Talk:James Galway

Older post
Just as a note to whoever stated it below, it was James Galway himself who stated "I am a flute player, not a flautist..." etc. He doesn't like the term, and "flutist" as a correct term predates the use of that one. Please see the "flautist" article for more information. 130.113.38.133 (talk) 12:10, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

I hereby start this talk page for famous flautist James Galway. Capitalistroadster 15:05, 31 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I hereby declare this article woefully short. --Rschmertz 05:17, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
 * P.S. OBTW, he's a flute player, not a flautist ;-)
 * flau·tist      (flô'tĭst, flou'-)
 * n.  One who plays the flute; a flutist.


 * the last words of chapter 7 in his 1980 autobiog are "I...returned...to my struggles to become a competent flautist" Fuficius Fango (talk) 16:39, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

Listening to Commodore 64 music on YouTube, I came across this little speculative bit of trivia, it's a short sample of music from |The Fellowship of the Ring (which Sir Martin Galway was involved in) which appears to reference (read: sounds much like...) a section of his nephew, Martin Galways song on Sensible Software's 1986 game Parallax (Parallax's main theme is the second song in this YouTube Video: http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=uYF11aCiilk . It starts about 5 minutes in.) Unfortunately I get the feeling that it's not conclusive enough to be declared Encyclopedia worthy, but I'd love to see it included if someone else thinks they can argue it'd be okay.


 * Is this item of trivia about James Galway or Martin Galway? I don't see its relevance. Zaslav (talk) 20:08, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

Audition at Berlin Philharmonic
The supposed incident when Galway auditioned for the Berlin Philharmonic needs fact checking as well as sourcing. Galway tells a different story in an interview on "Performance Today". He says he declined the position because he felt they had been rude, not because he was late or Karajan was enraged or forced him to play one piece after another. Zaslav (talk) 20:06, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

Playing for the Pope,the queen etc
Sir James has played for such dignitaries as Queen Elizabeth II, Pope John Paul II, President Clinton, President George W. Bush, President George H.W. Bush, President Mary McAleese, Prince Charles, HRH The Princess Royal, The Empress of Japan, The Queen of Norway, Princess Diana, TRH The Earl and Countess of Wessex, TRH The Duke and Duchess of Kent, and most recently President Shimon Peres, and shared the stage with an amazing array of entertainers including Stevie Wonder, Henry Mancini, John Denver, Elton John, the Chieftains, Ray Charles, Joni Mitchell, Jessye Norman, Cleo Laine and Andrea Bocelli. He performed with Pink Floyd in their memorable concert at the Berlin Wall, was part of the Nobel Peace concert in Norway and performed at the G Seven summit hosted by Queen Elizabeth II in Buckingham Palace. http://www.thegalwaynetwork.com/bio.htm — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.107.167.80 (talk) 13:03, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Nationality Issue
I totally understand why there has been some confusion over this as the nationality situation in Northern Ireland is incredibly complex and notoriously contentious. Essentially, Galway identifies as Irish as per the sources and has never called himself British/Northern Irish - in fact, in an interview with Stephen Nolan he was asked if he considered himself Northern Irish and answered that he did not. Galway indeed accepted a British honour but has explained that he did so on account of his coming from "the British occupied part of Ireland".

It is possible to identify as Irish and have British citizenship/British honours, and many people from Northern Ireland do identify as Irish only - notwithstanding the fact that Galway also possesses Irish citizenship on account of his being born on the island of Ireland before 2005 (Constitution of Ireland, Article 2). It is also Galway's entitlement to do so under the Belfast Agreement (1998) 2.2 section (vi), which was mutually agreed between the British and Irish Governments - "[the parties] recognise the birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both, as they may so choose".

Finally, it is protocol to refer to persons born/brought up in Northern Ireland by the identifier of their choice - or to simply say "from Northern Ireland" if they have expressed no preference. For instance, Derry/Londonderry-born John Hume is Irish, as are Dana Rosemary Scallon (born in London, England of Derry/Londonderry-born parents) and Liam Neeson (born in Ballymena, Co. Antrim). Conversely, Belfast-born Sammy Wilson is British, while Belfast-born Stephen Nolan is Northern Irish. It seems reasonable that this practice should be extended to Galway's article.

Conchurmac (talk) 18:17, 14 September 2015 (UTC)
 * This is consistent with Nationality of people from the United Kingdom, to the extent that James Galway is of dual nationality by law.—Jerome Kohl (talk) 17:33, 14 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Northern Irish when linked (though it wasn't in this instance) leads to People from Northern Ireland so we are not using it as a national identity, even though it does outnumber those in the 2011 census who stated they were Irish. Considering he is of dual nationality, we could simply state: Sir James Galway, (born 8 December 1939) is a virtuoso flute player from Belfast, Northern Ireland, nicknamed "The Man With the Golden Flute". Following in the footsteps of Jean-Pierre Rampal, he became one of the first flute players to establish an international career as a soloist. It removes the nationality issue and simply states where he is from. Mabuska (talk) 21:57, 14 September 2015 (UTC)
 * In regards to nationality law, in practice it only applies to those who take it up regardless of what a foreign state decrees on the matter. Mabuska (talk) 21:59, 14 September 2015 (UTC)
 * I see where you are coming from but this fails to account for why other people from Northern Ireland (including those I originally cited) are identified as one of the three (British, Irish or Northern Irish) when technically they are all dual nationals by law. The theme seems to be that those who identify themselves as Irish/British/Northern Irish are referred to as such, which is a sensible approach as it reflects how the business of nationality is conducted in Northern Ireland today (the census allowed respondents to choose between Irish, Northern Irish and British, as you say). Your proposed solution is probably best to resolve the current dispute, but I still do not see why there is a dispute as James Galway has been very clear about how he wishes to be identified. I am not here to rip up every article about a person from Northern Ireland; I simply do not understand why, in the eyes of some users, the standard practice for classifying such people does not apply in Galway's case. Conchurmac (talk) 18:17, 14 September 2015 (UTC)
 * That dual nationality only applies if you determine that the laws of one state apply to a part of another state, which many countries would disagree with strongly. The Good Friday Agreement means people in Northern Ireland are automatically entitled to have Irish citizenship if they so wish. But that is only if someone chooses to take it up. The Republic might decree that anyone on the island can automatically become an Irish citizen, but it doesn't mean the UK recognise's that decree. If it did then why did the Good Friday Agreement need to have such a clause? Has James Galway taken Irish citizenship? I don't know, but for someone as famous as himself, it would have been in the press due to the publicity it would garner, and maybe it was and I missed it. With my suggestion we avoid the problem altogether of guessing. Mabuska (talk) 21:50, 16 September 2015 (UTC)

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External links modified
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Playing style
This article is missing a description of Galway's playing style, which defines him as a unique flute player and musician. Some attributes include fast tempi, bright sound, vibrato, perfect technique and intonation. Maybe you should ask some professional flutists to describe Galway's style and his contribution to the flute world. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2a0d:6fc0:32c:b700:9c86:b19c:3fb0:c12d (talk) 18:20, 20 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Yes, representative observations/quotes about this from reliable sources would be good. Graham 87 06:50, 21 January 2021 (UTC)