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An introduction to Irish flute playing

styles

The flute is one of the central sounds of Irish music and has recently gained in popularity to the
extent that probably more people now play Irish music on the flute than ever before. The
wooden simple-system flute has a wide range of tone, volume and colour available to it and
the consequent flexibility of expression has obviously added to its attraction. It also breaks
down into a handy-sized case which box and banjo players can only dream of.

The popularity of the flute today is largely due to the achievements of many players in
conjunction with the ever-rising profile of Irish traditional music in general. Matt Molloy, now
of The Chieftains but formerly of The Bothy Band and Planxty and also with several
collaborations and solo recordings to his credit, is probably the best-known, but the late
Frankie Kennedy also came to many people's attention during the 1980s playing with Altan.

The success and influence of these bands has resulted in the music of these two flute players
being exposed to a much wider audience than that of their peers and the effect of this can be
heard in many sessions throughout the world. Kevin Crawford and Michael McGoldrick are two
players from a different generation who could be said to be exerting similar influences today,
both in their solo work, their involvement with Lunasa and McGoldrick's spell with Flook!.

The commercial success of these players has tended to highlight their own approaches to
traditional flute playing and obscure the fact that there are several recognised traditional
styles or ways of playing the flute. Some of these styles have been around for a very long time
and continue to be played by large numbers of outstanding musicians.

For the sake of simplicity, I have rounded these up into three groups: Sligo, East Galway and
Piping. The first two of these groups are known and recognised, while the third comes from my
own observations. Leitrim and Northern Ireland also have distinctive and possibly related
styles, but for the moment description of these falls under the broad Sligo umbrella.

Generally speaking, the two main distinguishing features of the different styles which exist are
rhythm and the employment of decoration. These features are used on related, but opposing
sliding scales. On the one hand there are players such as Matt Molloy who play with minimal
rhythm but liberally employ a wide range of piping crans, rolls, triplets and cuts. Many modern
innovations in flute playing within Irish music use this model as a starting point.

At the other end of the scale there are fluters like Conal O'Grada who play in the Sligo Style
with great rhythmic emphasis and minimal decoration, but whose music can be equally
compelling. The East Galway Style can perhaps be seen as a sub category of the Sligo Style, but
with several unique characteristics. Categories are never hard and fast and in between there
are of course a wide range of players from different areas who utilise these features to
different degrees.

Throughout this site I have referred only to those flute players who have been commercially
recorded. This is for ease of reference only and is not to say that these are the only ones worth
listening to. Many truly excellent musicians remain unrecorded.

If you are unfamiliar with the history, background or terminology of the Irish flute, then the
Links page contains a list of useful resources.

Music samples

This site contains some music samples which are intended to illustrate the different styles
discussed. With the exception of Mike Rafferty's sample, which is used with his permission, the
music clips are of myself with reference to a particular recording in order to sidestep copyright
laws.

This is not ideal, but will hopefully serve its purpose. I do not attempt to emulate the recording
in question, but more illustrate the general style on show. I strongly recommend listening to
the originals and others which appear in the discography section.

The files are in AIFF (Audio Interchange Format Files), mono, 8-bit, 11 khz and were recorded
at home on a hand held micro cassette recorder for that authentic lo-tech traditional feel. This
particular format crosses most platforms with the minimum of software/ hardware
requirements and as such helps to keep things simple. Smaller MP3 versions are also included.

Information on the file sizes and length of the sample can be found by the relevant link and I
have tried to keep these as small as possible by focusing on single reels.

THE SLIGO FLUTE PLAYING STYLE

The first flute player to achieve the acclaim given today to Matt Molloy was also one of the
first traditional flute players to become involved in the recording industry. John McKenna from
Tents, near Drumkeerin, Co. Leitrim, emigrated to the USA in the early part of the 20th century
and was part of a strong Irish-American music scene in the twenties and thirties which
coincided with the early days of commercial recordings.

With over 60 sides of 78s to his name he was the most prolific flute player of this period and
consequently became an enormous influence. His style of playing was breathy and rhythmic
with a great lift to it and many of his sets became session standards and still are. Perhaps the
most successful set is now often known simply as 'McKenna's No.1 and No.2,' or 'McKenna's
Reels', but was recorded in 1934 with banjo and flute player Michael Gaffney as 'Colonel
Rodger's Favourite' and 'The Happy Days of Youth' and can be found in O'Neill's under those
names.

