Four Winds- heard of them?

[OC Richard]

I was wondering around YouTube and accidentally came across this terrific band called Four Winds.

They've been around for a while but flown right under my radar.

To me they're a breath of fresh air, the nicest Irish trad band I've heard in a while.

This song (which I've never heard, in 40 years of doing this music) and the arrangement of it are fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNpXkYNYMjA

And their instrumental stuff is fantastic too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uqcoeLR7TA

[Profane James]

Had not heard of them either, but WOW. Thanks for sharing!

[Jock Scot]

Not for me I am afraid, the fellow singing sounds as though he has belly ache and the instrumental is too repetitive. Sorry.

[KMCMICHAEL]

Yes....I see Jock's points but I do like the sound of ulelian(sp?)pipes in small doses. Same with the singing.

[ASinclair]

I was wondering around YouTube and accidentally came across this terrific band called Four Winds.

They've been around for a while but flown right under my radar.

To me they're a breath of fresh air, the nicest Irish trad band I've heard in a while.

This song (which I've never heard, in 40 years of doing this music) and the arrangement of it are fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNpXkYNYMjA

And their instrumental stuff is fantastic too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uqcoeLR7TA

I had not heard of them before, either, Richard. Thanks for sharing!

[ThistleDown]

Irish. Good pub fare. If they come to Inverness we'll have a few pints while they play.

[OC Richard]

Not for me I am afraid, the fellow singing sounds as though he has belly ache

There are probably few things that people are more divided about that the relative merits of different singers, and singing styles.

This guy sings in the fairly standard Irish folk style, but does it better than most.

One singer comes to mind who people were very divided about, people either loved his voice or hated it, the late great Andy M Stewart. (Not to be confused with the Andy Stewart of a generation earlier.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=appBtXoxfb8

the instrumental is too repetitive.

Fair point. Though it wouldn't be about the tunes themselves, if you like Scottish traditional music, because Irish and Scottish traditional instrumental music share identical structures, and are thus equally repetitive.

The difference is in how many times the tunes are played.

In Scottish pipe band music tunes are played only once through.

In Cape Breton fiddle music tunes are often played twice through.

In Irish traditional music it's standard to play tunes three times through.

Though in fact the Highland and Irish presentations are more alike than that suggests.

This is because in Ireland today, and in Scotland in the old days, instrumental dance tunes usually had only two parts, the whole tune repeated a number of times. In both countries it was standard for musicians to vary the tune each time it was repeated, for interest's sake.

Irish traditional music is still this way. A solo player wouldn't dream of playing a tune exactly the same way three times in a row.

In Highland pipe music this variation, once extemporized, has become fossilized.

So, in 18th and early 19th century Highland collections a particular reel might have two parts. Then in a mid-19th century collection it shows up with four parts, part 3 being a variation of part 1, and part 4 being a variation of part 2, in fact the playing of the tune twice with variations on the repeat.

Then in the 20th century you'll see that reel published with six parts (the exact equivalent of an Irish musician playing it three times through) or eight parts.

Some modern pipe band are playing these old 2-part reels eight or ten parts, the middle parts modulating to a different key, and so forth.

[KMCMICHAEL]

Interesting. I tend to think of instrumentals as one theme played then improvised over the rythem, often several players taking turn. Unless someone takes it to a level that changes the whole feeling or when that is over, the theme is played again and the tune ended. I hope this explains my first comment.

[neloon]

O C Richard,
I'm not sure that Jock likes any kind of traditional music. He has declared
" I am more of a Band of The Grenadier Guards, or, the Band of The Royal Marines type."
Alan

[Jock Scot]

Oh I don't know about that Alan, " the British Grenadier" and " Heart of Oak" are pretty traditional.