Done With 2 Years Of Travel, Back To Austin With My Concertinas

[MatthewVanitas]

For any of those here I've corresponded with and are amused by my misadventures, we're wrapping up our main project in West Africa, and I'm back in DC where I'm packing up all my gear to move to my home in Austin which I'll make my permanent base for the next few years of (lesser and briefer) travel.

 

Exactly as feared, the roof in my apartment leaked while I was gone (none of my stuff damaged thankfully) so I feel very wise for having a 'cellist friend babysit my Morse Beaumont while I was gone! Glad to have it back and get reacquainted, spent the morning playing some R&B pop covers and some Irish airs. That aside I have the following concertina things going on in my life:

 

- have a cheapie Italian English I got for under $100 on eBay, and this afternoon am having coffee with a State Dept. friend who wants to borrow it for a while and see if English is for him

- got a plastic-bodied Stagi 20b Anglo in Austin (never managed to get it to Africa...) so that can be my beater for taking to the park.

- know a budding concertina builder in Europe who's planning to build me a tiny Hayden modeled after the old Wheatstone Duett; might take a while for that to happen, but I'm patient

- I still own a Lachenal 35b Crane Duet down in Bogotá; I left it there thinking I'd be back before too long but it's been over a year. A mathematician friend (who is also a CBA player) is babysitting it and will send it back either to me or to a member here who may buy it so I can upgrade.

- I'm on Wim's waitlist for the last two years for a custom 46b Hayden; there's a member here in Texas who I've met before so now that I'm moving to Austin I'll finally have my chance to compare the Beaumont side-by-side with the Wakker and decide if I'm ready to commit the funds now that the startup is paying off

- I plan to try playing concertina in the park more, maybe do some light busking and donate the money to charity, just whatever to expose more people to concertina. Might see if any local venues need someone to just sit in the corner and riff on Duet during events, just to keep my busy and out there.

- I'm carefully watching the discussion about MIDI concertinas; if anyone comes up with a decently marketable prototype I'd be thrilled to buy one so I can take it traveling, practice silently in hotels and not fret about thousands of dollars rusting and mildewing in the tropical heat

 

Separate from all the above, I'm considering making a little "instrument lending library" at my house in Austin. I could put up a blog listing cheap and replaceable weird instruments I have, and offer folks to borrow them if they put down a cash deposit, fully returnable after their month is up. So an Austin musician who wants to play with an Anglo, an autoharp, or whatever would just have to deposit the money, play for a month, and get all their money back. That way they can try new things without permanently committing funds, and I'm still covered if they flake and fail to return it. Folly, or a fun way to get more music ideas out there? If I do start it up, and the concertinas prove popular, I'll post a WTB ad here asking for anyone who has a beater Stagi (English or Anglo) sitting around who wants to sell it to me and I'll keep it in circulation!

 

So that's me and my life with concertinas at this point!

Edited June 13, 2016 by MatthewVanitas

[Randy Stein]

Welcome back Matt

[MatthewVanitas]

Welcome back Matt

 

Happy to be back in DC, albeit briefly! Enjoying the DC Brau beer, oyster happy hours, and Ben's Chili Bowl.

 

I didn't get to do too much serious music stuff in West Africa, other than enjoying local drum traditions and choir singing. For myself I mostly played tinwhistle and a little Swedish bagpipes.

 

Regarding my earlier post about trying to popularize concertina in Liberia, I'm giving that up for now as not sustainable enough, just no way to get spare parts in or to get more instruments short of buying a crate from China (and even that not very affordable to the local economy). But next time I go over I want to bring some nylon strings (or fish-line), some guitar tuners, piezo pickups and other small parts, and have local woodworkers make me some solid-body electric lyres and donate a few of those to local music clubs, some bands in my area, etc. Electrical is really the way to go since the main genres in Liberia are hip-hop and reggae, mostly rapping over recorded tracks, or with a drum trap-set (only sometimes local hand drums) and electric keyboard. Liberia used to have a rich lyre tradition until modern instruments killed it off, so even though the lyres I'm envisioning aren't the exact same (but are just easier to build) I think that can give folks a chance to try enriching their sound with an instrument that can keep up with the electric trends, and be accessible to musicians in a field where currently there just aren't many melodic instruments.

[Steve Wilson]

Hi Matthew,

 

If you get the time could you record and share some of those "R&B pop covers" you've been playing? I'm always keen to hear outside the box stuff on concer.

 

I sometimes busk, always for charity, and for concertina exposure and really enjoy the whole experience. It's good to have a sign indicating your charity and also get approval to fund raise. I find people are very generous and they enjoy the music and the concertina.

 

An acquaintance has just returned from the US with his new Wakker english baritone and he's delighted. And my Parnassus is a dream.

 

Cheers.

[JimLucas]

An acquaintance has just returned from the US with his new Wakker english baritone and he's delighted.

 

Will say more, and in a more appropriate thread, when I get the time, but: At a jam session (not just Irish) in Copenhagen, I've met a young fellow with a Wakker baritone English, which he got from a friend. A fine instrument, and he's doing some nice stuff with it.

Edited June 12, 2016 by JimLucas

[MatthewVanitas]

 

If you get the time could you record and share some of those "R&B pop covers" you've been playing? I'm always keen to hear outside the box stuff on concer.

 

No worries, I need to get around to it; mainly I do some covers by songs by acts like Iyaz and Akon; come to think of it my selection leans to West African and Afro-Caribbean R&B singers, and I do some bubblegum doo-wop covers and all.

 

That and mostly Celtic-influenced stuff; less dance tunes because (in my hands at least) a Duet just isn't agile enough to do pub session stuff, but it works wonders for drony harmonium-like stuff on slow airs, backing ballads, etc.

[StuartEstell]

Good to see you back again!

[David Barnert]

For any of those here I've corresponded with and are amused by my misadventures, we're wrapping up our main project in West Africa, and I'm back in DC where I'm packing up all my gear to move to my home in Austin which I'll make my permanent base for the next few years of (lesser and briefer) travel.

 

Welcome back. I was wondering where you disappeared to (I like knowing where all the Hayden players are).

 

- I'm on Wim's waitlist for the last two years for a custom 45b Hayden;

 

45? Which note is missing from the standard 46?

 

[Edited for formatting]

Edited June 13, 2016 by David Barnert