McKenna's style of playing was typical of that mainly developed in Counties Sligo, Leitrim and
Roscommon (and also in neighbouring Fermanagh, Mayo and north Galway), but is commonly
refered to as the 'Sligo Style'. Strictly speaking the style is more of a Connaught one. The style
travelled to the USA with emigrants from these areas and subsequently is the most commonly
heard style on the early recordings.

Typically, this style relies upon the production of a consistent and emphatic rhythm, using the
diaphragm to create a powerful pulse upon which the tune is 'superimposed' or hangs.
Essentially, parts of every bar are emphasised through alternate hard and soft notes in a kind
of on-off, 'attack'-'decay', down-up pattern.

Fingered embellishments are generally minimal, mostly restricted to cuts and occasional rolls
and triplets where they might add rhythmic emphasis; any more and there is a risk that the
rhythm will be crowded out. Essentially, the playing of ornaments such as a long or short roll
reduces the opportunity to emphasise a particular note with the breath because the ornament
removes a small amount of musical time from the ornamented note.

Occasionally however, an ornament such as a cut can aid the emphasis by clearly separating
the ornamented note from the previous one and aiding its 'attack'. Almost without exception
the graced or decorated note is on the up beat.

The result is perhaps a more plain but dynamic sound than other styles, particularly suitable
today for both sessions and dances, but may also have its roots in marching bands. According
to Sligo flute player Kevin Henry, the Land League movement encouraged the formation of
marching flute bands, which would have had an influence in turn upon the style of playing the
flute for dance and social music.

The need for dancers to hear distinctive rhythms in the music to keep their places and timing
will also have contributed to the development of this style; the original purpose of the
commonly-heard tunes today is for dancing, after all. In sessions as well, if musicians can hear
each other above the noise of the pub, then the music will always come together. A rhythmic
style is a great help in this respect as embellishments and variations can become muddied and
lost in the general noise of the pub.

Letrim and the North

Leitrim players and those in Northern Ireland often have a tendancy to emphasise the rhythm
even more than other Sligo-type flute players. This can at times involve forcing the notes
almost to the point of overblowing, so that the note fragments and assumes an earthy, rasping
tone. Harry Bradley's recent recordings (see discography) feature this and also make the
connection between marching tunes playes on the fife and dance tunes on the flute.

In his interview on Brad Hurley's site, John Skelton says that amongst Irish musicians in London
this approach was sometimes referred to as "dirty playing". This is not neccessarily a
detrimental description at all, but is an extension of the palette of colours available to the flute
player. It may be far removed from the tonal purity generally favoured by classical flute players
the world over, but is actually quite tricky to produce and control. Interestingly, some of the
innovative flute work by Flook!, Lunasa and also Niall Keegan employs this technique for
emphasis.

Music sample

The Mountain Top (AIFF 219k | MP3 160k 20 seconds of music) This reel can be heard on Eddie
Cahill's 'Ah, Surely!' (Shanachie) and is also played by Peter Horan on the compilation album
'Music From Coleman Country'.

Flute players who play with a strong rhythm include:

Eddie Cahill
Frankie Gavin
Hammy Hamilton
Marcus Hernon
Peter Horan
Cathal McConnell
Josie McDermott
Catherine McEvoy
John McKenna
Colm O'Donnell
Conal O'Grada
Marcus O Murchu
Micko Russell
Seamus Tansey

Northern and Leitrim players:

Desy Adams (with Na Dórsa)


Harry Bradley
Michael Clarkson
Packie Duignan
Gary Hastings
Deidre Havlin (with Deanta)
Desi Wilkinson
The East-Galway flute playing style

The music of south east Galway (and neighbouring east Clare, with which it shares many
attributes) is possibly the most subtle Irish music there is to hear. Both flute and fiddle music
here is generally more relaxed and the music is played with a less punchy rhythm. The high
number of tunes in flat or minor keys also lends a melancholy feel to much of the music.

Stephen Moloney and Tommy Whelan were the original flute players in the Ballinakill
Traditional Dance Players, one of the early ceili bands; both musicians can be heard on the
cassette Flute Players of Old Erin (see the Discography).

Stephen Moloney's son Ambrose (also a flute player) has said of the east Galway style:

"Those old records of the band, that's very authentic now for this area, that style, slow and
clear with a fair bit of expression. The Sligo flute players had a different style to the Galway
players. I think the style here was a quieter way of playing."

