One thing I like about NSP is the way vibrato alters the colour, rather
than the volume of a note.
You can emphasise higher harmonics this way, and Billy Pigg seemed to
use this a lot in The Lark in the Clear Air, for example.
As for apples and potatoes - in Cologne they have
John, I know what you mean. I also think that fiddle and pipes in duet
are a Northumbrian version of 'Himmel un Aed'.
If I may rewind the discussion and with particular reference to the
Chris Ormston's Blackbird, I have to say it is a far superior track
to anything I managed to
The defining performance of the Blackbird for me (both the air and the set
dance) was Paddy Keenan's on his solo UP album.
That probably owed a bit to Johnny Doran's famous recording.
But Chris achieved a tremendous lot on his recording of the air - proving that
NSP can be powerfully
Thanks to everyone for the edifying discussion. To me Doubleday seems
to be saying, the NSP are a rude, wee thing with enough charm to make
them worth preserving, and within its narrowest scope in its own way
it's quite nice, really. Another way of looking at it is that he's
saying fa\g a phiob
