Last year I attended the Fiddle 2008 festival in Edinburgh. The headline act on the Saturday night was one Kevin Burke, who I had never seen/heard play before but had heard good things about.
I have to say that I have never sat through a duller two and a half hours of concert in my life. For a start, he played completely solo, so the interplay between musicians that can electrify the atmosphere at gigs was utterly lacking. He also seemed (I say "seemed" because as a Scot I was unfamiliar with most of the tunes that he played- I could very well be wrong here) to play the tunes very "straight" and without much individual expression, and with little or no variation between the first and second time through. Finally and perhaps less importantly, he was basically physically static when playing, reflecting and contributing to the dispassionate, overly measured feel of the performance. I felt somewhat as if I was listening to the dictionary definition of each tune, if that makes sense to anyone.
However, judging by audience reaction, I was very much in the minority.
Therefore, should I come across him again, I would like to hear from people who appreciate his music what I am missing (and I must be missing something). Could it be a Scottish/Irish thing?
NB-
I don't want to impugn Mr Burke's talents as a fiddler- I believe that the fundamental reason I didn't like the concert was due to something I wasn't hearing.
I'd also like to say that I have no problem with solo fiddlers per se- I could happily listen to Aonghas Grant play all day, such is the passion and feeling he imbues each and every note with.
I'd ideally like to be told *why* I'm wrong, not *that* I'm wrong.
And of course if there's anyone who agrees with me then please contribute too!
I personally love listening to Kevin Burke but I did have someone say to me once that he seems to play jigs too slowly and too "straight". I had never heard that before and was very suprised. Maybe there is more than one person with that opinion after all. I guess that's what makes the world go around
I asked because I don't believe in dismissing good music out of hand just because I heard it once and it isn't my taste. He may just have had an off night, who knows.
f someone told me what makes Kevin Burke great for them personally, recommended a few tracks etc, then I might in time grow to appreciate his music, and through that deepen my appreciation of other Celtic artists.
It's not that you're wrong. Clearly, you are looking for something in a fiddle player that KB doesn't offer. I heard hm play a solo concert a few years ago and loved every minute of it. His bowing and phrasing has inspired my own thinking about playing fiddle.
Now, if I could just sound like a cross between Kevin Burke and Tommy Peoples....
On a more serious note, you need to put some info in your profile so we know you're not a troll. There must also be a discussion of the term "Celtic" on here somewhere---it would be useful for you to get to know the differences between Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton, and other kinds of music that people who don't know better call "Celtic".
Also, it takes a while sometimes to learn an appreciation for traditional music. The more traditional the presentation, the less you will see things like syncopation, electrification, jazzy guitars, and improvisation---which are all things you probably really like if you grew up listening to rock and popular music.
Ok, I’ll bite. A few thoughts: to my ears, Kevin Burke has a very smooth, very controlled sound, so if you were listening for wild, rough edges you listened in vain.
It’s interesting that you felt that his settings seemed like they were out of a dictionary. I think his playing does feel definitive. But what I’m guessing you meant was that the tunes seemed to lack radical variations, the kind of extreme show-off technique that someone unfamiliar with a particular tune could easily recognize as a departure. I don’t think Burke tends to deliver that. Just pure mastery.
It’s also possible that he was having an off night – he’s human, he may have been tired or whatever. You may have actually had a more objective reaction to his performance than an audience of worshippers.
“I'd also like to say that I have no problem with solo fiddlers per se- I could happily listen to (insert name of your favourite solo fiddle player) play all day, such is the passion and feeling he imbues each and every note with.”
Funny, that’s how I’d describe Kevin Burke’s playing.
I would think that Kevin Burke is widely regarded as one of the foremost “descriptive” musicians due to the degree of feeling he imbues to his music (in the Sligo style, I think it could be described), as would be Martin Hayes (in a different style). For me, Kevin Burke's bowing style totally complements what he is trying to convey through and from a tune, and maybe what he is trying to add to it. He is almost essayistic in his interpretation of tunes, like Martin Hayes. It is like listening to a story. The story is already in the tune, but it is embellished by the delivery of the player in this case. I think only masters of the art can do that to that degree.