The inheritance of the old Ballinakill musicians can be heard on Bridging the Gap by uncle and
nephew Kevin Moloney (fiddle, also a son of Stephen Moloney ) and Sean Moloney (Boehm
and simple system flute).

A characteristic of the tunes of this area is that many are in keys with no sharps and one or two
flats (Dm, C, F, Gm, Bb), which are more difficult for Concert flute players to play, even with 8-
keyed instruments. A number of local flute players have circumvented this problem by
adopting Boehm or other system flutes, but maintaining the particularly desirable qualities of
the wooden flute.

As a consequence, the normal range of traditional decorative techniques is unavailable to the


flute player and it is noticeable that , for example, where a roll might normally take place, the
musician chooses to play something else instead. Merely holding the note around which the
roll should take place would sound out of place and would break up the rhythm. What tends to
happen is that the flute player, as with the Sligo style, improvises or develops a sympathetic
melodic phrase which, when combined with the slower pace and less punchy rhythm, creates a
rolling, flowing feel with few emphatic held notes or pauses.

The replacement notes sometimes take the form of running triplets or more commonly
arpeggios down to the end note of the phrase. The notes are short, but have a real time value
and are therefore not conventional grace notes. What is important is that the steady
momentum is maintained; there are very few rests from this as the replacement notes are
played and this reinforces the flowing feel.

The greatest exponent of this very melodic style is generally held to be the late Paddy Carty of
Loughrea who played a wooden Radcliffe system flute. Those who play in his manner are
approvingly said to have 'The Carty Flow' or, more simply, 'The Flow'. Carty's playing does
include some rolls, but these tend to be kept short and used sparingly, with cuts, 'pats' (also
called 'tips', 'taps' or 'strikes') and accidentals as the only other form of decoration. This style
would probably make a good model for Boehm flute players looking to play Irish music on their
instruments.

Flute players from this area who play a more conventional Concert flute are less restricted in
the range of options when it comes to decorating a tune. As a consequence, they tend to mix
in more conventional decorative techniques a little while maintaining a faithful east Galway
approach and feel to the rhythm of the tune.

Music sample

Miss McLeod's Reel (AIFF 272k | MP3 196k 24 seconds of music). This reel is played here by
Mike Rafferty and is used with his kind permission. The music can be heard in full on his CD
with Mary Rafferty, The Road From Ballinakill. For more information, see his entry in the
discography or visit the Rafferty's website. Transcriptions of his repertoire have been compiled
in two volumes by Lesl Harker and are recommended.

Flute players who play in this style include:

Vincent Broderick
Joe Burke
Paddy Carty
Jack Coen
Eamonn Cotter
Sean Moloney
Mike Rafferty

flute players who play in a related style include:

Billy Clifford
Paddy Taylor

The piping flute style

It is generally acknowledged that much of Matt Molloy's approach to playing dance music on
the flute is borrowed and adapted from uilleann piping. A listen to Molloy playing alongside a
piper, Liam O'Flynn (on 'The Fire Aflame', but also with Planxty) or Paddy Keenan (on 'The
Bothy Band' recordings) for example, illustrates the striking similarity, even though the pipers
could be said to have different piping styles (but that's another matter). A listen to Michael
McGoldrick's flute playing double-tracked with his own piping is another good example.

Matt Molloy's rhythm is very subtle and allows for an unhindered use of decoration — slides,
cuts, triplets, short and long rolls abound. There is also reason to believe he may have been
the first to popularise cranning on the flute, a kind of punchy roll on bottom D and E, which is a
standard, but tricky, decorative technique amongst pipers. Years ago a friend who was an
accomplished whistle-player took a Molloy record and played it at 16 rpm on an old turntable
in order to listen more closely; he reported back with despair that Molloy appeared to do
something to each and every note!

Piping has its own traditions and complexities and I don't wish to explore them here. From a
flute player's perspective however, pipers do not add emphasis to tunes in the way that flute
players, fiddlers, box and banjo players can i.e. by varying the volume. Consequently, many
pipers play very evenly with no rhythmic emphasis beyond the use of accompanying
regulators. An alternative is adding a slight dotted rhythm, emphasising notes on the beat by
holding them for a fraction longer than might be expected and shortening the following note.

