South Africa

[ben]

Please find attached a few videos of concertina builder Koot Brits playing a few Boer music tunes.

 

First, "Katrina Settees" on my new Ab/Eb Edgely concertina:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFeNStFz0G4

 

Second, "Waltz for Mercades" on my 1960 Wheatstone Aeola C/G 40 button concertina.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOYN0N_9TCI

 

Third, "Orania Se Mense" (translated as People from Orania). Orania is situated in the Cape Province. This tune is played on my Wheatstone Bb/F 40 button Aeola.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caeweAHwxjE

Edited February 24, 2011 by Ben

[david_boveri]

i like the tremolo thing he does. i don't think it'll work for irish music, but i'm definitely going to add that to my toolbox for other genres! thanks for sharing.

[Dirge]

I love this stuff and others like it; listen to Mr. Brits there, just knocking it out casually in the back garden. It really uses the instrument well and bounces with joie de vivre. Vibrant. Am I the only one? How come every Anglo player in the world isn't trying to copy this?

 

I don't suppose you've got any written arrangements for those of us not born to it or badly dependent on having written notes (both in my case) do you Ben? I'd love to have a go at playing it. Just for once I almost wish my duet was an Anglo. (Don't worry it won't last.)

[Daniel Hersh]

I love this stuff and others like it; listen to Mr. Brits there, just knocking it out casually in the back garden. It really uses the instrument well and bounces with joie de vivre. Vibrant. Am I the only one? How come every Anglo player in the world isn't trying to copy this?

You're not the only one - I'm impressed too, and was even more impressed by this recording of Manie Erasmus that Ben posted on YouTube a couple of years ago. I'm not trying to copy it because it's not the kind of music I'm most interested in and it would obviously take a huge amount of work to learn to play in that style at that skill level, if I could get there at all - but I'm still impressed.

[Dan Worrall]

 

I don't suppose you've got any written arrangements for those of us not born to it or badly dependent on having written notes (both in my case) do you Ben? I'd love to have a go at playing it. Just for once I almost wish my duet was an Anglo. (Don't worry it won't last.)

 

There is a Youtube tutor for boeremusiek on concertina (some tunes on two row, others on 42 button anglo) by Stephaan van Zyl, here:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=boeremusiek++concertina+tutor&aq=f

 

I've not found too much written on this genre in terms of concertina arrangements, so I transcribed four tunes as played, from a few of the old boereconcertina masters on recordings from the '20s and '30s (especially, Faan Harris who is IMHO the best of the early recorded players in any country). They are in my history book (link below). However, the way the modern Boer players use the 42 button Anglo is as dramatically different from the old styles on the two and three row German concertina as is Noel Hill's style vs the early Irish players--there has been a lot of evolution in technique. Modern Boer playing is a challenging, stylistically refined and sophisticated way of playing the Anglo, no doubt about it. It speaks to the unbroken string of generations of players who have tackled the instrument there.

 

Thanks for the links, Ben!

Edited February 25, 2011 by Dan Worrall

[Daniel Hersh]

I love this stuff and others like it; listen to Mr. Brits there, just knocking it out casually in the back garden. It really uses the instrument well and bounces with joie de vivre. Vibrant. Am I the only one? How come every Anglo player in the world isn't trying to copy this?

You're not the only one - I'm impressed too, and was even more impressed by this recording of Manie Erasmus that Ben posted on YouTube a couple of years ago. I'm not trying to copy it because it's not the kind of music I'm most interested in and it would obviously take a huge amount of work to learn to play in that style at that skill level, if I could get there at all - but I'm still impressed.

is another good one, in a more raucous style, featuring Stephaan van Zyl and Danie Grey on concertina.