Maybe it’s what you connect with for whatever reason. I don’t hear the “feeling” in the Angus Grant clip there, although maybe it isn’t a typical one, but then again, I don’t have the cultural context. I can appreciate the musicianship though.
How about a bit of stark perspective on this? If you knew the story/message/context of what this musician was trying to convey, you would be extraordinarily impressed with how he does it through the way he plays his instrument.
If you don't know the story, or have no understanding or connection with the context, all you will hear is the playing, which you may or may not appreciate.
kennedy: I can assure you that I am not a troll, and will put some info up soonish. Thanks for the link, it certainly injected a healthy amount of laughter into a dull afternoon's work. I'm aware of the vagueness of the term "celtic" but was flailing for a word that didn't specify either Irish or Scottish music. I do enjoy traditionally set traditional music- as I said Aonghas Grant is one of my favourite players.
SWFL Fiddler: When I said wrong I probably meant to say that there must have been something I didn't understand about the performance that led me to react in that way. I'm looking for enlightenment, not a fight!
fidkid: I'm not turned on by excessive virtuosity for the sake of it, but was listening for variations more on the level of phrasing, with maybe the odd changed note.
You like what you like..
If you want to see Kevin in a higher energy show, go watch him when he is playing with the 'Celtic Fiddle Festival' group of fiddlers. They use backup and play awesome tunes... Also you might enjoy seeing him in Patrick Street .... another great combination of musicians and music.
I also enjoyed watching him play solo, but you are right, he is very laid back sort of fellow..He tells good stories.( but I would say solo fiddle and ensemble music are 2 somewhat different musical expressions...
As one of those who helped to organise Fiddle 2008 and the person who convinced the others that we should get Kevin over in the first place, I should state that I'm not in the least bit surprised that some people e.g. Tollcrossterrapin may not have enjoyed his perfomance.
However, I do know that while some people may have been less than impressed many others thought he was wonderful.
It is partly a Scottish -Irish thing and also a Young Pup/trendy Versus Traditional music thing too.
Many younger people just can't except either Scottish or Irish music unless it's been "re-energised" or "improved" in some way and solo performances seem to be a " No, no"... even with many of the younger fiddlers themselves!
Basically, it's all down to one's own taste. I've never known a gig(either as a punter or one I've helped to organise) which everyone has enjoyed in equal measure. You can't please all of the people all of the time.
For the record, I'm a Kevin Burke fan myself.......
To be fair, maybe Kevin Burke admirers bring their memories of his long career to their current perceptions. I think Kevin Burke is perhaps more laid back these days than he might have been in the bothy days for example.
I completely agree with that thread about people needing to hear accompaniment---the modern ear has a very hard time with a single instrument, or a single unadorned melody line.
tollcrossterrapin, here are some other very traditional players---no interplay, limited variation, etc.---do you have the same reaction to them?
I personally love the clip you posted earlier- taste eh? The digeridoo clip was also very instructive!
Jon Jay: I thoroughly enjoyed myself at Fiddle 08- thanks for helping organise it. Judging from audience reaction I was in a tiny tiny minority at the Kevin Burke gig.
Kennedy: I did enjoy those clips actually, especially the one with Paddy Canny. Great stuff.
Yes, toll, that is very nice indeed. Loved it. I've just never heard of Angus Grant before, my loss I guess.
I think perhaps with some of these you tube clips where the "authors" pack them with landscape scenes which are meant to evoke something from the tune can be fairly subjective, and a distraction maybe from the tune itself. So your clip unaccompanied makes the point perhaps.
