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The Seamans Concertina


markwil

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Anyone familiar with The Seaman's Concertina instructional DVD by John Townley?

 

thanks

Mark

Yep - I've got a copy. Interesting particularly with respect to accompanying singing on an Anglo. Film quality is not up to modern standards as the DVD is a copy of original video. Anything else you want to know?

 

W

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It is an interesting approach with a lot of ideas, enough to keep you busy for a while if you haven't gone through all the ways of playing an anglo yet. And the famous "drowning" scene at the end! I met John T. a few years ago and asked him about this project. He admitted they had fun making this video.

 

Ken

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It is indeed an interesting approach to the Anglo. There are no surviving recordings of maritime concertina players from the ages of sail or steam, so if you are looking for some sort of 'authenticity' I suppose you might be disappointed. John IS a sailor though, and has thought quite a lot about how the instrument was once used.

 

Beyond that, the tape is refreshing in its independent approach....so much of what we see is usually a rigid copy of either Irish or English revival playing styles (no offense!). This one isn't, and is of interest for that if nothing else. I liked it.

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I'd appreciate a bit of background on JT. I got the DVD quite a while back but as I was working on Irish style I put it to one side.

I went back to it when I was working on C/G for singing to and realised that it was pretty good and that he used it to good effect in a style that rang true. I'm sure many ordinary people in the old days would have taken the same approach for popular or folk music of the day and a bit of 'flash' playing like 'The Bells' and the Doppler effect went down well. I remember some of my parents' friends playing what I now recognise as Anglo in the 1940s and the sound brought back memories of parties . We had a couple in the house but sadly they drifted out of the house and at the time I didn't see them as attractive as the fiddle and later guitar.

 

Only after the 50s folk revival did I get interested again and then I got a GDR melodeon thinking it was like a concertina. That was another (false) trailsmile.gif

 

I think his version of 'Outward Bound' is great, if a bit theatrical for nowadays, but we were all influenced by The Clancys etc then

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I'd appreciate a bit of background on JT. I got the DVD quite a while back but as I was working on Irish style I put it to one side.

 

I think we met at the weekend workshop Alan Atlas ran in New York City in March 2004 or thereabouts; Jody K. taught the anglo group and Wim W. was visiting from Europe and did the EC workshop. JT told me he lives on Long Island and still plays. After the effort of publishing Concertina and Squeezebox I think he was ready for a rest and other projects (we all know what that is like). I told him he was welcome here anytime he got the hankering to jump in or just lurk, we'd be all ears when he spoke up.

 

I'm sure Geo Salley is in touch with him now and then, perhaps Geo will chime in.

 

Ken

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I'd appreciate a bit of background on JT. I got the DVD quite a while back but as I was working on Irish style I put it to one side.

 

I think we met at the weekend workshop Alan Atlas ran in New York City in March 2004 or thereabouts; Jody K. taught the anglo group and Wim W. was visiting from Europe and did the EC workshop. JT told me he lives on Long Island and still plays. After the effort of publishing Concertina and Squeezebox I think he was ready for a rest and other projects (we all know what that is like). I told him he was welcome here anytime he got the hankering to jump in or just lurk, we'd be all ears when he spoke up.

 

I'm sure Geo Salley is in touch with him now and then, perhaps Geo will chime in.

 

Ken

I corresponded quite a bit with John two years ago as I was researching Concertinas at Sea; he was very generous with his time, reviewing what I was writing (as you can imagine, people with any information at all about nautical concertina music are scarcer than hens' teeth). John apparently now lives on Long Island with his wife, and they are both practicing astrologers. In his past he had an extensive amount of experience in maritime music and in historical preservation, writing prolifically about both in addition to his stint at Concertina and Squeezebox with George Salley. Here are two links to that part of his life: http://www.astrococktail.com/johntownleycv2.html and http://www.astrococktail.com/john.html where you can find a link to a free couple of albums of maritime recordings--excellent stuff.

 

I'm not sure what moved John from maritime lore and music to astrology, but it appears to have been a complete changeover: http://www.astrococktail.com/. Life has many unexpected turns for all of us, which is part of what makes it all so interesting.

Edited by Dan Worrall
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Thanks folks that was very helpful and Dan- that was a great link. Ain't the internet a wondersmile.gif

(Still eagerly awaiting the books!)

Mike

 

 

P.S. I know shanties were often led or accompanied by a fiddler but how about concertina. Nothing in Stan Hugill's book I could find. Or did it come in at the end of sail's supremacy?

 

I do seem to remember that on the sleeve to his 70s LP Stan mentioned sailors sitting and singing 'forebitters' when not working and the use of fiddles and concertinas

Edited by michael sam wild
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  • 2 weeks later...

I know Topic Records had some sea songs with Alf Edwards on English Concertina and Lou Killen used to sing sea songs with EC accompaniment. Whether they are on CD I don't know I have old LPs or singles or EPs

 

I can't check the actual CDs for concertina content just at the moment, but I have quite a few recordings by A L Lloyd and Lou Killen on CD:

 

For Lloyd I have:

 

Leviathan

England & Her Traditional Songs

Ten Thousand Miles Away

English Drinking Songs

Blow Boys Blow (with Ewan MacColl)

 

A quick check on the web suggests all these feature at least some playing by Alf Edwards.

 

For Lou Killen I have:

 

Sailors, Ships & Chanteys Vols I and II

A Bonny Bunch

Rose in June

 

They are two of my favourite singers.

 

Richard

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Good taste!

They were part of my education in the folk clubs of the late 50s and 60s Landlocked shanties, but at least Manchester and Salford had a ship canal and docks linked to Liverpool so was a major port!

 

I just dug out an HMV LP by Stans Hugill but the accompaniments are accordion.

 

Sounds a bit quaint and theatrical nowadays, and Stan had served on sailing ships and knew the old timers and the real thing.

Edited by michael sam wild
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Any recommended, available recordings in this style?

 

Thanks again,

Mark

here is a Dutch site with a number of videos of concertina players (including John Townley) trying their hands at concertina-accompanied shanties and forebitters.

http://concertina.we...zeemansliederen

Cheers,

Dan

 

Nice link, Thanks Dan

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  • 4 years later...

Searching for "Leviathan" posts of myself I stumbled over this old thread and felt like advertising my own recordings which I made this year. It's all provisory, with some tracks more and some less successful:

 

Sea Songs

with the most recent one being on "Leviathan" (Lloyd/Edwards) too:

 

Bonnie Ship The Diamond

Hope someone will enjoy or find it helpful for his or her own approach with our great little instrument...

 

Best wishes - Wolf

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