Kevin Crawford’s ‘Fingers Of Fire’
May 11th, 2007 by Shardul
Kevin Crawford whistles a merry tune!
There are, no doubt, dozens or even hundreds of really good Irish flute and whistle players around the world. Some of them probably choose to remain in relative obscurity and are known and heard by very few. Many you will find at sessions small and large, or on CD’s, and touring around the world. They all have something unique to offer and are commonly just regular people with a gift and a yearning to play music. By all accounts, this is often how musicians express themselves best.
One flute player who seems to have found his way on to the big stage, and who was in New Zealand with the band Lunasa a few years ago, is Kevin Crawford. Kevin plays the Irish flute, tin whistle, low whistle, and bodhran — and was offering a flute master class at New Zealand’s Ceol Aneas in 2004. By all reports, Kevin and the other members of Lunasa enthralled the 120 or so participants of Ceol Aneas and the subsequent concert in Nelson that year with their warmth, talent and enthusiasm for passing on their knowledge of Irish traditional music and their individual instruments.
Here’s a clip of Kevin playing the whistle — watch the fingers fly…
Good huh? After watching that clip, it’s hard to believe that he doesn’t practice in his sleep! I find players like Kevin inspiring because they are usually the product of many years of practice and effort — their dedication to their art is something that is easy to overlook when we see them on the stage. What they have accomplished is an encouragement for the rest of us.
Kevin Crawford was born in the industrial city of Birmingham, England, and moved to rural West Clare to get closer to the roots of the traditional music of Ireland. He has been living there ever since. Both of Kevin’s parents had migrated to Birmingham from Miltown Malbay in Co. Clare — home to the Willie Clancy summer school — and were ardent in their love of Irish traditional music. Kevin once said that he felt accepted into the world of Irish traditional music when the renowned fiddler Conor Tully called and asked Kevin to join him for a session one day. Since that time, many musical friendships have developed and Kevin has become one of the leading flute players of his time. By the way, I can thoroughly recommend Kevin Crawford’s two albums: ‘d’ flute album and In Good Company.
“Ireland is rich in literature that understands a soul’s yearnings, and dancing that understands a happy heart.” — Margaret Jackson.
Read more about Kevin Crawford on the Green Linnet web site and enjoy the following:
This is: Conor Tully (fiddle), Paddy Carty (flute), Padraig ‘ac Donncha (banjo) and Frank Hogan (mandola) during an Irish traditional music session in 1982.
... a web site dedicated to the simple system wooden flutes (aka 'Irish' flutes) that are so much a part of Irish traditional and Celtic music, and to the excellent wooden flutes produced by the Irish flute maker 
[...] of the senior flute tutors at the Willie Clancy Summer School in Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare. Like Kevin Crawford and Bob Bickerton, Catherine is originally from Birmingham, England, and she is considered to be [...]