Not been into the Scottish scene much at all, but this sort of thing is fairly persuasive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnBBQ-_D2Hc
toll, if you appreciated the didge player in that clip, here's about the most opposite you can get. Makes it clear what sort of expertise is happening in the original one. I dunno, there's a parallell with Kevin Burke there somewhere maybe:
tollcross, if you liked the other clips I posted, then your criticisms of Burke don't hold up, because the other fiddlers do the same thing---little interplay, relatively "straight" renderings of the tunes, etc. You might just not care for Burke's style, which is perfectly valid. He's certainly not the most flamboyant of performers, and I would say more on the understated side in his playing. But I love that about him. I also agree with jardinromi, who said to listen to him in various settings...have you listened to the Bothy Band, for example?
top quality. That clip is great.
My impression is that every one of those musicians now some decades on are much more laid back in their playing - maybe it's just a natural function of age and what you look for in the music and what different techniques you employ to convey what it is in the music. "Impressionistic" might be a better term than "laid back".
Kennedy: You're absolutely right- they don't hold up :s
I was trying to nail what exactly it was that didn't grab me about the performance and failed, thinking it was those aspects. It must be a matter of style instead though, as you said. Incidentally, I thought the clip there was cracking. Maybe it's a style that I enjoy when it's accompanied but not otherwise?
I actually asked Kevin Burke when he was here a couple of years ago what he thought about tapping into what feeling is in the tune or what impressions it gives you when playing it, and whether that then goes through to the audience in the playing.
"Just like all music" he said. Later at the concert, he then proceeded to do just that...totally absorbed in conveying the feeling or whatever he could see or imagine in the tune through his playing.
If you're doing that, you almost have to play solo or with minimal accompaniment, otherwise it could get lost.
Martin Hayes does the same thing, does she not - just himself and a very subtle and minimalist guitar backing.
Very powerful.
I'd love to play as good as him on an off-night. He did some solo stuff at the Catskills last year and it was brilliant. I took a class with him last year, and he always says he's being tagged as a Sligo player, and but said he has never said this about himself.
I myself do not generally enjoy entire concerts consisting of one solo musician, no matter how good they are (and Kevin Burke is one of the best).
I attended a solo concert by Kevin Burke a number of years ago, and as good as he was, the moments I liked the most were when Johnny Cunningham and a local guitarist joined him on the stage for a few numbers. I would much prefer to hear a group of musicians than a single musician when attending a concert.
And Kevin is not a flashy player, in fact, he often makes difficult music sound easy, with a subtle approach that you can miss if you are not watching closely.
So I think I see the point that tc terrapin is driving at, and I give him credit for posing the question in a manner that was not confrontational.
Have you listened to any Kevin Burke stuff since that first concert? There are some options that might explain why you did not like his music that evening.
1. Maybe you were having a bad night, and nothing he played would have been impressive to you.
2. If you went in thinking you were gettng one thing and it ended up being completely different, that would affect your perception of his playing.
3. The long shot here, is that maybe from his musical catalog, he just chose none of his tunes that you would have liked. To this I can only add that of all of the albums that I have heard over the years I have not been 100% thrilled with them, there always seems to be a snippet here or there that I did not like. Maybe you just got 90 minutes of bad snippets thrown at you at once.
But as my mom says all the time, "that's why there is chocolate and vanilla", maybe you just did not like it, and if everyone liked one fiddle player, maybe there would be only one fiddle player! The world, I think, is a better place for having more than one fiddle player.
My apologies for the ramblings!
I am not a fan of his style, but when I hear Mr Burke it amazes me
how he has worked everything through. You don't hear any
stuttering that indicates he's unsure about where to go next
with the bowing. There are no hitches in the rhythm.
Leaving aside whether I like the style, I find his command of
Irish trad music on the fiddle just staggering. Getting always
closer to that technical confidence is a great goal of mine. Another
one is getting some of the emotional power of Martin Hayes and
Paddy Canny.
let's not forget that the guy is almost or is 59 years old and still at the top of the tree at a time when others are thinking about retirement. Sometimes I think that there is more articulation of one's craft at ages like this, than there is when people are in their early decades. There's certainly a lot to be learned from watching Kevin Burke (and others) play solo...like Hup said.
