Jump to content

Who are the concertina pros?


Recommended Posts

Here's a summary of the names so far:

 

Artist (Instrument type) Genre

Alistair Anderson (English) English

Aogen Lynch (Anglo) Irish

Bob Webb (Duet) songs & tunes; Maccann duet and various other instruments

Brian Peters (Anglo) English

Chris Coe (Duet) English

Chris Sherburn (Anglo) Irish

Damian Barber (English) English

Dave Townsend (English) English

Dick Miles (English) Irish, songs

Fergus O'Byrne (English) Irish

George Marshall (English) contra dance caller, plays English concertina with his bands

Grey Larsen (Anglo) Irish

Ian Robb (Canada) (English) songs & English concertina

Jeff Warner (Anglo) songs & tunes; anglo concertina, but also banjo & guitar

Jody Kruskal (Anglo) American

John Kirkpatrick (Anglo) English

John Roberts (Anglo) songs & tunes; anglo concertina, but also banjo & guitar

John Spiers (Anglo) English

Keith Kendrick (Anglo) English

Liam Robinson (Anglo) English

Louis Killen (English) songs, unaccompanied or with English concertina, and the odd tune (now retired?)

Michael Cooney (?) folksinger; concertina, guitar, banjo, misc. instruments (retired?)

Michael O Raghallaigh (Anglo) Irish

Niall Vallely (Anglo) Irish

Noel Hill (Anglo) Irish

Padriag Rynne (Anglo) Irish

Pauline de Snoo (English) Classical

Robert Harbron (English) English

Roger Watson (English) English

Simon Thoumire (English) Scottish

Steve Turner (English) English

Tim Collins (Anglo) Irish

Tim Laycock (Duet) English

Wim Wakker ( English) Classical

 

The stats are:

 

 

By instrument:

 

Anglo: 16

English: 14

Duet: 3

Unknown: 1

 

By genre:

 

English: 13 (38%)

Irish: 10 (30%)

Other: 11 (32%)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 126
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

This isn't surprising in view of the economics of folk music. The overwhelming majority of the names I've been given play folk music of some kind (including song accompaniment) so I don't think it's unreasonable to think of them as professional folk musicians. However, whilst I never expected the proportion to be as high as 90%, I do find it surprising that only about 30% play Irish, given that Irish music is arguably the most commercially successful form of folk music with a global appeal.

Doesn't surprise me.

 

In spite of the popularity of Irish music and the "explosion" of interest in the concertina in Irish music, it hasn't come at the expense of other instruments. There has been a corresponding increase in interest in fiddle, whistle, and flute for playing Irish music. Even if the concertina's "market share" in Irish music has increased by a large factor, it's still very small. (Can some of our Irish members give us an idea of the concertina's relative popularity outside of Clare? And I wonder how the number of new concertina players compares with the number of new uilleann pipers.) I think that here on concertina.net we get an inflated view of the concertina's importance in Irish music generally.

 

Most of those "professionals" who make their living from playing concertina are not riding the coattails of fad within a fad (that's not meant to belittle the phenomenon, or the music), but have established themselves in a variety of genres as musicians in demand, in spite of the fact that their instrument doesn't enjoy mass popularity. I suspect that one reason for your surprise, Howard, is that you were unduly influenced by publicity in the mass media. Or rather by the lack of mass publicity for those musicians and musical communities that you have only now become aware of.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Peter Laban

Don't you think your image is skewed by the fact only maybe four of the glaringly obvious Irish names made it onto your list (and even out of them (if you stick to the 'only concertina' rule anyway) some could be disputed, Tim Collins' for example because of his work in academia).

 

On the other hand, there are the omissions of people doing the hard-graft of teaching and/or night after night playing in places like Doolin who are well below the radar of this forum

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OOPS!

Two corrections, which were my fault, and a little further information:

Artist (Instrument type) Genre

...

Jeff Warner (Anglo) songs & tunes; anglo concertina, but also banjo & guitar

...

John Roberts (Anglo) songs & tunes; anglo concertina, but also banjo & guitar

...

Michael Cooney (?) folksinger; concertina, guitar, banjo, misc. instruments (retired?)

...

The stats are:

By instrument:

Anglo: 16

English: 14

Duet: 3

Unknown: 1

  • Jeff Warner plays English, not anglo, as I know very well. How I managed to type in "anglo" and then miss it in my proofreading is one of the mysteries of the human brain, I guess.
  • John Roberts is also a fine player of the English concertina, though I think it's been many years since he has played it in performance.
  • Michael Cooney plays English. As I recall, it's a baritone English, specifically because his high-frequency hearing is poor. Why play notes you can't hear yourself? ;)
  • And so the corrected by-instrument statistics should be:
    Anglo: 15
    English: 16
    Duet: 3
    Unknown: 0

I have corrected my original post to indicate that both Jeff and Michael play English.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would include for consideration, John Mock, who is a member of this forum. John plays anglo, in addition to guitar, and is a fine composer. However, I don't know if John's studio work or concert appearances as an anglo player comprise the primary source of his income or if his compositions and cd sales do. John might weigh in if interested. I would describe his anglo-playing genres as orchestral treatment of irish or broader celtic (please no fights about that term here) traditional music and country.

