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Stumbled across the ancient audio of my playing over 40 years ago, when I only played Irish music. Might have been recorded at the basement of my late, good friend, uilleann piper Al Purcell, whose band I was part of for several years. We often just recorded each other playing for archival purposes. The concertina was a rather sluggish action Matusewitch Wheatstone. Its also important for EC players to know that at this time, I was the only concertina player of Irish music in the state, years before any Anglos showed up in Michigan (and even years before my friend Frank Edgley even picked up a concertina, but that's another story). So I still laugh when I hear people say Anglo is more suited for Irish music. You either know the tunes and style or you don't......the box makes no difference! ---Matt Here's the link to the audio: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/amggqpz0511r77ccb9078/Matt-Heumann-cica-1980s-Irish-set.mp3?rlkey=g3oejv9jzd8ti86w7tf99gkgq&st=igv696v9&dl=0 Members can access many more of my files on the Dropbox link at the bottom of this posting.

I was listening to some concertina albums on iTunes today and watching some You Tube videos of a lot of great Irish concertina music. I have an English Concertina so would I be able to play that style on my instrument or would I need to get an Anglo as most of the Irish players I looked at were playing that type? If this is the case, would you recommend 20 or 30 button to start with and what sort of money would I be looking at for something that was playable and in tune? I'm just dipping my toe in the water here but I'd be interested to hear people's views. I am a professional musician who plays lots of instruments so I'm used to flitting from one to another! I have lots of diatonic melodeons (DG GC GCF ADG) that I already play so I'm guessing the learning curve wouldn't be that huge Thank you in advance of any advice you can offer me. Les