While Molloy plays with piping decoration, he also plays very evenly, with a very subtle use of
rhythm: it is noticeable that he chooses to emphasise the start or key parts of a phrase rather
than a constant foot-tapping dancer's rhythm. The emphasis can take on many forms:
variation in volume, strong decoration or holding a note, sometimes bending it (see below), for
a part of a phrase would be the most common approach. Flute players who delight in speed
tend to adopt this model for rhythm in order to help emphasise interesting parts of the tune.

Interestingly, there are some exceptions to these observations on Molloy's playing. 'Live at
Matt Molloy's' features Molloy in a near-session environment playing with a more dance-like
rhythm, perhaps because he is choosing to fit in with the other, more rhythmic flute players he
is playing with. His recording of 'Paddy Rafferty's Favourite' on 'Shadows on Stone' with lilter
Paddy Rafferty sees him employing a steady rhythmic pulse in his playing in order to match
that of the lilting. I have also heard a recording of Frankie Kennedy in a session choosing to
play at a more moderate pace and with more rhythm than when playing with Altan.

Blue notes

As well as speed and dexterity, Molloy's playing also features "blue" notes (for want of a better
expression) -- that is, note-bending or changing the colour or tone of a note. As I understand it,
Molloy was the first player to adapt this technique to playing dance music, but as bands play
ever faster and some of the subtleties of the melody and rhythm become less prominant, flute
players have found the use of "blue" notes very suitable for their needs. This was a strong
feature of Frankie Kennedy's playing with Altan, helping create the atmosphere for which they
are well known.

The playing of blue notes originally borrows from the singing and slow air traditions, although
not exclusively, and generally involves holding the note a little longer than usual and flattening
it by a quarter tone or semitone. To a certain degree this feature can be seen in uilleann
piping, particularly in smearing or sliding into notes from below. Older fiddlers have used a
similar technique, usually to slightly sharpen a note and lift a passage rather than to hold and
flatten it for a more mournful effect. See the analysis of Paddy Canny's use of a 'mobile' C by
Bernie Stocks on his fiddle page for more information on this.

A good example, but by no means the only one, of a flute player employing this technique is
Molloy's recording of 'Jenny's Chickens' on 'Heathery Breeze', where he introduces a flattened
B into a Bm/F#m reel to unexpected and startling effect.

There are different ways of doing this: the ones which offer the most control are by altering
the shape of the cavity of the mouth and the back of the throat with the tongue and also by
adjusting the air speed and direction. Other ways include rolling the flute in, sliding down into
a half covered position below with the fingers, using the keys, altering the shape of the
embouchure (the shape of the lips). These can all be used in conjunction with other techniques
to great effect.

The relative ease with which notes can be bent on the flute is both a boon and a burden. The
adjustments required to alter the note are so tiny that the beginner can find aspects of these
methods hampering good pitch and tone as a matter of course. A fair degree of control is
required and, as with other decorative techniques, employment is a matter of taste.

Recent developments

A recent development within traditional flute playing is to extend the feature of blue note
playing and marry it with the jazz idiom. Brian Finnegan and Michael McGoldrick with Sarah
Allen (Boehm system) in Flook!, Niall Keegan and Garry Shannon are some who are the
forefront of this style. This mirrors what is happening elsewhere in Irish and Scottish
traditional music (e.g. Niall Vallely and Simon Thoumire, anglo and english concertina
respectively) and a general interest in other flute playing traditions, such as some of the
Breton flute playing of Jean-Michel Veillon.

The bedrock for this would appear to be the piping style, with its scope for speed and fluidity
and essentially melodic approach. Use of keys for dramatic chromatic runs and shifts,
vocalising and chopping up time signatures are common features. The exponants of this
development are undoubtedly gifted and knowlegable musicians, but in essence this can really
only remain a solo or performance-related style since it depends upon accompanying
musicians being aware of arrangements or directions of improvisation, much as jazz does.

Music sample

Miss McGuinness (AIFF 216k | MP3 160k 20 seconds of music) This reel can be heard on Matt
Molloy's 'Stony Steps'; a more rhythmic or Sligo-type rendition can be heard on Cónal O
Gráda's 'The Top of Coom'.

Flute players who play in this style include:

Kevin Crawford
Seamus Egan
Niall Keegan
Frankie Kennedy
Michael McGoldrick
Matt Molloy
Garry Shannon

Other Styles: Traditional galician flute playing

An Introduction to Traditional Galician flute playing


by Cástor Castro (site in Galician, opens in new window)
© Cástor Castro

Note: The information on this page is a brief introduction to the rich Galician flute
playing tradition and was kindly contributed by Cástor Castro, from Ourense, in
Galicia, Spain. Cástor has written about the Galician flute tradition for Murguía
Magazine and has recently finished a book, Traditional musicians from Limia, an area
to the south of Galicia.

