Amazing Concertina Recording

[Jim Besser]

I just finished listening to an early cut of Alan Day's Anglo recording project, and I wanted to pass on some impressions.

 

This is an amazing collection. The variety of musical genres, the audio quality and the the skill of the musicians are all even better than I hoped for. I found myself repeatedly grabbing my concertina and playing along (or trying to... on some cuts, I think I'd need about a dozen extra keys to do the chords and harmonies these guys are doing)

 

A few cuts just blew me away (Jody Kruskal's "Krazy for Kasha" became an instant favorite; it's tremendous fun to play). The Andy Turner early music selections are going to provide endless entertainment both in listening and trying to figure out how to play them. The Roger Digby cuts are really impressive (what key concertina on Ain't Misbehaving?) Frank Edgley and Tom Lawrence sound great. Hadn't heard the "squash box" music before; these are lots of fun. I was really surprised by the Bertram Levy cuts; I know him only through his tutorial, which is pretty traditional sounding; the cuts on these CD are anything but, and musically very interesting.

 

Oh yes, Alan's own Rosbif waltz and Limey Pete are great (wasn't Limey originally in G?).

 

I've heard other complications that are so focused on making some point or another that they ignore musicality. Not so this collection; it's good listening, as well as a tremendous resource for all of us.

 

Alan did an amazing job.

Edited June 8, 2005 by Jim Besser

[JimLucas]

I've heard other complications...

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A Freudian slip, or a deliberate pun? Either way, I love it!

 

"Compilations", right?

[Jim Besser]

I've heard other complications...

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A Freudian slip, or a deliberate pun? Either way, I love it!

 

"Compilations", right?

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I could go back and edit, but that would take the fun out of it.

 

As a journalist, I can say this with complete assurance: this is why God created copyeditors.

[Alan Day]

Fantastic Jim,Graham has put his worry beads away.

 

We have at last received the final and wonderful recordings and I can now inform you of the final line up.

In no particular order.

Noel Hill,Nial Vallely,John Kirkpatrick,Chris Sherburn, Roger Digby and Bob Davenport,Will Duke,Harry Scurfield and Matt Dennis ,John Watcham,Andy Turner,Roger Edwards and Threlfull Sisters,Mandy Murray,Alan Day and Mel Stevens,Mary McNamara,Kate McNamara,Zak Van de Vyver,Regardt de Bruin(South Africa),Frank Edgley(Canada),Tom Lawrence(USA),Jody Kruskal and his Contra dance band.(USA),Bertram Levy(USA),Felix and Castor Castro Vicente (Spain)

Archive recordings Scan Tester,Fred Kilroy,Nigel Chippendale,Andrew Blakeny-Edwards and Zulu Squash box music.

 

I have now finished my bit ,Graham sends it off to the manufacturers next week.The expected escape date towards the middle/ end of July, but we will let you know as soon as this information is available.

Al

[Frank Edgley]

I have to thank Alan for inviting me to be a part of this great project! I received a copy of the three CD collection yesterday. It's everything anyone could ask for in a collection of anglo music. It makes you realise that no matter what you are doing on your concertina, there are people out there doing things you haven't even imagined doing on your instrument.

[Mark Evans]

Alan, when will the CD boxed set be available for sale?

[Chris Timson]

Alan, when will the CD boxed set be available for sale?

I have now finished my bit ,Graham sends it off to the manufacturers next week.The expected escape date towards the middle/ end of July, but we will let you know as soon as this information is available.

Chris

[Mark Evans]

Thank you Chris. Must stop trying to multi-task while reading posts. After all this is more important!

[Daniel Bradbury]

I think that one of the most amazing things about this collection is that it makes available recordings of people we would otherwise not have an opportunity to hear. Here in the US, recordings of the likes of Fred Kilroy, Nigel Chippendale and Scan Tester are very difficult to come by. And the amazing playing of Andrew Blakely Edwards is virtually unknown. Who of us even knew where to find recording of Squashbox playing and Afrikaner style playing. Over here we have never had the chance to hear amazing enthusiasm found in Chris Sherburn's playing, or the emotional lyricism in Felix and Castor Castro Vicente's Catalan music. While many of us know Frank Edgley and Bertram Levy by their tutors only, their playing on this collection really show their true level of musicianship. Even Jody Kruskal who is American, is relatively unknown outside the contra-dance circle. I find Roger Edwards' playing absolutely wonderful, which really describes each track on this remarkable compilation.

 

It is difficult to speak of any one of the performers, because all of them deserve equal mention. This is a recording that will be treasured by all of us interested in the music!

 

BRAVO, ALAN, BRAVO

[Alan Day]

Thank you Daniel,but this has been a team effort,a lot of my decisions were based on ideas and discussions with yourself,Jim,Sean Minnie,Jim Lucas,Mark Davies and many others on this site and elsewhere.Most of all the musicians themselves.

We have not dictated to them what to play and how to play it,but we have selected what has already been mentioned a good overall listen.With bands we have just asked for the concertina to be slightly prominent,without detriment to the arrangement.We got exactly what we asked for and it has been a pleasure to put it all together and very exciting.

I must thank Dan for his encouragement all the way through this ,particularly when I wondered if I could complete it and of course Graham who put up the finances and has worked with me as partner to produce this collection.

