gcoover Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 I know Robert Louis Stevenson mentioned a concertina in his short story "The Isle of Voices", but does anyone know of any concertina players in Hawaii today? I'll be there shortly for work (ah, life's tough sometimes), and it would be nice to meet up for a tune and a drink with an umbrella in it. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 I could be if you pay the air fare chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce McCaskey Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 I spent three weeks on Maui in Lahaina last year. Took an Anglo concertina with me and spent time each day the first week there sitting in a shady spot at the edge of the beach playing Irish music on it. Tons of people in the area, most in bathing suits and many with surfboards in hand. Lots of people started conversations, but overall I had the feel that this just wasn't a Trad setting. By the start of the second week I visited a local music store and purchased a Hawaiian music for ukelele' book and started working with that material. It felt much more appropriate to the setting and my random audience seemed to feel that way too. I made a point to try to search out Irish sessions on the island, but didn't have much luck. I located one place on the Internet (the name escapes me now) that claimed to have Irish music but a closer look suggested it wasn't a session friendly environment. The sad thing here is that when I'd been in Lahaina a few years earlier there was an Irish pub right by the Lahaina waterfront and the fellow that owned it, Dan O'Kennedy if memory serves, was a musician and looking for people to play with. Turned out he had closed in the interim and I think I remember hearing Dan had moved to California. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex Libris Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 On a visit to Lahania a couple of years ago, I found a Wheatstone English Concertina in the Baldwin House museum. If I remember rightly the serial number was 19709 - 1879. Jeremy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcoover Posted July 5, 2014 Author Share Posted July 5, 2014 Thought you all might enjoy a few photos of Wheatstone EC #19709 originally owned by missionary and doctor Rev. Dwight Baldwin (1798-1886), and currently residing on a shelf of the Baldwin House Museum in Lahaina, Maui. Thanks for spotting this, Jeremy! According to the ledgers (C1054, P.195) it was built in July 1879. The initially wary caretakers were kind enough yesterday to allow me to take a few photos. It's in sad shape but appears to be intact, and it was possible to get some sounds out of the reeds. Being a museum piece, it will probably never be restored ("then people would try to play it"). Of course there was no way they were going to let anyone open it up and look inside, but at one time it was probably a good playing instrument with riveted steel reeds. Now here's the interesting part, if we want to get into a little historical conjecture. And why not? Rev. Baldwin left Lahaina for Honolulu in 1870, so either he picked up playing concertina in Honolulu in his 80's, or perhaps it was played by one of his 7 children (one of whom went on to create the Alexander & Baldwin conglomerate). Now, in 1888, Robert Louis Stevenson traveled to Honolulu and spent a fair amount of time there hanging out with important folks like Hawaiian King David Kalakaua, and in his short story "Isle of Voices" he wrote: "For," thought he, "I had done better to have bought a concertina, with which I might have entertained myself all day long."....."A concertina? You shall have the best in Honolulu." So, who knows, maybe this particular EC might have been the inspiration for RLS's concertina citation?!? Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Barnert Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 FWIW, I will probably be in Hawaii in March (2015) for a professional conference. If someone suggests to me that there's a concertina in the state that's not in a museum and someone to play it, then maybe I'll bring mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcoover Posted July 6, 2014 Author Share Posted July 6, 2014 David, Not counting the museum piece, I know of 8 so far: 2 Morse Anglos played by ITM beginners, another Anglo somewhere in Maui and taking lessons from Jody Kruskal via Skype, and then I've got an EC, a few Anglos, a Jeffries Duet and a Hohner D/G melodeon. So, send me a PM when the date gets closer and I'll try to round up the first meeting of the Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Mai Tai & Concertina Club. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Barnert Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Neat. Which island are you on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jody Kruskal Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 (edited) David, Not counting the museum piece, I know of 8 so far: 2 Morse Anglos played by ITM beginners, another Anglo somewhere in Maui and taking lessons from Jody Kruskal via Skype, and then I've got an EC, a few Anglos, a Jeffries Duet and a Hohner D/G melodeon. So, send me a PM when the date gets closer and I'll try to round up the first meeting of the Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Mai Tai & Concertina Club. Gary Yes, Marianne on Maui is a beginner but dedicated student playing a Rochelle. Her husband and son play Scottish pipes and she has been learning some pipe tunes from me with the plan to join her family band. She has been working on Bonnie Dundee and The Rowan Tree. Both tunes sound great in A with a G natural on C/G Anglo. Edited July 8, 2014 by Jody Kruskal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcoover Posted July 8, 2014 Author Share Posted July 8, 2014 "Maui Marianne" sounds like the name for a great song that you need to write, Jody! Maybe next time I'm "rolling down to old Maui" we can all meet up and visit the lonely EC in the Baldwin House Museum in Lahaina, perhaps even serenade the docents with a melody or two. I'm in Honolulu, so it's a short island hop away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Barnert Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 ...does anyone know of any concertina players in Hawaii today? I'll be there shortly for work... ...I'm in Honolulu... I'm a little confused. You've relocated to Hawaii, or is this what you called "for work"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jellyroll Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 There's a group called Celtic Waves that holds a session (IIRC) on Sundays in Manoa at the Univ of Hawaii campus. No concertina but good trad music. I've long since moved away but was still getting emails regarding current sessions, if your interested I can see if I can dig up the email for contact info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcoover Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share Posted July 9, 2014 (edited) Well, you know, David, it's a damn hard life full of toil and strife we whalermen undergo. Oh sorry, wrong century. Yes, living and working in paradise these days. But truth be told, I wouldn't mind living near an old English pub with real ale and good music! Since the Hawaiian state flag incorporates the British Union Jack (how weird is that?), I figure it's my duty to play music from the upper left corner. I'll be sure and look up Celtic Waves. Great name! Edited July 9, 2014 by gcoover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Barnert Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 There's a group called Celtic Waves that holds a session (IIRC) on Sundays in Manoa at the Univ of Hawaii campus. No concertina but good trad music. I've long since moved away but was still getting emails regarding current sessions, if your interested I can see if I can dig up the email for contact info I'll be sure and look up Celtic Waves. Great name! I've found this. They're primarily a performance group, but the contact page includes the suggestion: • Get notified of when and where session [sic] are held if you are a musician of any level. I've sent in a query. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcoover Posted August 10, 2023 Author Share Posted August 10, 2023 (edited) A sad update: Wheatstone EC #19709, built in July 1879, on display at the Baldwin House Museum in Lahaina, Maui, is no more. The concertina, and the house built in 1835, were completely burned to the ground yesterday in the devastating Lahaina fire. I visited the museum in 2016 with my W56 EC (pictured on the left) for a photo op, under the watchful eye of Mrs. Baldwin. Might I suggest fellow EC players play an appropriate lament for the loss of this fine instrument, as well as for those in Lahaina who lost everything they had. Gary Edited August 10, 2023 by gcoover 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Harrison Posted August 11, 2023 Share Posted August 11, 2023 I have been following the news............. here in Canada have our own on-going issues....... I know you live in Hawai'i, Gary, but don't know where. Is this appalling fire confined to the one island.....are you safe ? Robin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcoover Posted August 11, 2023 Author Share Posted August 11, 2023 (edited) All good here in Honolulu - a couple of islands and 80 miles away from poor Lahaina. Lots of places in the world having trouble these days, all the more reason to play music and enjoy each day as a gift! Gary Edited August 11, 2023 by gcoover 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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