Maybe Kevin Burke is more of a "study" these days, rather than a different style of entertainment. He's done both/all, so I guess it's a bit instructive why he chooses this style now.
Kevin Burke
Kevin Burke
Last year I attended the Fiddle 2008 festival in Edinburgh. The headline act on the Saturday night was one Kevin Burke, who I had never seen/heard play before but had heard good things about.
I have to say that I have never sat through a duller two and a half hours of concert in my life. For a start, he played completely solo, so the interplay between musicians that can electrify the atmosphere at gigs was utterly lacking. He also seemed (I say "seemed" because as a Scot I was unfamiliar with most of the tunes that he played- I could very well be wrong here) to play the tunes very "straight" and without much individual expression, and with little or no variation between the first and second time through. Finally and perhaps less importantly, he was basically physically static when playing, reflecting and contributing to the dispassionate, overly measured feel of the performance. I felt somewhat as if I was listening to the dictionary definition of each tune, if that makes sense to anyone.
However, judging by audience reaction, I was very much in the minority.
Therefore, should I come across him again, I would like to hear from people who appreciate his music what I am missing (and I must be missing something). Could it be a Scottish/Irish thing?
NB-
I don't want to impugn Mr Burke's talents as a fiddler- I believe that the fundamental reason I didn't like the concert was due to something I wasn't hearing.
I'd also like to say that I have no problem with solo fiddlers per se- I could happily listen to Aonghas Grant play all day, such is the passion and feeling he imbues each and every note with.
I'd ideally like to be told *why* I'm wrong, not *that* I'm wrong.
And of course if there's anyone who agrees with me then please contribute too!
Thanks in advance
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by tollcrossterrapin
Re: Kevin Burke
This surely is a wind up!
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by banjoian
Re: Kevin Burke
It's a matter of taste, surely. Just don't bother listening to Irish fiddlers perform solo in future and you should be grand.
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by Dragut Reis
Re: Kevin Burke
Yes, a wind up for sure.
I personally love listening to Kevin Burke but I did have someone say to me once that he seems to play jigs too slowly and too "straight". I had never heard that before and was very suprised. Maybe there is more than one person with that opinion after all. I guess that's what makes the world go around
Mary
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by Antikhntr
Re: Kevin Burke
Not a wind up, I assure you.
I asked because I don't believe in dismissing good music out of hand just because I heard it once and it isn't my taste. He may just have had an off night, who knows.
f someone told me what makes Kevin Burke great for them personally, recommended a few tracks etc, then I might in time grow to appreciate his music, and through that deepen my appreciation of other Celtic artists.
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by tollcrossterrapin
Re: Kevin Burke
Dear tollcrossterrapin
It's not that you're wrong. Clearly, you are looking for something in a fiddle player that KB doesn't offer. I heard hm play a solo concert a few years ago and loved every minute of it. His bowing and phrasing has inspired my own thinking about playing fiddle.
Now, if I could just sound like a cross between Kevin Burke and Tommy Peoples....
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by seanblackstone
Re: Kevin Burke
Oh Lord.
Here's something you will probably like---has it all---individual expression, interplay between musicians, electrified atmosphere, the works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wzMfSiOkMQ
On a more serious note, you need to put some info in your profile so we know you're not a troll. There must also be a discussion of the term "Celtic" on here somewhere---it would be useful for you to get to know the differences between Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton, and other kinds of music that people who don't know better call "Celtic".
Also, it takes a while sometimes to learn an appreciation for traditional music. The more traditional the presentation, the less you will see things like syncopation, electrification, jazzy guitars, and improvisation---which are all things you probably really like if you grew up listening to rock and popular music.
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by kennedy
Re: Kevin Burke
How can you be wrong about what you like? You like it or you don't, there's no wrong.
Unless you're looking for a fight, ya wind-up artist you!
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Kevin Burke
Ok, I’ll bite. A few thoughts: to my ears, Kevin Burke has a very smooth, very controlled sound, so if you were listening for wild, rough edges you listened in vain.
