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The Concertina In Sweden?


owlgal

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i wasn't kidding. i think it sounds like a concertina. perhaps it's the sound quality at the computer i'm working at just now...... :ph34r:

 

Must be that. Every one of the sound samples provided sounds clearly like something other than a concertina. The first several are all harmonicas, then some one-row melodeons, then a mixture of various types of accordion.

 

A pity, really, especially considering the cover photo and the comment.

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i wasn't kidding. i think that track sounds like concertina. perhaps it's the sound quality at the computer i'm working at just now...... :ph34r:

The silly eye-roll made me uncertain. =) In your computer's defense, it is a single-reeded sound, where most of the accordions are a little wet.
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i wasn't kidding. i think that track sounds like concertina. perhaps it's the sound quality at the computer i'm working at just now...... :ph34r:

Ceemonster, don't feel bad, the old German style box with the wooden action I am playing at the moment while I am waiting to get the Tedrow fixed has an harmonica like sound.

 

Alan

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i don't feel bad. except i wish it really was a concertina..... :rolleyes: i can't believe those field notes would include, "concertina," if there wasn't some history of it in swedish village dance playing, and it would be nice to actually have some examples....also, i'm part swedish myself, by way of a pair of victorian-era immigrants. their wedding-day "honeymoon" consisted of walking together across New York's brand-spanking-new Brooklyn Bridge the day it opened. The groom was a clipper-ship sailor, which gives rise to musings over whether swedes took concertinas to sea the way the limeys did....not that i'm into sea chanteys. but it would be fun to discover a treasure trove of swedish-concertina intel.... :ph34r:

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I think this discussion has taken an interesting twist. I have that cd mentioned above and it's just one of a serie of ca. 30 (!) which the swedish record company Caprice once produced. The serie covers all sort of traditional swedish music. The cover of the cd is a collage (right word?) of old instruments from The Music Museum in Stockholm. But as mentioned above, yes it is harmonica on the first 4 tracks! Or as we say "Munspel". Beside this 4 tracks there are one-row, two-row and three-row accordions on that cd. So, the 'tina on the cover page is just for decoration. I find it myself a little bit odd.... The Caprice WAS a company held under the arms of the culture goverment and due to the economic drawbacks in society it's now gone into the dark.

And Jim, my friend, what I meant with "count on one hand"; it's more like a saying in Sweden to stress that there are very few, not 5 or less.... And Jim, the chances to bump into any concertinas in our trad music are less than very small. Unfortunately!

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Well I was thinking of the the later 19th century shillingtryck songs (cheap ballad sheets) which would be quite suited for concertina and one would think that a Swedish sailor or two would have played one.

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sorry if you already know about this stuff, but.....

 

here are three tracks of swedish folk tunes on concertina, by the lovely EC player Rachel Hall, linked from a page of Jody Kruskal...if i'm not mistaken she spent time studying folk music in scandinavia...come to think of it, Rachel Hall might be a good person to check in with regarding this whole trail we're on...

 

http://jodykruskal.com/player_profile/rachel_hall.html

 

There is also a Swedish track on at least one of her CDs with the band "Simple Gifts," featuring various genres of world folk music...it's not all Scandinavian and the concertina isn't on all tracks, but there is plenty o'concertina and the music is really nice...Sample track snippets at link below with the Swedish track identified in paren (concertina is indeed on it)...

 

http://www.amazon.com/Other-Places-Times-Simple-Gifts/dp/B00005OSWZ/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1383193437&sr=1-1&keywords=simple+gifts+other+places%2C+other+times

 

 

Not sure if this other "Simple Gifts" world-folk CD has a Scando track, but plenty of concertina, & I enjoy it very much regardless, titled "Time and Again": [Perhaps Track 12?....]

[http://www.amazon.com/Time-Again-Simple-Gifts/dp/B00005OSWY/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1383193408&sr=1-1&keywords=simple+gifts+time+and+again]

 

 

 

Then there is the nifty "Troll Road," by EC player Mark Gilston, featuring numerous Swedish and other-Scandinavia-derived tunes...The tracks are fiddle, dulcimer, and EC, but i own this and can assure that EC concertina looms large....

 

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/gilston4

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013RAXG0/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=1535523722&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0013R4NCK&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1QV2YQEK841WVKRAW0KT

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  • 2 weeks later...

Re Swedish concertina players:

In the past I've known a couple of others who had anglos and dabbled, but I haven't seen them for a while and don't know what they're doing currently.


One of those, who used to dabble on a modest G/D Lachenal, showed up at a recent session with a lovely 45-button C/G Jeffries anglo (normal 30-button size), which a friend found for him at a flea market. Even after paying for a new bellows and general overhaul, I think the 100 kronor (about £9.20) initial price was pretty good. :o

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