The requinta
The most characteristic wooden flute in Galicia is the requinta, found only in the central
area. This is a wooden flute tuned between F and F# and is played in the upper register
to accompany the bagpipes, which are tuned to between B and Bb.

Requinta de Xian are currently considered to be the best band currently playing in the
traditional style and their web site has information on the instrument and its tradition,
including fingering charts, tuning and historical photographs of requinta players (please
note that this site is in Spanish):

http://www.requintadexian.com

Other flutes
In other parts of Galicia such as the Pontevedra coast area, near Vigo, the piccolo is
played to accompany bagpipes.

Historically, the three piece boxwood flute and the cane flute were also widely used,
mainly as a solo instrument. Musicians made their own transverse flutes, sometimes
made from cane but mostly from elder branches. The three piece flutes (boxwood, etc.)
used to be bought in ironworks shops and in big fairs or markets.

Often the flute was the way that young players began to learn to play, later moving on
to the bagpipes. This led many researchers to believe that the function of the flute was
minor and just for learning or for enjoying alone, such as when the shepherds minded
their flocks, for example.

But in an article that I wrote for Murguía magazine, I show that many texts from 19th
and 20th Century writers and press present a different vision of the instrument. This is
one where the flute as one of several instruments played in the fiadeiros -- meetings of
people, generally in winter, to work with linen. While they worked, generally the
stories, songs, music, and dancing appeared. In these texts we found that flutes were
played along with panderetas (little tambourines) for people dancing, proving that the
flute was also used for social enjoyment and not just as a solo instrument played in
private.
The keyed D flute was a much more expensive instrument, was more difficult to obtain,
and was generally less often played. However, I have been able to identify some groups
that also played traditional music and with the following configurations: One flute and
drums, 2 flutes and drums, or flutes, clarinet, and drums, etc.

Further resources

For further information on Galician traditional music, Cástor is involved in a Galician


traditional music school in Ourense and their web site contains a number of useful
resources. There are music clips of flutes and the other instruments that feature in the
Galician tradition (including fiddle, bagpipes and accordion) as well as video clips and
sheet music. Click on Mediateca in the main menu (please note that this site is in
Spanish):

http://www.gomesmouro.tk

Félix and Cástor Castro play gaita (Galician bagpipes), concertina, button accordion and
bouzouki and their highly recommended recordings for the Citterns on Ice project give
another excellent insight into the music of Galician flute players. The recordings can be
downloaded as MP3s/ RA files from the Cittern web site:

 Set of four galician muinheiras (external link), which are piping tunes in 6/8
time.
 Alalá / Muinheira / Rumba / Saltón (external link).

They have also contributed two tracks to the Anglo concertina anthology Anglo
International! For further details, see their web site (opens in new window). The site is
in Galician, but has some content in English

Traditional scottish flute playing

An Introduction to Scottish flute playing

This is a brief introduction to traditional flute playing in Scotland, which is growing in


popularity. There are significant Irish influences, but also many from the tin whistle and
Highland piping traditions.

Flute playing in Scotland is by no means as popular as it is in Ireland and this is sometimes a


surprise to the outsider. Although it was more common over 150-200 years ago, for reasons
that appear complex and are not entirely clear, it fell by the wayside for a long time. It survived
in pockets in community and sectarian flute bands that have the fife as their main instrument.
The simple-system, eight-keyed flute has only really been taken up again in the period since
the Folk Revival.

This broken tradition means that the flute has had to undergo a re-establishment process that
is still ongoing. However, there are signs of a new confidence amongst Scottish flute players
that are promising and it can only be a question of time before a solo Scottish flute recording is
made that reflects the current music scene.
Roy Williamson of The Corries appears to have been the first to record Scottish music on the
flute in recent times (to accompany songs). In more recent years the flute has featured on
Scottish recordings and in band line-ups, growing in popularity to the extent that it can
sometimes be seen in Scottish sessions. It still has a long way to go before it can claim to be at
the heart of Scottish music, or make its mark on the music as has happened in Brittany, but the
signs are currently healthy.

