2011 Gradam Ceoil TG4 Concert

[Bruce McCaskey]

Dirk mentioned this on the Videos section but I thought I'd expand on it here in the General area. The entire 2011 Gradam Ceoil TG4 Concert and awards program is currently available for viewing here. As some of you may know from other posts Noel Hill was selected as the TG4 Musician of the year and they had a big concert and awards show in the Wexford Opera house that was broadcast on TG4 in Ireland on Easter. As Noel notes, this is the first time that the award has been presented to a concertina player. The first window will show three available segments, but you can use the up and down arrows at top and bottom to bring others into view and then select them.

 

The site features several segments, two pre-show (behind the scenes and preparation) and three from the actual awards show. The 3rd segment (P3) of the actual show includes the presentation of the award to Noel and then follows with him playing the slow air "Lament for Limerick." After that he goes into a duet with his daughter Aisling, and then on to playing with Tony Linnane, Alec Finn and Matt Molloy. After watching the show I commented to Noel yesterday regarding the concertina he used for the first tune and he told me it is an A-flat/E-flat Jeffries that he never takes outside of Ireland. It has a fine sound and he has it neatly shimmering as he plays it. If you have the bandwidth you can open this to a full screen and view good quality video.

 

Noel shows up here and there over the course of the many segments including an interview in the 1st pre-show segment, but look for the formal presentation and his performance about a third of the way through the 3rd (P3) segment of the show. If you want to watch the entire thing, be sure to select the segments in order (they transition at commercial breaks), if you don't it'll roll through them in reverse. Be careful to select the 2011 segments, they also have 2010 segments on the same page. I have no idea how long this video will be available on the site.

[Greg Jowaisas]

Great fun!!

 

Thanks for the link, Bruce.

 

Much deserved congratulations to Noel.

 

Greg

[Michael Reid]

Congratulations are also in order for Concertina.net member Geoff Woof, who gets a shout-out in part 1 as the maker of a set of pipes played by Padraic Keane, Young Musician of the Year.

[david_boveri]

thanks bruce for the info! i was also wondering which concertina it was. i was surprised to see him open with a jeffries, but i too was entranced by the sound. it was great to hear noel and his daughter play together, and with such a great rendition of foxhunters!

 

congrats to noel, and kudos to geoff woof for such a great set of pipes played by a wonderful player.

 

i'd also like to say that it was awesome to see the lennon family on stage together playing. maurice told me that he, ben, and charlie laid down some great tracks while he was in ireland, and hopefully we can see a release of these tracks to the wider world.

 

when he was over in ireland for the gradam ceoil, maurice also composed a tune with finbar furey called "the doodlelarry reel," which is an instant classic.

[Ptarmigan]

After that he goes into a duet with his daughter Aisling, and then on to playing with Tony Linnane, Alec Finn and Matt Molloy. After watching the show I commented to Noel yesterday regarding the concertina he used for the first tune and he told me it is an A-flat/E-flat Jeffries that he never takes outside of Ireland. It has a fine sound and he has it neatly shimmering as he plays it. If you have the bandwidth you can open this to a full screen and view good quality video.

 

Many thanks for that interesting info Bruce.

 

I immediately checked it's pitch with my own Albert Canacott Ab/Eb Jeffries & it's pretty close, although not exactly. So I'm wondering if Noel has had the reeds on his tweaked a little, to bring it to today's perfect Ab/Eb?

 

I know the reeds on mine haven't been tampered with since the early 50s & I suspect that they are in fact in the original pitch, that they were when Charles senior sold it to Albert, on the 26th of June 1899.

 

Cheers,

Dick