Toss the Feathers

"Toss the Feathers" is a traditional Irish folk tune, typically played with a tin whistle and fiddle. It has existed in several variations, each in a different key, the two more common being D and E minor. More recently the music has been adapted in over 200 modern compilations, including both traditional versions by individuals like Joe Cooley, Tony MacMahon, Mike "Razz" Russell and groups such as The Chieftains, and rock renditions such as that by The Corrs on their album Forgiven, Not Forgotten.

There is also a radio program from Columbus, Ohio with the namesake which airs 4-6pm (ET) every Saturday. This program is broadcast through WCBE (a local NPR station streamed live for worldwide listening).

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Vivek

Sean McGuire

Sean McGuire (26 December 1927 – 24 March 2005) was a former All Ireland fiddle champion. He was from Belfast.

Biography

McGuire was only fourteen when his violin playing was broadcast for the first time on BBC radio. In 1949 at the age of only twenty-one, he won the Oireachtas (pronounced "err-OCTH-us"), the All-Ireland musical championship held annually in Dublin) with the only perfect score ever awarded in the long history of the competition. In the 1950s, he became part of a major touring group called the Malachy Sweeney Ceili Band; later he helped form the Sean McGuire Ceili Band and the Four Star Quartet. Through the 1960s he was a leading member of the Gael-Linn Cabaret.

In the days before the Chieftains assumed the role, McGuire sometimes served as Irish musics cultural ambassador. He has appeared throughout Europe, and he has been named "Grande Artiste" of the Soviet Union. When he toured the US in 1952, he was asked to appear on such classic American variety programs as The Ed Sullivan Show and The Arthur Godfrey Show. He was also honoured by the Wurlitzer Co. of New York City, who not only invited him to play the Stradivarius and Guarnerius violins in their possession, but also to enter his name (alongside those of Fritz Kreisler and Yehudi Menuhin) in their "golden book" of master violinists.