There were 52 sword dance teams from England, Europe and the US performing at 8 continuous venues in the historic walled town of York, all at the 5th International Sword Spectacular Festival.

I was invited to join the band, playing music for the Boston MA Orion Sword dance team, displaying their uniquely American style based on English traditions. The band was me and my brother Tom Kruskal on Anglo concertina and banjo, Eric McDonald playing guitar and Chris O’Brian on Alto Sax and low D whistle.

After the performing was over, three of us (Chris had pressing parental duties to attend to, sorry, no Take Five to listen to) retired to the cozy parlor of our B&B and recorded some of the music that we had been making... then off to the pub!

I hope you enjoy hearing what we were up to in York.

Click the link below to hear us play:

Estampe, Keys to the Cellar, Masters in this Hall, Sportsmen's Hornpipe

Very, very cool, Jody! Wish I coulda been there!
Are there going to be any videos posted of Orion in York? They are amazing!

Great stuff.

Where does "Estampe" come from? I always love watching that dance; it's just mystical. The two concertinas double the pleasure. I'd love to see the dots for it; I can never figure out the structure.

Allison,

I don't think so. We were all so busy doing it that none of the group took videos as far as I know. I'll check though.

It took some tactful lobbying just to get us together for the recording session. The pub was calling and it was past tea time.

Well, it is a bit tricky. We play it in the form ABAC. I was told that "Estampe" is a John Renbourn tune, though a quick google search comes up with nothing to suggest what album he may have recorded it on.