Funny how one can feel so strongly about the playing of an instrument that one cannot play oneself. I squawk away on whistle, but pipes are a lifetime of study beyond me. Yet I'm still absorbed enough by that amazing instrument to be able to, quite often, recognise the playing of well known pipers even on pieces I've not heard before.

Some people dismiss all bagpipes, no matter if they're Northumbrian, uillean or whatever. Clearly to some people it all sounds the same. I don't get that. The same huge differences in style and nuance that make me love the playing of Liam and Finbar (and Paddy Keenan) make me entirely indifferent to the over-busy playing of, say, Paddy Moloney and the playing of Davy Spillane - which just seems to lack a sense of purpose.

This thread has prompted a note to self to catch Finbar again ASAP, and Eddie and Davey too, for that matter. They were major figures in my early exposure to folk music and I'll always have a soft spot for them - together or separately.