Feadaíl: The Whistling Tradition in Ireland c.1800–2021

Feadaíl: The Whistling Tradition in Ireland c.1800–2021 is a 560 page hard back book with two CDs and constitutes the first major study to consider the history, performance styles and exponents of whistling in Irish traditional music. 

Published by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann and launched by Labhrás Ó Murchú Ard-Stiúrthóir Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann at Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann 2024 In Wexford, 'Feadaíl' is sponsored by the Wexford All Ireland Fleadh Committee as part of their Legacy commitment with the vision that in 100 years time, 'Feadaíl' will stand testament to the Cultural Investment made by the Fleadh Executive Committee in 2024.

Tracing the trajectory of the tradition through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the books author 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 interrelationship 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.

As a little known and practiced art form, the book design was designed by Martin Gaffney FIDI whose design concept sought to enhance the authors literary endeavours by providing a visual style that helps to illustrate the art of whistling further - the design idea explored the view that the human vocal anatomy enables a variety of different sounds most notably speech and singing but which in turn produces other high pitched reverberations including whistling. In turn the tones generated by the sound waves of whistling reveal a unique frequency pattern whose graphical representation provided the inspiration for the wave framework used in graphic form throughout Feadaíl. The pencil illustration by Finn Harper of the Wren created for the cover completes the design—sitting as it does on the graphical whistling wave patterns.