In December 2001 an historic gathering of flute players from around Scotland took place in
Aberdeen and I doubt that this could have been possible until then. Since then, a number of
smaller events have taken place regularly, with visiting teachers at various events, such as the
Summer school at Saimhal Mhor Ostaig on Skye and The Border Gaitherin' at Coldstream.
Many of these teachers are Irish flute players, but the fact remains that 20 years ago these
types of events simply couldn't have taken place due to a lack of demand.

Main influences

The tin whistle has been popular in Scotland for a long while and the low whistle is a natural
extension of this, being arguably more popular than the flute in Scotland. Many Highland
pipers in particular seem to have taken to it as a second instrument. The logistics of this make
it an understandable choice.

This means that piping and tin whistles have a large influence in terms of repertoire and
technique. For more information on the whistle in Scotland, Nigel Gatherer has written an
introduction to styles and history. As most flute players are likely to also play the tin whistle,
there is an obvious overlap here and a small number of Highland pipers do play the flute as
well as the whistle. This relationship can also be seen in Ireland, of course.

The influence of Irish flute paying cannot be overestimated, particularly given the large cultural
and population crossovers between the two countries. Many of the Scottish flute players who
have recorded originally began playing Irish music.

This can cause confusion even to musicians in Scotland, who sometimes don't understand why
Irish music is played in Scottish sessions at all. This has its roots in the session scene itself
though, which tends to be Irish-dominated for historical reasons.

Furthermore, Irish flute-playing role models were once the only ones available to flute players
in Scotland and a generation made regular pilgrimages to Ireland to learn and develop their
art. Most flute players in Scotland are likely to have a significant Irish repertoire as a result.
Developing a Scottish repertoire came on the back of this experience for these players, helping
lay the foundation for more recent developments.

A generation of Northern Irish players coming to prominence has resulted in lesser-known


tune types being recorded and many of these have close and obvious Scottish ties.
Strathspeys, Highlands and Schottisches played with clear expertise by such players as Frankie
Kennedy, Harry Bradley and Desi Wilkinson has shown that there are further possibilities for
Scottish music on the flute and have served as an inspiration to many.

Northumbrian music also has much in common with Scottish music and flute players there
have presumably had to work to integrate their instrument into the tradition. However, a two-
octave piping tradition that is frequently tuned to D will have helped and I feel that there is
something here that Scottish flute players can learn from.

The Scottish flute today

Scottish music has been governed by institutions for over a hundred years - the military
(piping), fiddle and accordion clubs, country dance societies and so forth. Since the folk revival
and particularly since the 80s, it seems that the traditional music scene in Scotland seems to
have almost self-consciously tried to throw off the restraints of cultural institutionalisation in
order to rediscover itself.

This has led to all sorts of innovations and ideas, some more successful than others, from
cross-over influences with jazz and dance music to seeking affinities with other traditions.
However, this is the climate in which the flute in Scotland now finds itself and as such is well-
placed to reclaim a position that it last held 150 years ago or more.

There is some further discussion on the Scottish flute on The Session web site, with a
comprehensive account of its revival in Scotland by Kenny Hadden and some contributions by
others. The list of flute players below has been expanded to take in some of the comments

Notable Scottish players (please note that not all of these have recorded) include:

Rebecca Knorr (Calluna)


Chris Norman (Skyedance and solo)
Phil Smillie (The Tannahill Weavers)
Claire Mann (Tabache and solo)
Nuala Kennedy (Fine Friday, Harem Scarem, solo)
Niall Kenny (solo)
Dougie Pincock (The Battlefield Band, solo)
Ann Ward (Sprangeen)
Iain McDonald (Ossian, The Battlefield Band)
Alan McDonald (solo)
Roy Williamson (The Corries)
Frances Morton (Kinnell)
Eddie Maguire (The Whistlebinkies)
Peter Boond (Ceolbeg)
Calum Stewart (solo)
Dan Houghton (Cantrip)
Munro Gauld (solo)
Kenny Hadden (solo)
Hamish Napier (Back of the Moon)
Jimmy Young (Rua)
Sean O'Rourke (JSD Band, Alba)
John Gahagan (The Battlefield Band)
George Jackson (Ossian)
Billy Jackson (Ossian)
Brendan Hyde (Malin Head)
Malcolm Reavell (solo)

Notable Irish players with a Scottish influence or Northern repertoire include:

Frankie Kennedy
Cathal McConnell
Paul McGrattan
Desi Wilkinson
Marcus O Murthu
Harry Bradley
Gary Hastings
Michael McGoldrick

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