How about Wren anglo concertina for beginner?

[Seonyeong Hwang]

Hello, everyone in here! 

First,  please forgive my English. My English is not good enough but I hope you can understand what I'm saying.

I'm Korean who living In Korea with my South African wife. We are international couple.

 

She introduce and show me many South African culture and music. and I fell in love to that now.

especially, I really love bore music and cowboy music played by concertina. 

So I really want to play concertina for her and her family one day. so I try to find nice concertina for me and many other information

I can play guitar and piano and I was band member when I was young. so I can read music note and I can understand many thing about play music. so How to play concertina is not problem. 

 

problem is I living in Korea and every Korean doesn't know what is concertina. haha 

but I searched really hard and I found Wren concertina from Mcneela website (https://mcneelamusic.com/concertinas/new-improved-the-wren-anglo-concertina-2/)

So I'd like buy this one. but I'm not sure I can play south Africa music with this concertina. and also some pirates song and old cowboy song. 

I think I need 30buttons and C/G key anglo concertina for play South Africa music

is this enough for me? or must I buy other one? 

 

Thank you so much for read and answer. 

Edited September 9 by Seonyeong Hwang

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

I do not know about the Wren make of concertina myself. I have different make for 25 years now, but it is in the C and G range..Anglo 30: key, as you enquire about.

Just to say you can play any music you want on concertina, it's up to you to find it. There may be small occasions where you may have to adapt tunes to fit, but not that often, I have found at least. It is after all a music box with notes that you will make sing the tunes you want to.as the musician🌝

But I don't know what the Wren are like but have heard and seen them discussed often.

 

[alex_holden]

There seem to be two major styles of concertina music in South Africa, played on very different instruments.

 

This style (Zulu?) is based on cheap 20 button German concertinas, but tuned in an unusual way.

 

 

David Jenkins performs and makes new concertinas of this type:

https://www.davidjenkins.co.za/concertina/

 

The other major style (boeremusiek?) is based on a 40 button Wheatstone C/G:

 

 

It's possible to find vintage concertinas of this type, or you may be able to commission a new one.

[Nigel Champion]

Earlier this year I was asked to investigate loss of air from a Wren concertina.

 

I found muliple leaks through the gusset material! These were made of a plastic cloth with a plastic coating.  Due the concertina being played, this coating had disintegrated  and NONE of the gussets were airtight! 

 

I informed the owner that the only way to fix this was to completely replace the bellows. Since then, I have seen special paint that claims to adhere to such material but how effective it is is anyones guess.

 

Please note that McNeela now offer the Wren 2 which may possibly use better gusset material.

 

Good luck.

Nigel

[Don Taylor]

10 hours ago, alex_holden said:

This style (Zulu?) is based on cheap 20 button German concertinas, but tuned in an unusual way.

Aka. 'Squashbox'.  Here is a (long) article about the squashbox concertina including details of the tuning:

https://concertina.org/pica-volume-2-2005/the-black-concertina-tradition-of-south-africa/

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

It is always best to have real  leather bellows if you can as it gives more like your skin does to the folding and stretching of every day use.  I never realised until recent.. how often a plastic material is used instead..and often seems to fail with constant use.My own instrument has thick brown leather bellows, and in 25 plus years. Is still supple and useable; save for a bit of dust inbetween the folds🌝.They're like people and need care and excersize, and the right diet to thrive and sing at their best😊😀