Customer Reviews

Feadoga Stain 2

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Failte! (Greetings). Feadoga Stain ("whistle tunes" in Irish Gaelic)number one was seriously handicapped by the music recording technology of the mid 1970's. However, don't dare to criticize the playing unless you can play along and keep pace. The tinwhistle and the bodhran (Irish Drum, pronounced Boe-rahn or Bow-rahn) are the very best of the best ever recorded. The second recording is not as handicapped for recording technology, and is a real gem of Celtic Music history. Mary is in an elite group of musicians that includes Paddy Moloney, Joannie Madden, Laurence Nugent, and Joe McKenna. Her fluid, fast paced tunes are her trademark sound. Mary was doing fast paced, fluid whistling in the mid 1970's, and stretched the envelope for playing forever more. The same can be said of Johnny McDonagh. Current bodhran players are playing fast paced doublets and triplets, using drums without crossbars, using a backside technique to alter the tone, use a full range of tones, use rim strokes to accent, and are playing expressively to the music. Guess who pioneered these techniques in the early and mid 1970's? It may even be fair to say that this percussion instrument would have been relegated to a historic artifact status if Johnny hadn't streched the envelope by a wide margin. Previously, the bodhran was an outdoor instrument for parades and wakes, with the performer playing loudly and dancing at the same time. Johnny is in an elite group of Bodhran players that include Tommy Hayes, Kevin Conneff (Cheiftains), Frank Torpey(Nomos), John Joe Kelly (Flook) and Donnchadh Gough(Danu). Mary and Johnny together have a set of jigs and reels here that can be said to be the prototype of fine Irish music for these instruments over the last three decades. How about a reunion album? Feodoga Stain 3? Eire go Brach! (Ireland Forever!).

Whether you have been listening to Irish traditional music all your life or you have recently started, seriously consider adding both these albums (Feadog Stain one and two) to your music collection. They are simply wonderful albums! Despite some sound quality issues on her first album (which are fairly minor) this stands as one of the greatest recordings of Irish music ever made. The second recording picks up were the first left off, with the benefit of clearer sound.

This isn't the slick, over produced new agey fare encountered in movie sound tracks of late. This is the real stuff; genuine hard driving dance tunes and moving slow airs played by great musicians.

Mary Bergin is one of the best whistle players of all times. This CD is a classic and it's a must have for all those who like Irish traditional music.

I find Mary Bergin to be phenomenal. There is simply no other word for it. Her playing provokes the same reaction that Scruggs's banjo-picking did: where'd all those notes come from?

If you like tin whistle, buy this disc.

Don't bother to buy the original Feadoga Stain -- sadly, it was ruined by bad production. But FS2 rescues her. And if you think there's some studio trickery involved, there isn't. Listen to her live in concert. Amazing. And she makes it look easy.