soloduet

I thought that in 2021, the open minded concertina.net could make a place for this article rejected by the EFDSS in 1939, with important information about the background of the music of Cornish Hobos:

I like the refined harmonies on this beautiful traditional tune!

Here are 2 compositions by american musicians interested in silence: The first one searched for a possibility to express silence in music without using any rest (caution: risk to fall asleep): The second one wanted to express the impossibility of silence and the possible musicality of our environment (concertina sighting at 3'04):

For those who can read in french, I highly recommend the excellent novel "Le Joueur de Concertina" (The Concertina Player), written by Paul Sath (Sauveterre Edition).

Playing concertina, or any musical instrument, is a nice way to travel in a pandemic time. Here is an Icelandic hymn discovered on C.net (thanks Gregor!): https://youtu.be/m8GniD2WMH0 And here is a song from Okinawa "The Voice of the Sea", usually played on the sanshin, a traditional 3 strings lute. On this drawing one can also see the nice concertina bag used by concertina players in Okinawa:

Another version of the same tune: https://youtu.be/m9nL64ens9Q

Hi Clive, no I didn't get any problem after changing my technique to manage the bellows more like bandoneon players. I understand that there are many factors which have an incidence on the air volume and not only the size of the bellows, so it could be interesting if duet concertina makers pursue their researches on those multiple factors because I think that we need more air with duet concertinas when we want to play different styles of music. And thank you also Richard and Little John, now I don't know how many folds have my bellows and maybe it's better like that...

Hi Gilbert, did you ever try to play standing while resting the concertina on one thigh like I do in this video? I think that it can also be a good compromise to experience the pleasure to play standing while keeping a good stability of the instrument, but I can't do that anymore with my 11 folds bellows: https://youtu.be/2TZZj3yzDAA

Thank you Gil and Jim, it's not concertina but if we try to find the inspiration in the human voice to play our instruments my favorite version is this one by a 98 years young woman:

Thank you Ritonmousquetaire, it's always very interesting to listen to your comments and musical recommendations! Yes I removed the public access to my video of La Marine because at that time I wasn't really satisfied with the sound of the recording. Maybe because I recorded the video in my boat on the Marne river to be in the mood of the tune, but as it's quite tiny it sounds a little harsh aboard, even if I tried to correct it with the mics. But for you and the fans of George Brassens here is the link:

Thank you Gilbert, I like also this recording with your folk band and it will be nice to listen again to your music in 2021!

Thank you Felix to give an opportunity to attend a concert of Tor, and to share the beautiful music of Galicia!

C'est très beau, merci! And it's nice that your music has no frontier...

One year after beginning to write the sheet musics of my arrangements for duet concertinas I've just completed 3 other tunes: Da Slockit Light (Tom Anderson): https://youtu.be/1TuYwbUJQ1o Innocent (Joe Hisaishi): https://youtu.be/eD6fANxkjhk Nuestros Hijos(Rodolfo Mederos): https://youtu.be/3Zu6R-fyDsQ And for Xmas a score written by John Cage for any concertina system and available at Peters Edition: https://youtu.be/30bhAy2dsAE Happy Holidays! Didie

I was just asking him the permission to introduce his new channel here. Gilbert is also a novelist and painter under the name Paul Sath. I think that his wonderful recordings would deserve a place in the Duet Recordings page...

Thank you very much Daniel and Welcome Isra to the fan club of Cornish concertina blues! Maybe the balance between the bass line and the melody is more audible on this other video because I was just in front of the mic: https://youtu.be/VaS_F8etuxA Actually for this bass line I was inspired by this wonderful video sent to me by a concertinist called Zach (maybe he is a member here?). As him I think that it is the best rendition of this tune after the one that I heard from the Cornish Hobo: https://youtu.be/b1Z4PAZX9Bs

Wow, thank you David, the parallel with the story of Tartini is interesting although a little too big! But I see at least 2 differences between the 2 stories: Tartini was dreaming, so his story is the result of his nocturnal imagination, a kind of fiction. In my case I was fully awake when it happened and I didn't have taken any product that could have reduce my lucidity. So it's just the difference between fiction and reality. The other point is that I have never had a servant, even in my dreams. I don't know if english speaking people still use this word in Europe, but thank you also to clarify the meaning. That's too bad that we can't have the opinion of Jack Chantegril on the subject but what I feel is it could be some differences between the use of this word in USA and Cornwall. It's just my humble opinion but maybe the Cornish Hobo could be a little closer to the tramp, but the BIG difference with a tramp is of course that the Cornish Hobo can play concertina!

Thank you Wunks, this memory is very moving! I wish this man could also play concertina like the Cornish Hobos. And after reading your comment I wonder if somebody like you, concertina player with a long railway worker experience, could be a possible Jack Chantegril? Well, even if you are him or not the book "When the River still Ran" could be a nice Xmas present to any concertina player interested in the Cornish Hobos and the Railway musicians...

Thank you very much Isra, your researches and comments are very interesting and useful for all concertinas I think! I also noticed that you can play standing, which I can't anymore do with my 11 folds bellows... and it sounds so nice to be able to play triplets! Didie

In this video I talk about my unexpected encounter with the Spirit of a Cornish Hobo during the lockdown, and how He tried to play on my own concertina. I also give a tip that can work for all systems concertina players, in order to be sure to identify the Spirit of a Cornish Hobo if you happen to meet One: https://youtu.be/bhyhfjmFbdQ

Wonderful musicality, and the best rendition of ragtime on a concertina that I have listened to! The enhancements sounds very interesting as well, and I hope to try it!

Thank you very much Isra, wonderful music and your new instrument sounds very nice! Next time if you can also take a video from the side I'd like to see how you hold your concertina with your system, but your fingers seems to move quite freely on the keyboard, which is very important. Hope to have more chance to listen to spanish music here as well. Didie

Thank you Jim, I also thought that this song was originally written by Leonard Cohen before being translated in french, so it's nice to know the real story. Here is the same recording with a higher volume and a pic of Anna Marly: https://youtu.be/oQRl3YAvG8Q Didie

Hi David(s), I began to play music instruments just because I couldn't sing. Voice is the best instrument and there are many musicians accompanying their own singing very nicely with different kind of concertinas, but I think that if I could accompany my singing I would have chosen an instrument more different to the human voice, with non sustained and more percussive sounds like guitar or piano, because the concertina sound is quite close to the human voice. Looking forward to meeting you on Zoom and I hope that it will works well, Didie

Thank you David! Dan had already recorded his own video that he sent to me, I added a concertina part on another video while listening to his file and he managed to synchronize the 2 videos with iMovie. It would be better if we could record it at the same time but maybe also more difficult...