jwinship

This is another wonderful arrangement by Espen. It makes me feel like I'm wandering down the midway of the world's most poignant carnival. It's also called "The Hexham Quadrille". Here's Billy Pigg playing it on the Northumbrian pipes, with all three parts (it starts at 5:04 if I haven't lined it up correctly.

Yes, my response to that title is a Pavlovian shudder because of my old memories of M.R. James' stories.

I remembered the composition of this tune being ascribed to "Parazotti" on a Joe Cormier album. This is discussed in thesession.org link for the tune, above. It's a steep hill to climb for a fiddler in any case.

Here's "Crabs in the Skillet" from Horslips' wonderful, quirky album "Drive the Cold Winter Away" (1975). The unaccompanied english at the beginning doesn't have the punch of an anglo (or of Monty Chiton above), but it remains a nice part of the arrangement when the other instruments kick in and buttress it. That album also makes good use of the english on a couple of imaginative O'Carolan arrangements.

I hadn't been able to listen to Jim's "Glorishears" before I posted earlier because my computer was cutting out. The reference to "Round Pond Relics" sent me scrambling to the keyboard, trampling decorum underfoot. It's an enjoyable setting; Jim's arrangements are always rewarding to hear.

Yes, and compared to the complexity of John Kirkpatrick's style, Tom Kruskal's arrangements on "Round Pond Relics" were so clear! Not "deceptively clear" a la John Watcham, but clear clear.

When I started playing, and this lungs/bellows thing was an issue, I would play simple tunes ("Twinkle twinkle", "Oh Susannah", whatever) at a slow pace and just concentrate on breathing steadily while I played. This helped to decouple the functioning of my lungs with the operation of the bellows. It is sort of a humorous problem, but a problem nonetheless.

My link to the Jackie Daly tune works on my computer; Stephen Chambers' link, which is identical, says "video unavailable" to me. Oh the Mysteries..... I hope that the two links end up covering the waterfront. Daly's concertina playing is so strong and, by most contemporary ITM standards, so unadorned that it's really worth hearing. Thanks to Jewish Leprechaun for raising the topic and to Stephen Chambers for that interesting background on the instrument.

And here it is being played, from his 1977 album on Topic, "Music From Sliabh Luachra" (the picture in the above post is from that album so I assume that's the instrument we're hearing). "Callaghan's Hornpipe" is the tune.

Soooorta sounds like "Parson's Farewell", a Playford tune.

In 1985 Bertram Levy (anglo) and Peter Ostroushko (mandolin, fiddle) released an album on Flying Fish called "First Generation" that had an eclectic selection of traditional tunes, including klezmer and eastern European. It was a great anglo album, a great mandolin album, it had a tight and unobtrusive rhythm section of guitar and bass, it was well recorded. It never should have gone out of print, but I don't think it ever even made it to CD. What was the question? Oh right. Bertam Levy. He's had luck playing klezmer on an anglo.

The Button Box has a range of b/c and c#/d accordeons for sale.

I've been struck, when the playing of an outstanding musician inspires me to learn a tune, and I reach the point of attempting to play along with the recording, how fast they're often playing. Whoa! It didn't sound that fast before! That's because they're relaxed, and they can play with speed without sacrificing phrasing. Speed isn't necessarily a problem, but sounding frantic is.

Mike Franch, thank you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1_boL4YNSE

And although she's playing "Deck the Halls" as a reel, when it's played as a hornpipe or set dance it's called "The Piper in the Meadow Straying". That's good playing by Brenda Castles! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZfnk9w1PTE

It's an amazing performance from the smallest details to the broadest effects, both virtuosic and musical. I also liked the homages to John Kirkpatrick and Tony Hall in the performance and the program notes. Thank you for posting this, Adrian. I wouldn't doubt that you've been an inspiration to him as well.

For what it's worth, L'Air Mignonne shares the first half its A and B parts with The Eagle's Whistle, and so we have an excuse to share this great Boys of the Lough clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCECUeBB9UI

re: the Harley/Homewood: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blind_Girl#/media/File:Millais-Blind_Girl.jpg