Edited by CaryK
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In spite of the popularity of Irish music and the "explosion" of interest in the concertina in Irish music, it hasn't come at the expense of other instruments. There has been a corresponding increase in interest in fiddle, whistle, and flute for playing Irish music. Even if the concertina's "market share" in Irish music has increased by a large factor, it's still very small...

 

I suspect that one reason for your surprise, Howard, is that you were unduly influenced by publicity in the mass media. Or rather by the lack of mass publicity for those musicians and musical communities that you have only now become aware of.

I wasn't thinking of the ratio of the concertina to other instruments within Irish music, but the proportion of professional ITM concertina players to professional concertina players in other genres.

 

It appears to me that Irish music has spread worldwide, and well beyond the Irish diaspora. Even in England, ITM sessions still outnumber English music sessions in many areas, and most of the ITM players I meet have no Irish family connections, they just love the music. Whilst there are morris teams all round the world, English music has a far lower profile than ITM, worldwide and in England itself. And yet the largest number of full-time pros seem to be playing English music in one form or another. Since ITM is apparently so popular (especially in comparison with other genres of folk music) I had expected there would more opportunities for players to earn a living in that field.

 

The main musical community which I was not aware of is that in North America, where there also seems to be a substantial number of professional players, many using the instrument for song accompaniment. I would guess that this is mostly American material.

 

However, as Peter Laban suggests, perhaps ITM players are under-represented in the list. If so, I'd be glad to hear of other names.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The main musical community which I was not aware of is that in North America, where there also seems to be a substantial number of professional players, many using the instrument for song accompaniment. I would guess that this is mostly American material.

Not necessarily.

 

Many of these singers got their start -- and their interest in concertina -- from English singers during the "folk revival" of the '60's and '70's, and they do a lot of English material, as well as some American. And if there's a new generation of singers using concertina, I think they learned from the first generation. Lots do sea songs, which largely derive from a tradition shared by the English and American shipping trades, though many of the actual sailors were from Ireland and elsewhere. I don't think you'll find a large proportion of bluegrass, old-timey, blues, Cajun, etc. in these folks' repertoire. Nor, as far as I know, does Ireland have a tradition of singing accompanied by concertina for the current generation to copy. I think Karan Casey with Niall Vallely is an exception.

 

Ah, but here's one I overlooked earlier: Cindy Mangsen.

She uses the English concertina for song accompaniment (and some tunes), with a largely contemporary American repertoire.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would include for consideration, John Mock, who is a member of this forum.

Thanks for that, I've just had a look at his website. Interesting stuff. He's also a fine photographer. I'm inclined to classify his material as "other" since it seems to be original compositions or arrangements and although clearly inspired by Irish/"Celtic" music aren't ITM.

 

One of the interesting aspects of this thread is that it's leading me to the music of people I might not otherwise have come across.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The main musical community which I was not aware of is that in North America, where there also seems to be a substantial number of professional players, many using the instrument for song accompaniment. I would guess that this is mostly American material.

Not necessarily.

 

Many of these singers got their start -- and their interest in concertina -- from English singers during the "folk revival" of the '60's and '70's, and they do a lot of English material, as well as some American.

 

That's interesting, because the English folk revival was to a great extent triggered by the American folk revival, and American songs initially formed a large part of the repertoire. It was only later that English musicians began to realise that there was a wonderful body of our own native music (the Scots, Welsh and Irish were much more aware of their own traditional culture).

 

I'm very conscious that pigeonholing can be very difficult, if not downright misleading. This is particularly true for singers, who will generally go for a good song regardless of where it comes from. The same applies, to only a slightly lesser extent, to players of tunes (with the possible exception of ITM players, who in my experience are often very focussed on Irish music and not very interested in playing anything else).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As for professional vs. full time musician - another mute point.

Misha, I think you mean "moot", which means "debatable". We have already demonstrated that it's not "mute", meaning "silent". :D

The phrase "moot point" uses the second definition of moot: "deprived of practical significance : made abstract or purely academic."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As for professional vs. full time musician - another mute point.
Misha, I think you mean "moot", which means "debatable". We have already demonstrated that it's not "mute", meaning "silent". :D
The phrase "moot point" uses the second definition of moot: "deprived of practical significance : made abstract or purely academic."

Hmm. When I clicked on that link, it said the word wasn't in the dictionary, though further search found that it was. :unsure:

 

But I do know that definition, too. I've always thought that the "second definition" was derived from the first, i.e., a moot point has no significance because it is open to debate. Without a definite conclusion, it can't validly be used to support an argument or proposition.

 

I suppose we should really ask Misha to clarify what he meant. ... Misha?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You wouldn't class Jackie Daly as a concertinaplayer. He certainly doesn't himself.

 

I agree. I just supplied his name because he plays concertina on his recording with Kevin Burke (Eavesdropper). He plays it on just two tracks. But there's others on that list who aren't primarily concertina players either...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...