It’s interesting that you felt that his settings seemed like they were out of a dictionary. I think his playing does feel definitive. But what I’m guessing you meant was that the tunes seemed to lack radical variations, the kind of extreme show-off technique that someone unfamiliar with a particular tune could easily recognize as a departure. I don’t think Burke tends to deliver that. Just pure mastery.
It’s also possible that he was having an off night – he’s human, he may have been tired or whatever. You may have actually had a more objective reaction to his performance than an audience of worshippers.
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by fidkid
Re: Kevin Burke
You mean this Angus Grant?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADyHCb8q7eM
What do you say about that?
“I'd also like to say that I have no problem with solo fiddlers per se- I could happily listen to (insert name of your favourite solo fiddle player) play all day, such is the passion and feeling he imbues each and every note with.”
Funny, that’s how I’d describe Kevin Burke’s playing.
I would think that Kevin Burke is widely regarded as one of the foremost “descriptive” musicians due to the degree of feeling he imbues to his music (in the Sligo style, I think it could be described), as would be Martin Hayes (in a different style). For me, Kevin Burke's bowing style totally complements what he is trying to convey through and from a tune, and maybe what he is trying to add to it. He is almost essayistic in his interpretation of tunes, like Martin Hayes. It is like listening to a story. The story is already in the tune, but it is embellished by the delivery of the player in this case. I think only masters of the art can do that to that degree.
Maybe it’s what you connect with for whatever reason. I don’t hear the “feeling” in the Angus Grant clip there, although maybe it isn’t a typical one, but then again, I don’t have the cultural context. I can appreciate the musicianship though.
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Kevin Burke
How about a bit of stark perspective on this? If you knew the story/message/context of what this musician was trying to convey, you would be extraordinarily impressed with how he does it through the way he plays his instrument.
If you don't know the story, or have no understanding or connection with the context, all you will hear is the playing, which you may or may not appreciate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC9w4KWEgJE
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Kevin Burke
kennedy: I can assure you that I am not a troll, and will put some info up soonish. Thanks for the link, it certainly injected a healthy amount of laughter into a dull afternoon's work. I'm aware of the vagueness of the term "celtic" but was flailing for a word that didn't specify either Irish or Scottish music. I do enjoy traditionally set traditional music- as I said Aonghas Grant is one of my favourite players.
SWFL Fiddler: When I said wrong I probably meant to say that there must have been something I didn't understand about the performance that led me to react in that way. I'm looking for enlightenment, not a fight!
fidkid: I'm not turned on by excessive virtuosity for the sake of it, but was listening for variations more on the level of phrasing, with maybe the odd changed note.
Thankyou all for your replies. Keep them coming!
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by tollcrossterrapin
Kevin Burke solo or not solo
You like what you like..
If you want to see Kevin in a higher energy show, go watch him when he is playing with the 'Celtic Fiddle Festival' group of fiddlers. They use backup and play awesome tunes... Also you might enjoy seeing him in Patrick Street .... another great combination of musicians and music.
I also enjoyed watching him play solo, but you are right, he is very laid back sort of fellow..He tells good stories.( but I would say solo fiddle and ensemble music are 2 somewhat different musical expressions...
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by jardineromi
Re: Kevin Burke
As one of those who helped to organise Fiddle 2008 and the person who convinced the others that we should get Kevin over in the first place, I should state that I'm not in the least bit surprised that some people e.g. Tollcrossterrapin may not have enjoyed his perfomance.
However, I do know that while some people may have been less than impressed many others thought he was wonderful.
It is partly a Scottish -Irish thing and also a Young Pup/trendy Versus Traditional music thing too.
Many younger people just can't except either Scottish or Irish music unless it's been "re-energised" or "improved" in some way and solo performances seem to be a " No, no"... even with many of the younger fiddlers themselves!
Here's a thread I prepared earlier..
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/8421
Basically, it's all down to one's own taste. I've never known a gig(either as a punter or one I've helped to organise) which everyone has enjoyed in equal measure. You can't please all of the people all of the time.
For the record, I'm a Kevin Burke fan myself.......
