Peter Laban

Most 'musical' jokes seem to depend heavily on murdering or taking out of context Very Wellknown Tunes or playing out of time or out of tune. It's a tricky genre.

IMDb usually knows these things but at a quick glance doesn't list music credits: Ha'penny Breeze IMDb

With restrictions expected to lift further the Concertine Cruiníu 2021, which was originally scheduled for early this year will be held in Miltown Malbay, Co Clare during the weekend of 17-19 September 2021. More information soon at concertinacruinniu.ie

The seller just took down the auction.

Not quite a sheng but related enough to give an airing here: the Khaen. There is a guy from Cork who plays Irish music on one, to great effect. He used to come to town and play out in the street, attarcting great interest from the old traditional musicianers.

It is a Very simple little song. My son learnt it in junior infants. This sort of should get you started:

Here's an outlinem scarce on detail, from rte.ie: And some (Irish) government info regarding online purchases: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/2b41b2-daily-life/#online-retail

That was recorded by Peter O'Loughlin but it was during the 60s. Work is being done on making Tommy's music more widely available.

It was, I did a full transcription of his playing of the tune for An Piobaire a long time ago. He did closely follow Coleman's variations though in a lot of places. And I did notice you slipped a fair few of his tunes into your list of recommendations 😉 But all this raises the question what makes a piping tune. Reck's version of 'Higgin's' is classic and many pipers play it, myself included. Yet his setting is very close to how James Hill composed it(as 'The Cliff') without much 'piperising' of it. Here's bit of a happy memory from long ago: l to r: Geoff Wooff, Tommy Reck, Peter Laban

Virginia (see the Martin Talty/ Willie Clancy tape: Virgin--nyaaah..). Not necessarily a Co Cavan tune though. Not sure every tune here, despite being played on the pipes, should automatically be classed as a piping tune, quite a few mentioned above were composed by fiddlers, for example. But what do I know. And it doesn't really matter, a good tune is a good tune.

My son started out on a low end mahogany Lachenal and he did well with it for a while. At the time it was a deliberate choice and I still think it was a good one. He did move on before dropping out of playing as a teenager. (not the Lachenal in the pic) He still plays occasionally, when nobody is listening (I was told by his neighbour).

It's a slippery slope before you know it you will be talking not about London or Dublin but London, England and Dublin, Ireland 😉

It can vary wildly though, depending on the mode of transport offered. Some items I ordered from China during february and march did take five months, apparently shipped to Europe in a sea container and then posted inEuropean countries (one parcel was eventually posted in Schiedam in the Netherlands, of all places). On the other hand, I ordered two apple picking devices last Sunday week after finding the one I had had deteriorated to a state of near uselessness. I ordered two, as they were only €6 with free postage. I didn't hold out hopes and thought they'd be great for next year's apple harvest but they were stuck on a plane, with accurate tracking provided, and they entered the Irish postal system yesterday. Waiting for them to arrive today. Which is a faster delivery from China than Ebay's Global shipping programme can manage (at an extortionate cost) from England.

That man played the concertina for 87 years! He was always in good form when I saw him, irrepressable always. He had a small stroke on Sunday, walked to the ambulance under his own steam, or so I was told. End of an era in one way but from his grandfather and father to his children and grandchildren , there is a wonderful continuity of music and concertinaplaying too. More tributes on Clare FM : https://www.clare.fm/featured-2/tributes-paid-across-clare-legendary-concertina-player-chris-droney/ Journal of Music : https://journalofmusic.com/news/rip-concertina-player-chris-droney Clare Herald : http://clareherald.com/2020/09/legendary-concertina-player-chris-droney-passes-away-19244/

More sad news, Chris Droney has died unexpectedly on Wednesday. What a loss. Deathnotice: https://rip.ie/death-notice/chris-droney-bell-harbour-clare/433193 Deathnotice at Clare FM, with funeral arrangements : https://www.clare.fm/obituaries/chris-droney-bell-harbour/

Some time ago I had a parcel coming from the US (to Ireland). It took all of two weeks to get out of California and after another two weeks scans completely ended, in Denver, It arrived, eventually, nine weeks after posting (it went with USPS). Things have gone a bit chaotic with the pandemic, between shipping restrictions, the way people work and the huge volume of online buying going on. At this end couriers are completely overworked (I am waiting on a parcel at the minute) resulting in delays, poor information and a degree of frustration on all sides. That said, I received a package from China rewcently that had taken just over five months so you're not doing to bad yet.

Celluloid is extremely dangerous as a fire hazard. It is l known for being highly flammable. That why old film archives are kept in bunkers. This really shouldn't have been a surprise.

I can only comment on what you publish online and that's just what you did. f you don't want to be seen, just a soundclip is an option. I did pick up Tom Maguires Fancy from that first clip so it's not all doom and gloom.

Here's another one, not as rushed as the first one. But why people film themselves headless and wearing their PJs is beyond me:

I just saw the news when checking the obits at Clare fm. Very sorry to hear. One of the last of the old style players from that corner of the county. I hadn't seen him for a while, between the lockdown and everything else but he was always ready for a chat or to play a tune, if he had the concertina handy. Here's the deathnotice on Clare FM : https://www.clare.fm/obituaries/gerald-haugh-lissycasey/

Living in an old house in the West of Ireland, dealing with mould seems to be part of life. If it occurs on the wooden ends it is most likely growing in places where you touched it, feeding on the oil left by your skin. . Keeping hands clean and giving the surfaces a wipe (with a microfibre cloth) will go some way preventing growth. Leather will always be more susceptible to mould growth in humid climates, best to find the least humid and well ventilated location available to you to store the instrument.

A lot of stuff seems to have sold out at Custy's during the lockdown. It may be they are just not buying in much or perhaps people don't come in as often to drop in copies. Give me a shout if you can't find it. Have you heard An Trí is a Rian? I don't suppose that's still available but while Claire Keville recorded with them on that CD, Dympna slotted into that setting with John Weir and Eithne Ní Dhonaile very nicely on occasion.

It was available from Custy's until a few weeks ago. Probably worth asking them, if you haven't already. They will know if the family still has copies left and will be able to get copies if there are any. As it happens, I was in Lissycasey a few hours ago, walked up to the cascades. Had the car parked outside the cemetary and doffed my virtual hat in memory of.

There are many ways to play a tune 'right' and there are also a lot of ways to get it wrong. And a few people on your list would have been happy to express an, often very strong, opinion if you didn't get it right. Just to be clear, 'different' is not necessarily wrong but playing a very different version over another one would be frowned upon so you need your wits about you and be able to adapt to different approaches on the fly. But it's nonsense to say there's no right or wrong and suggest it's a free for all. It really depends on the type and purpose of a session. It really is a grave misconception any beginner, or anybody at all can walk into a session and join uninvited where musicians sit down to play music, especially if you don't know the group. It's best to suss out the situation, have a chat with the musicians and see what the story is. Anyone derailing the flow of music will probably spoil the night for most musicians, unless there's a specific teaching element to the gathering or the joining beginner is known to the group and is invited to play a few tunes for mentoring and social purposes.