irishplayer

Great to hear this, Corbin. I'm glad that that the album is getting out there. Good to hear that the balance of arrangements is liked, it can be a difficult thing to get right but it seems to have worked well 🙂

Hey Richard, great to hear from you, and thanks for the kind words. I'm delighted with the feedback on the album so far, it has been a long road but I'm happy to have put the effort in, it's paying off. Oh, yes, that pub was wild, we were lucky to come away with the bellows intact a few times!! Great times in San Francisco, I hope that you are still playing away out there.

Cheers, Jillser, fáilte is fiche 🚀

Nothing like a decent instrument alright - I had a Hohner starting out for a long time and all changed when the Wheatstone arrived. Looking forward to hearing more now. I'm often out in North America, I'll DM you and hopefully meet up along the way. All the best, Paddy

Jeffries is a beautiful sound alright, it always reminds me of listening to Tony Crehan playing in Wexford when I was starting out. The things that stay with you! Hugh and Liam are great, I love Hugh's new album! Interesting that you play fiddle as well. I always think it is a wonderful thing to be able to play two instruments equally well, though I never got that far! I presume you've been playing both for many years? I got Tory Island off of Larry Kinsella. For the album - when I was revisiting his notation of it, I noticed that he incorporated some of William Mullaly's setting (especially at the end of the first part), so I included that too. I've also been interested in adding a lot of William's way of playing fiddle triplets - like quick ornamentation on the high notes a-b-a recently, it's a challenge to pull them off crisply but fun - tried it out mostly on that other bonus track "The Fluttering Waltz"! Must give Joey's version a spin. P

She's put in her fair share of playing over the years, photo attached!

Thanks, Pat. Finbar Dwyer's reel is a great tune alright - I transposed it up from Angelina Carberry's playing of it. For the recording I did this once or twice to suit the system that I play. I think this tune sits nicely in Em. The Wheatstone I play is from 1922, 29054 in the ledgers here: http://www.horniman.info/DKNSARC/SD01/IMAGES/D1P1630D.JPG I don't often hear recordings of that model, so would be interested to hear any more information on that. I know that the great Jack Gilder out in San Francisco plays one from the same era. All the best, Paddy

Dear all, Hopefully this is the correct place to post this, at least it answers a question posted by @rudeboy about this project back in September 2021! I am a concertina player originally from Wicklow, but now based in Cork city, and have just launched a new album, Tobar Gan Trá. Information about this project: The album was made possible through a Kickstarter campaign that raised over €9.6k last year. Backers contributed to the project from as far away as Australia and British Columbia, Canada. The project is a concept recording that means “a well that doesn’t run dry” and features solo concertina from myself and joined by a host of other musicians that I have played with over the years in Galway, Cork, Limerick, Dublin, London and San Francisco. The first 7 tracks are all solo, with backing being added from musicians such as Johnny “Ringo” MacDonagh, Macdara Ó Faoláin and Conor O’Sullivan. For the last 8 tracks, I have brought in some duets with friends from the above mentioned places. Most of the tracks are "traditional arranged", but a few are recently composed from local musicians around Cork (track 15 for example), and more contemporary composers as well. The CD comes with a 16-page booklet of liner notes about the tunes. For concertina players here especially, I learned the concertina from the great Larry Kinsella (his album was The Barley Grain), and have brought some of his style into this album alongside my own developments over the years. I recorded some tunes for those starting out on concertina (check out the jigs on track 2) and then some more advanced ones as the album progresses. Of note is that the great @Stephen Chambers on here tuned my Wheatstone beforehand, and I have to say he did a superb job, as ever his work is highly recommended. Thanks Steve. Some more detail: The digital version of the album is available at: https://tobargantra.bandcamp.com and that version has two bonus tracks. I have posted a review from Karen Ryan of Return to London Town and The London Lasses fame on the official website: https://www.tobargantra.com/faoi-about/. I am now sending the CD by post from orders on the website, and it should be available in the shops in the coming weeks. Feel free to share the info above Thank you, Paddy Egan (Pádraig Mac Aodhgáin)

Over 20 responses from Concertina.net thank you all. Survey is still open if anyone would like to add a response: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/J7FSNXV

Thanks all, I'm getting a load of interesting responses and also great feedback so far, I'm looking forward to sharing the results when the time comes.

Hi Jim, Great to hear from you. That's most interesting - I would love to hear from people who have been outside the US as well. Unfortunately it also means that we miss out on these entries, and I am cognisant of that - but it will help to have feedback to demonstrate what will be missing from the data when the results are out. Please send if you get a chance. I'll direct message you with my email there now. All the best, Patrick

Dear Concertina.net members, I'd be very grateful if any of you (specifically those who live in North America and play Irish traditional music in your repertoire) would take a few minutes for this research survey that I'm conducting at the Library of Congress since January this year (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NZ37MVC). The survey is part of a larger project where I am researching the audio collections at the American Folklife Center. Some of the data sets that we have developed already contains a few concertina tracks from old recordings and festivals which I am sure would be of interest to people on here, and I aim to post about it on this thread once my project is finished. The research is looking at how performers use audio files on the internet. More about this project can be found here: https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2019/04/connections-in-sound-irish-traditional-music-at-afc/ Thank you for your feedback in advance. All the best, Patrick Egan

Hi folks, I am selling my 38 key Jeffries Bb/F with insurance and custom hardwood case, it is currently in London. More details on Ebay here: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121390904318 Contact me by private message for further information. Pat