slainte
My name is Hiroyuki Yamada. It may sound exotic, but actually it's a quite common/dull name in Japan. Some Irish people call me Kieran, or Hiro. I regret choosing a bit silly site name here, but I think it's too late to change it now.
I started listening to tradional Scottish/Shetland music in 1999 and then Irish stuff a few months later. After travelling around in Ireland in 2000, I started fancying playing music. In 2002 I picked up a whistle in Edinburgh while studying in the university there as an exchange student. Though I have learned and played Irish tunes in Leeds, West Clare, Sligo, London, and some other places, my love of Scottish folk music has never changed. Currently playing a wooden flute as well. It's Mark Hoza's keyless D: http://www.woodenflutemaker.com/DFlutes.html
Here's a sound clip of myself playing northern reels: http://slainte.web.infoseek.co.jp/monaghan.mp3
And a photo with "Ptarmigan" on the fiddle in Antrim in March, 2006: http://slainte.web.infoseek.co.jp/antrim1.JPG
Friends of mine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAWUkD82OxM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3rskAEMJp4
Some of my favourite recordings are:
James Carty "Upon My Soul" (flute)
Harry Bradley, Jesse Smith, and John Blake "The Tap Room Trio" (flute & fiddle with guitar / piano)
Peter Carberry "Traditional Irish Music from Co. Longford" (box and banjo)
Breda Keville "The Hop Down" (fiddle & vocal)
Johnny Connolly "An Mileodean Scaoilte" (melodeon)
Ronan Browne & Peter O'Loughlin "Touch Me If You Dare" (pipes and fiddle)
Brid O'Donohue "Tobar an Duchais" (whistle)
Fred Morrison "The Sound of the Sun" (border pipes & low whistle)
Jennifer & Hazel Wrigley "Mither o' the Sea" (fiddle with guitar / piano)
Karine Polwart "Fairest Floo'er" (vocals with guitar / piano)
"The Best of Ossian"
Currently back home in Japan and occasionally joining a couple of regular sessions in Tokyo. I tell you the sessions here aren't bad! But I admit I still miss friends and music in Leeds. Listen to Michael Tennyson and Jordy Moran play a set of reels: http://leedscce.com/images/26%20-%20Track%2026.mp3
Tunes in slainte's tunebook: 513
