"breaking The Shackles": Out-Of-The-Rut Redux

[ceemonster]

Starting after about 1:31:00, the Wednesday, April 2 archived Clare FM edition of "The West WInd" contains remarks by concertina wizard Tim Collins that seem worth noting given our recent "Is the Concertina in a Rut?" discussions. Since CFM only retains past shows for a week, I thought it might be fun to transcribe some of Tim's comments which were oh-so-pertinent to recent debates here...transcription isn't perfect, but pretty close....

 

A good half the broadcast is talk with Tim and Aine Hensey RE next weekend's debut consertain weekend in Ennis, plus live music from young students who are present in the studio, but the material starting after 1:31:00 includes comments by Tim Collins a propos of a debut performance and CD launch skedded for the Saturday of the consertain weekend in Ennis, involving his current group the ICE Quintet, said acronym denoting the Irish Concertina Ensemble [Tim Collins, Patrick Rynne, Michael O'R, Edel Fox, Caitlin Nic Gabhann].

 

 

[[[[Tim Collins: "It's an idea I suppose I've had for a couple of years about creating a new sonic template for the concertina. 'Cause this hasn't really happened before in Irish music. It has happened before in English folk music, but not really in Irish music. It really is presenting the concertina in quintet form, and it's kind of highly-arranged music,

like a kind of a chamber ensemble. We've equipped ourselves with the instruments that will allow us to do that, we have three of the instruments that we call the "treble" concertina [regular Anglos must go by "Treble" as well as ECs, then?]; we have a Baritone; and we have Piccolo, so it gives us the versatile instruments which will allow us to arrange the music.

 

Interviewer Q: And can I ask, will you be reading [written music], or will you be working from memory?

A: From memory.

Interviewer: It must be a lot of work...

 

A, Tim Collins: .....It's been a lot of work, because we'd like to think that we're creating something new, so there isn't a template to follow, really. We've a lot of newly-composed music that we're working on that has been composed by myself and other people in the group, and we're also very selective about the other material that we're working with, because it's not every piece of music that will suit that particular context. But we're all very excited about its possibilities, it's just in the fledgling stage at the moment....[discussion RE first full performance in August 2014 at Feakle festival headlining with Hayes/Cahill...]...this [April Ennis performance] is a dry run, really....

 

Interviewer: Excellent. County Clare seems to be a hotbed of this kind of activity at the moment, I'm thinking of Dave Flynn up in Ballyvaughn [sEE, "Crash Ensemble," with Flynn & concertina tyro Niall Vallely], and Jack Talty as well [sEE, "The Clare Memory Orchestra"]. This is news to me, to tell you the truth. People will be really looking forward to hearing this.

 

A: Yes, I think people are much more open now to kind of, break the shackles, to a certain degree, of what we call tradition. Because I think that for a long time we felt shackled. And felt we really had to work within parameters, but the

nature of tradition is that it's constantly evolving. And when you have creative people, I think that creativity should be put into play. You mentioned there Jack [Talty], of course, and The Memory Orchestra--I think it's absolutely fantastic. If anything it adds color to the musical landscape---and that's what we need.]]]]

 

Clare Memory Orchestra: See, "Free Reed Section," http://www.clarememoryorchestra.com/musicians.html

 

Crash Ensemble: See, http://journalofmusic.com/listing/10-03-14/crash-ensemble-niall-vallely-concertina-dave-flynn-electric-guitar-niwel-tsumbu

 

ICE Quintet, writeup on consertain weekend FB page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.617130061675243.1073741831.530136147041302&type=3

Edited April 8, 2014 by ceemonster