The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #162679   Message #3873121
Posted By: GUEST,jim bainbridge
22-Aug-17 - 10:02 AM
Thread Name: Feadaíl — Irish mouth whistling
Subject: RE: Feadaíl — Irish mouth whistling
To take this across the sheugh to Scotland....where is a parallel tradition of mouth music or diddling- old Davie Glen of Angus was a great exponent of that...
There is also a mouth whistling tradition, which I wasn't aware of until 1971. I had won the TMSA melodeon competition for the previous three years, and was banned from further competition on the instrument. Part of my commitment to the TMSA festival was to act as an adjudicator- not my style at all really!
Anyway it wasn't to be the melodeon competition, but the whistling competition ( not 'ze mouth music played on ze mouth' as Peter Sellers had it but whistling on ze mouth).
Anyway, there were several good competitors, with their march, strathspey & reel or whatever & all going well & politely applauded.

Next, a crowd of noisy local men entered with one clutching an entry form. We all settled down for his offering & he proceeded to do the most amazing bird impressions!
The crowd erupted in delight so then came a real dilemma for the adjudicator! the locals were no bother but I couldn't give them an award- there was a cup for the winner and a certificate for the runners up- no money, so I gave him second place, against all the rules- nobody ever complained & it was 46 years ago!
Oh and I did achieve second place in the TMSA Kirriemuir diddling competition a few years ago, so spent a twelvemonth as the second best diddler in Scotland- a doubtful honour?