Finally to all on Concertina .net for your support.

Al

[Guest]

I was just wondering how you're going to sell/distribute it once it's ready?

[malcolm clapp]

I was just wondering how you're going to sell/distribute it once it's ready?

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If we ask you nicely, Morgana, might you be willing to do a bulk import to Australia like you did with the C & S CD rom???

 

(Pretty please, grovel, grovel.... )

[Alan Day]

I will ask Graham tomorrow Morgana to reply to your posting ,as Sales and Distribution is his responsability.I will also ask if he is aware of any distributors or sales outlets in Australia.If you did want to get involved,following Malcolm`s comments, I am sure Graham would be delighted to discuss it with you.

Al (me resting)

[Guest]

Malcolm: Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I think it's time for someone else to take a turn.

 

Actually I was thinking of suggesting something like the services of CD Baby (www.cdbaby.com). Yes they do take a cut ($4 per CD) but look after the ordering/mailing etc all for you. They also accept credit cards, which takes care of the problem of having to obtain overseas currency/cashiers cheques.

 

Just a random neuron firing,

 

Cheers

Morgana

[Alan Day]

Thanks Morgana,I will pass the info on to Graham.

Al

[felix]

" or the emotional lyricism in Felix and Castor Castro Vicente's Catalan music. "

 

Thankyou very much for your reply. It's true, we think that it is a wonderful collection and it shows that anglo concertina is a instrument with a lot of capabilities and different styles in which it can be played.

 

I reply this post because we aren't from Cataluña and we don't play catalan music, we play galician music, and we are from Galicia, in the northwest part of Spain (the corner over Portugal, where it is Santiago de Compostela), and we are very far from Cataluña, 1.000 kms., that it is in the norhteast part.

 

Our traditional music is mainly played in galician bagpipes, drums, tambourine, wooden flute, accordion, and hurdy-gurdy, and our rythms are usually 6/8 rythm, (muiñeira, similar to jigs), 3/4 rythms (jotas, foliadas, valses and mazurcas) -jotas are very common in Spain-, 2/4 rythm, (pasodobles, pasacorredoiras, polcas), and free rythm music (songs, i. e. alalás), and 5/4 rythms (foliadas).

 

Our neighbours are the portuguese and we have links with the portuguese culture too (our language, the galician, is very close with portuguese, because they have the same roots, the galego-portuguese language spoken in the Middle Ages).

 

Sorry because of the long post.

 

Felix

[Daniel Bradbury]

Hello Felix,

 

I realized after re-reading the draft notes for the collection that you played Galacian music. I appologize for the misstatement. Somewhere along the line in conversations with Alan, I got the idea of Catalan music in my head.

 

You have every right to be very proud of adapting the tradional music of Galacia to the concertina. It is an inspiration to those of us who have heard your playing and will continue to inspire those who will soon have access to the collection.

 

I am already working on your pieces and hope that we will be able to hear more recordings of your lovely work.

 

I am happy that you have posted this because I have a couple of questions. I notice that you are playing a "C#/G#" Dipper instrument. Are these keys the traditional keys for the music? If so, is that based on the tuning of the bagpipes, or have you just chosen that particular tuning. Is the fiddle in a normal tuning EADG or is it tuned sharp?

 

Thanks again for the wonderful music! I apologize for any misunderstanding I may have left with the concertina community.

 

 

 

" or the emotional lyricism in Felix and Castor Castro Vicente's Catalan music. "

 

Thankyou very much for your reply. It's true, we think that it is a wonderful collection and it shows that anglo concertina is a instrument with a lot of capabilities and different styles in which it can be played.

 

I reply this post because we aren't from Cataluña and we don't play catalan music, we play galician music, and we are from Galicia, in the northwest part of Spain (the corner over Portugal, where it is Santiago de Compostela), and we are very far from Cataluña, 1.000 kms., that it is in the norhteast part.

 

Our traditional music is mainly played in galician bagpipes, drums, tambourine, wooden flute, accordion, and hurdy-gurdy, and our rythms are usually 6/8 rythm, (muiñeira, similar to jigs), 3/4 rythms (jotas, foliadas, valses and mazurcas) -jotas are very common in Spain-, 2/4 rythm, (pasodobles, pasacorredoiras, polcas), and free rythm music (songs, i. e. alalás), and 5/4 rythms (foliadas).

 

Our neighbours are the portuguese and we have links with the portuguese culture too (our language, the galician, is very close with portuguese, because they have the same roots, the galego-portuguese language spoken in the Middle Ages).

 

Sorry because of the long post.

 

Felix

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[Alan Day]

I can understand this error Daniel as the information on these recordings were sent direct to Graham.

Felix contacted me in the last week of putting this all together and he did a brilliant job of doing his recordings so quickly.We both assumed the area the music originated from,so I am as much(or totally) to blame.The tunes are fairly simple in comparison to the tunes from Niall Valleley which preceeds them,but the brilliant arrangements make it a wonderful listen.

The collection is still progressing, but has hit a minor problems.Graham has managed to sort out the booklet and apart from a few spelling mistakes it is finished.The major worry was the CDs run off from the mastered CD which were dreadful and a stop has been put on the manufacture in Yugoslavia, just to check this all out.We are still expecting the CDs to be available however at the end of the Month,providing no further hickups.

Al