Peerless, subtle playing from the reelin' revs. Ciaran Curran (Altan) - a mate of both from way back - produces and lends the occasional, understated hand on 'zouk.
Having (mis)spent manys a musical weekend with Gary, Seamus and Ciaran way back when, this album, like a feed of bad stout, brought it all back up. Proof of Reverend Gary's assertion that the music is about people and places. To my surprise, a few ould tunes I thought were sure to appear did not make it. Maybe next time. Some ould standards and some rarer stuff played in great style.
"Seamus and I are great fans of the old 78" records and Seamus was brought up with them, that's the reason we decided to do the album in that old style. We also feel there was a lot more freedom in the music on the 78" records than there is today, when there are far more restrictions on musicians in the way they play their music, and more emphasis on the way the music "should" be played." - Gary Hastings
"This lovely and thoughtful recording springs from the life-long friendship of two men of the cloth Reverend Canon Hastings and Father Quinn, from Belfast and Fermanagh respectively. Their flute and fiddle duets are played with spirit and virtuosity, and reflect a common love of music and the culture from which it springs."
"With Fife & Drum: Music, Memories and Customs of an Irish Tradition"
by Gary Hastings
Paperback & CD, 115pp, photos, music...
Blackstaff Press Ltd., 2003
ISBN-10: 0856407097
ISBN-13: 978-0856407093
"Reverend Gary Hastings is one of several well-known Irish men of the cloth who take their traditional music seriously. An excellent flute player himself, he was recently featured on the CD "Slan le Loch Eirne" with Father Seamus Quinn playing fiddle and piano. Although not a fifer nor a drummer, as he explains in his introduction, Hastings has chosen as his subject here the musical tradition of the Lambeg drum, primarily associated with the Orange Order in Northern Ireland. Although Hastings doesn't shy away from the political associations this entails, he concentrates on the more purely musical aspects of the tradition, the instruments and performance practice. The text is followed by a tunebook of 70 fife tunes, and complemented with a 17-track CD containing recordings of performances and of conversations with practitioners."
Slan le Loch Eirne
Peerless, subtle playing from the reelin' revs. Ciaran Curran (Altan) - a mate of both from way back - produces and lends the occasional, understated hand on 'zouk.
# Posted on October 8th 2002 by Aidan Crossey
Excellent!
Having (mis)spent manys a musical weekend with Gary, Seamus and Ciaran way back when, this album, like a feed of bad stout, brought it all back up. Proof of Reverend Gary's assertion that the music is about people and places. To my surprise, a few ould tunes I thought were sure to appear did not make it. Maybe next time. Some ould standards and some rarer stuff played in great style.
# Posted on January 11th 2003 by LongNote
What he plays as "The Gosson that Beat His Father" is actually "Johnny Going to the Ceili": http://thesession.org/tunes/display.php/2504
# Posted on January 4th 2005 by slainte
Flutist Gary Hastings at the Philadelphia Irish Center
Orange, Green? Does It Make A Musical Difference?
http://www.irishphiladelphia.com/hastingsmullen
YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CXbgxPj8UQ
# Posted on June 20th 2007 by ceolachan
"Slán le Loch Eirne: Stories to Tell"
Cló Iar Chonnachta CICD 152
Seamus Quinn: fiddle, viola, melodeon, piano
Gary Hastings: flute
Charlie Lennon: fiddle
Ciaran Curran: bouzouki
http://www.irishfiddle.com/seamus_quinn.html
"Seamus and I are great fans of the old 78" records and Seamus was brought up with them, that's the reason we decided to do the album in that old style. We also feel there was a lot more freedom in the music on the 78" records than there is today, when there are far more restrictions on musicians in the way they play their music, and more emphasis on the way the music "should" be played." - Gary Hastings
"This lovely and thoughtful recording springs from the life-long friendship of two men of the cloth Reverend Canon Hastings and Father Quinn, from Belfast and Fermanagh respectively. Their flute and fiddle duets are played with spirit and virtuosity, and reflect a common love of music and the culture from which it springs."
# Posted on June 20th 2007 by ceolachan
"Slán le Loch Eirne: Stories to Tell" ~ Online reviews:
Mustrad
http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/slan.htm
Irish Music Review
http://www.irishmusicreview.com/quinn&rooney.htm
The Living Tradition
http://www.folkmusic.net/htmfiles/webrevs/cicd152.htm
# Posted on June 20th 2007 by ceolachan
"Slán le Loch Eirne: Stories to Tell" ~ Copperplate Distribution, reviews
http://www.copperplatemailorder.com/cic152.html
# Posted on June 20th 2007 by ceolachan
Recording: "Gary Hastings And Frankie Gavin: Music For Peace"
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/1688
# Posted on June 20th 2007 by ceolachan
"With Fife & Drum: Music, Memories and Customs of an Irish Tradition"
by Gary Hastings
Paperback & CD, 115pp, photos, music...
Blackstaff Press Ltd., 2003
ISBN-10: 0856407097
ISBN-13: 978-0856407093
"Reverend Gary Hastings is one of several well-known Irish men of the cloth who take their traditional music seriously. An excellent flute player himself, he was recently featured on the CD "Slan le Loch Eirne" with Father Seamus Quinn playing fiddle and piano. Although not a fifer nor a drummer, as he explains in his introduction, Hastings has chosen as his subject here the musical tradition of the Lambeg drum, primarily associated with the Orange Order in Northern Ireland. Although Hastings doesn't shy away from the political associations this entails, he concentrates on the more purely musical aspects of the tradition, the instruments and performance practice. The text is followed by a tunebook of 70 fife tunes, and complemented with a 17-track CD containing recordings of performances and of conversations with practitioners."
# Posted on June 20th 2007 by ceolachan
"Blooming Meadows: The World of Irish Traditional Musicians"
Fintan Vallely & Charlie Piggott, photographs by Nutan
Town House & Country House, Dublin, 1998
ISBN: 1-86059-100-0
Pages 83 - 87: Gary Hastings
# Posted on June 20th 2007 by ceolachan