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by John J.
Re: Kevin Burke
To be fair, maybe Kevin Burke admirers bring their memories of his long career to their current perceptions. I think Kevin Burke is perhaps more laid back these days than he might have been in the bothy days for example.
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Kevin Burke
I completely agree with that thread about people needing to hear accompaniment---the modern ear has a very hard time with a single instrument, or a single unadorned melody line.
tollcrossterrapin, here are some other very traditional players---no interplay, limited variation, etc.---do you have the same reaction to them?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBONRwNY77c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga4qocQkH0A
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by kennedy
Re: Kevin Burke
"except" Oops, I meant to say "accept"! Oh dear...
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by John J.
Re: Kevin Burke
Lovely clip of Paddy Canny, cheers Kennedy.
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by Dragut Reis
Re: Kevin Burke
Wow, never heard of a traddy who couldn't hear any feeling in the playing of Aonghas Grant before. Astonishing.
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by bogman
Re: Kevin Burke
Duijera Dubh: Here's another Youtube clip of Aonghas Grant, this time unaccompanied (for the first minute or so at least)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGJqD-aRfyE
I personally love the clip you posted earlier- taste eh? The digeridoo clip was also very instructive!
Jon Jay: I thoroughly enjoyed myself at Fiddle 08- thanks for helping organise it. Judging from audience reaction I was in a tiny tiny minority at the Kevin Burke gig.
Kennedy: I did enjoy those clips actually, especially the one with Paddy Canny. Great stuff.
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by tollcrossterrapin
Re: Kevin Burke
Yes, toll, that is very nice indeed. Loved it. I've just never heard of Angus Grant before, my loss I guess.
I think perhaps with some of these you tube clips where the "authors" pack them with landscape scenes which are meant to evoke something from the tune can be fairly subjective, and a distraction maybe from the tune itself. So your clip unaccompanied makes the point perhaps.
Not been into the Scottish scene much at all, but this sort of thing is fairly persuasive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnBBQ-_D2Hc
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Kevin Burke
OK then, fair play tollcross.
We're all a little gun shy around here, you must understand. We get more trolls in this joint than a Scandinavian Folklore Committee.
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Kevin Burke
toll, if you appreciated the didge player in that clip, here's about the most opposite you can get. Makes it clear what sort of expertise is happening in the original one. I dunno, there's a parallell with Kevin Burke there somewhere maybe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecRlLe038nw&NR=1
God help us.
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Kevin Burke
Jon Jay: "except" Oops, I meant to say "accept"! Oh dear...
Okay, report immediately to the Please-Stop-and-other-irritants topic for your chastisement.
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by Bob himself
Re: Kevin Burke
tollcross, if you liked the other clips I posted, then your criticisms of Burke don't hold up, because the other fiddlers do the same thing---little interplay, relatively "straight" renderings of the tunes, etc. You might just not care for Burke's style, which is perfectly valid. He's certainly not the most flamboyant of performers, and I would say more on the understated side in his playing. But I love that about him. I also agree with jardinromi, who said to listen to him in various settings...have you listened to the Bothy Band, for example?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASKwb3lZKz4
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by kennedy
Re: Kevin Burke
top quality. That clip is great.
My impression is that every one of those musicians now some decades on are much more laid back in their playing - maybe it's just a natural function of age and what you look for in the music and what different techniques you employ to convey what it is in the music. "Impressionistic" might be a better term than "laid back".
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Kevin Burke
Kennedy: You're absolutely right- they don't hold up :s
I was trying to nail what exactly it was that didn't grab me about the performance and failed, thinking it was those aspects. It must be a matter of style instead though, as you said. Incidentally, I thought the clip there was cracking. Maybe it's a style that I enjoy when it's accompanied but not otherwise?
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by tollcrossterrapin
Re: Kevin Burke
I actually asked Kevin Burke when he was here a couple of years ago what he thought about tapping into what feeling is in the tune or what impressions it gives you when playing it, and whether that then goes through to the audience in the playing.
