Flutist of the Week: Barry Hay & Sasha

[Nonfatman]

This week on Flutist of the Week we will actually be spotlighting two flutists, Barry Hay of Golden Earring and Sasha of Supersister, two prominent Dutch bands suggested to us by our friend Jan at Cup of Wonder, so thank you Jan!

Let's start things off with two versions, old and new, of Back Home by Golden Earring, featuring Barry Hay on flute, that will knock your socks off!

First the old one, which is absolutely killer:



And the newer one, still kicking:




Jeff

[Nonfatman]

Here are two live versions of Big Tree, Blue Sea, a very long Golden Earring song containing a lot of flute-playing by Barry Hay. In this first one, which is only a three minute excerpt, Hay plays extended flute solos which you can see at the 30 second mark, and then again at around 2:00 :



In this second, much longer live version of the same song, Hay plays flute throughout, pretty much from beginning to end, but I am listing it second here because it lacks the visual aspect of the flutist exhibiting his craft :



Jeff

[Nonfatman]

Returning to Flutist of the Week after the New Years break, here are two more Golden Earring videos featuring flutist Barry Hay:

In this first one, 'Burning Stuntman,' you can hear Barry's flute but cannot see him playing, because it's an MTV video rather than a live performance.



In this second one, 'My Baby Ruby,' the video is accompanied by a photo of a young Hay on flute, however it is a mismatch because the song contains no flute whatsoever, so you can see a picture of him playing flute but you will not hear him playing flute.




Although there are some other Golden Earring songs with flute, Back Home and Big Tree Blue Sea appear to be the main ones where the flute is front and center, and it is clear that Barry Hay was influenced by Ian in his style of playing. These guys -- who had a big hit called Radar Love -- have been around since the late sixties, but it is really only their earlier material that contains any flute. There does not appear to be much if any flute in their more recent stuff.

Okay, so next we will feature a few videos of the late Sascha, the flutist in the Dutch progressive rock group, Supersister, recommended by Jan from Cup of Wonder, and then we will move forward from there.

Jeff

[Nonfatman]

Here is "She is Naked" from Dutch progressive band Supersister, featuring the late Sacha Van Der Geest on flute, at their reunion concert in 2000. (Sacha passed away shortly afterward.) This one keeps getting better as it goes on :



And here is a much earlier live video, from 1971, with a much younger Sacha huffing out some ominous, chilling flute notes on Mexico/Wow. Interesting stuff.




Jeff

[Nonfatman]

Flutist of the Week shall be returning shortly......I was giving it a rest while I stepped back and watched in awe as Mr. Preston Platform posted some of the most amazing prog-flute bands that I never knew existed. If you get a chance, sample some of the bands Preston has featured in his prog-flute thread! There's some truly excellent stuff there.
(One of these days I'll work my way through all of them!)

Jeff

[Preston Platform]

I think this is a great thread and have thoroughly enjoyed the flautist of the week slot. It inspired me to share my love of flute based bands with others in my prog flute rock slot. looking forward to finding out about some other flute masters.
Back to Golden Earring..there are some great live shows on Wolfgans vault which feature lengthy flute parts.

also love the Supersister stuff