saturday classes were well attended, as wasthe evening concert at the new venue, Hugh’sRoom, a local music club where dinner wasavailable prior to the concert. The concertcomprised of four sets MC-ed by DebbieQuigley. Dave Papazian and Kim Vincent onfiddles with Ena O’Brien on accordion led offfollowed by Benedict Koehler and PatrickOurceau. After the break Mike Rafferty andBrian Holleran took the stage with a beautifulset which showed their intrinsic knowledge oftheir musical style as teacher and past pupil.Mick and Caoimhín finished the night withMick playing his Froment B set accompaniedby Caoimhin on his Hardanger fiddle. Thehighlight here was a 15-minute Ennis extrav-aganza which brought the house down.Caoimhín’s stage personality kept things onthe boil!After brunch Mike Rafferty gave the Sundaymorning lecture to a full house. It was entitled“A personal Journey of Music” in whichMike, ably abetted and prompted by Brian,kept the audience regaled with many humor-ous and insightful stories of his life in Irelandand America.Ellen MacPhee, a chiropractor and small-piper from Cape Breton gave a lecture on theergonomic risks of playing music and demon-strated stretching exercises techniques.The weekend finished with a piper’s chair,which included 16 uilleann and small-pipers.Debbie Quigley and Benedict played a settogether and Mick and Caoimhín closed theweekend with a pipe, fiddle and whistle miniconcertPhotos of the weekend and other informationcan be found on the website, www.chris-langan.caBob Gardiner~ Chris Langan Weekend ~Mick O’Brien & Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh
issue Number
38
page Number
6
periodical Author
[Periodical]
issue Publication Date
2006-12-01T00:00:00
allowedRoles
anonymous,guest,friend,member

Píobaire, An, Volume 4, Issue 38

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