"Just like all music" he said. Later at the concert, he then proceeded to do just that...totally absorbed in conveying the feeling or whatever he could see or imagine in the tune through his playing.
If you're doing that, you almost have to play solo or with minimal accompaniment, otherwise it could get lost.
Martin Hayes does the same thing, does she not - just himself and a very subtle and minimalist guitar backing.
Very powerful.
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Kevin Burke
Martin Hayes is not a she, I do realise.
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Kevin Burke
Kevin Burke does with a tune, what Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh does with a song, imho.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ooFHRI5U8w
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Kevin Burke
Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh is a fine instrumentalist in her own right too. Just saying.
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Kevin Burke
Yes she is.
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Kevin Burke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhumiVUEiCs&NR=1
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Kevin Burke
I would think it's just a personal taste thing.. When I first heard Micho Russell, I loathed his playing, though I've come to like it.
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by JosephC
Re: Kevin Burke
I'd love to play as good as him on an off-night. He did some solo stuff at the Catskills last year and it was brilliant. I took a class with him last year, and he always says he's being tagged as a Sligo player, and but said he has never said this about himself.
Love his new CD with Cal Scott.
# Posted on August 5th 2009 by nofrets
Re: Kevin Burke
I myself do not generally enjoy entire concerts consisting of one solo musician, no matter how good they are (and Kevin Burke is one of the best).
I attended a solo concert by Kevin Burke a number of years ago, and as good as he was, the moments I liked the most were when Johnny Cunningham and a local guitarist joined him on the stage for a few numbers. I would much prefer to hear a group of musicians than a single musician when attending a concert.
And Kevin is not a flashy player, in fact, he often makes difficult music sound easy, with a subtle approach that you can miss if you are not watching closely.
So I think I see the point that tc terrapin is driving at, and I give him credit for posing the question in a manner that was not confrontational.
# Posted on August 5th 2009 by AlBrown
Re: Kevin Burke
Toll,
Have you listened to any Kevin Burke stuff since that first concert? There are some options that might explain why you did not like his music that evening.
1. Maybe you were having a bad night, and nothing he played would have been impressive to you.
2. If you went in thinking you were gettng one thing and it ended up being completely different, that would affect your perception of his playing.
3. The long shot here, is that maybe from his musical catalog, he just chose none of his tunes that you would have liked. To this I can only add that of all of the albums that I have heard over the years I have not been 100% thrilled with them, there always seems to be a snippet here or there that I did not like. Maybe you just got 90 minutes of bad snippets thrown at you at once.
But as my mom says all the time, "that's why there is chocolate and vanilla", maybe you just did not like it, and if everyone liked one fiddle player, maybe there would be only one fiddle player! The world, I think, is a better place for having more than one fiddle player.
My apologies for the ramblings!
Christian
# Posted on August 5th 2009 by h-town homebrewer
Re: Kevin Burke
I am not a fan of his style, but when I hear Mr Burke it amazes me
how he has worked everything through. You don't hear any
stuttering that indicates he's unsure about where to go next
with the bowing. There are no hitches in the rhythm.
Leaving aside whether I like the style, I find his command of
Irish trad music on the fiddle just staggering. Getting always
closer to that technical confidence is a great goal of mine. Another
one is getting some of the emotional power of Martin Hayes and
Paddy Canny.
# Posted on August 5th 2009 by Hup
Re: Kevin Burke
Could he have been playing for a particular audience, the majority of whom liked it ?
# Posted on August 5th 2009 by David50
Re: Kevin Burke
let's not forget that the guy is almost or is 59 years old and still at the top of the tree at a time when others are thinking about retirement. Sometimes I think that there is more articulation of one's craft at ages like this, than there is when people are in their early decades. There's certainly a lot to be learned from watching Kevin Burke (and others) play solo...like Hup said.
Maybe Kevin Burke is more of a "study" these days, rather than a different style of entertainment. He's done both/all, so I guess it's a bit instructive why he chooses this style now.
# Posted on August 5th 2009 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh