CAOIMHÍN Ó FEARGHAIL
The Ace and Deuce of Piping Volume 4
Philippe Cousin
Caoimhín Ó Fearghail is in his thirties and comes from the Gaeltacht area of An Rinn, County Waterford. Early on he was involved in traditional music, starting with the tin whistle taught by the famous Bobby Gardiner. But very quickly under the tutelage of David Power he turned to the uilleann pipes.
And as a talent never comes alone, he learned the guitar and the wooden flute by himself, inspired by musicians as diverse as Matt Molloy or Tom Doorley (Danú). And he cannot deny the influence of Séamus Ennis, Willie Clancy or Liam O'Flynn for the uilleann pipes.
In 2012 Caoimhín was named young musician of the year by TG4 and in parallel he has recorded on the albums of many musicians: Caitlín Nic Gabhann, Edel Fox and Neill Byrne. In 2014 he joined the band Caladh Nua with whom he toured extensively. Finally in 2018 he released the album Flute & Fiddle alongside Paddy Tutty.
This time he is going solo with The Ace and Deuce of Piping on which he focuses on the music of his home region, Waterford. A music that he plays on uilleann pipes made by Alain Froment, a French luthier living in Kerry who died in 2008.
Fourteen sets - eleven dance tunes and three slow tunes - follow each other with no less than twenty-eight tunes. Amongst these, Mary McMahon learned from Paddy Moloney, leader of the Chieftains who died very recently. Or The Rambling Thatcher and Whelan's Old Sow from Matt Molloy's repertoire. The album concludes with the reel The Boy in the Gap, the first tune learned by the young Caoimhín. All but one of the tunes are traditional and his treatment of them is a brilliant interpretation of the art of the uilleann pipe. The level of skill of this young musician could place him among the best.
Na Píobairí Uilleann NPUCD023 - ofearghailc@hotmail.com