Feadaíl: The Whistling Tradition in Ireland c. 1800-2021
Dr. Robert Harvey
Feadaíl: The Whistling Tradition in Ireland c.1800–2021 is the first major study to consider the history, performance styles and exponents of whistling in Irish traditional music. Tracing the trajectory of the tradition through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Robert Harvey tells its story from the ploughman’s whistle in pre-famine Ireland through the Gaelic Revival to its present manifestation as a competitive artform. Beginning with a consideration of the contributions of the great collectors of Irish music to our understanding of the practice, the interrelationships between whistling and the instrumental, dancing and singing traditions are considered, as is the role of the Gaelic League in shaping the direction of contemporary performance practice. Drawing on interviews with All-Ireland Champion exponents, as well as archival and newspaper sources, the social, historical and folkloric elements underpinning the tradition are also discussed. The book contains a comprehensive list of feis and fleadh results from c.1901–2021 as well as 212 transcriptions of tunes collected from whistlers. The accompanying CDs contain archival material recorded between 1899-1999, as well as new studio and field recordings made in January-March 2020. Feadaíl situates whistling as a vital, though often overlooked, medium for the transmission and continuity of traditional Irish music.
