Woman's Accordion

[Sarah Swadling]

Somewhere or other, I wish I could recall where, I have read that in Ireland the Anglo was known as the woman's accordion because so many women played it. Does anyone know whether I have made this up, and what the phrase might be in Irish? I am pitching a radio feature idea about women Irish style anglo players.

 

Save me from insanity!

 

Also, who'd you interview in your fantasy feature on this topic? I know who I have in mind, but who would you say is the young woman player of the moment (based in UK or Eire?)

 

Sarah

[JimLucas]

Save me from insanity!

Too late.

Insanity is all around you.

 

...who would you say is the young woman player of the moment (based in UK or Eire?)

"

The

"?

Why should there be only one?

[Sarah Swadling]

Insanity all around...goes without saying...

 

Doesn't have to be one, but everyone has a favourite...Name as many as you like Jim

[Chris Timson]

I can only bring one to mind, but as I don't much follow the doings of Irish anglo players that's quite significant, and anyway Mary MacNamara is a beautiful (in all senses) player.

 

Chris

[RP3]

Yes Sarah, there is a Santa Claus. And there is also a "woman's accordion". In a paper published in the PICA Mary 2006 issue Gearoid O hAllmhurain referred to the "bean chairdin" or, as he translated it, female accordion. The anglo concertina was favored by women in Western Ireland, particularly Clare, and they gave the instrument its start in Ireland. Read his article and you'll learn a lot more about it.

 

Ross Schlabach

[Sarah Swadling]

I can only bring one to mind, but as I don't much follow the doings of Irish anglo players that's quite significant, and anyway Mary MacNamara is a beautiful (in all senses) player.

 

 

Yep, Chris. I love Mary MacNamara's playing, she was someone I definitely had in mind. And Jacqueline McCarthy, and Miriam Collins I like too, but I've not come across much of her stuff recorded, except as a member of The Lonely Standed Band. Wanted to pick a few brains, y'see, so I don't miss a gem.

 

This little project, I should add, is combining business and pleasure for me since I play Anglo myself, mostly Irish tunes.

[Sarah Swadling]

Yes Sarah, there is a Santa Claus. And there is also a "woman's accordion". In a paper published in the PICA Mary 2006 issue Gearoid O hAllmhurain referred to the "bean chairdin" or, as he translated it, female accordion.

 

 

Aha! At around the same time you posted this a lovely friend with the Fintan Vallely Irish Traditional music companion book thingy had unearthed the very same. So that's where I read it...I had been poring over CD notes til I was starting to feel slightly bonkers. The Gearoid O hAllmhurain article's very useful, thanks. Let's hope the commissioning editor types like it...

[yankeeclipper]

How about Niamh Nicharra, who has just posted about her new CD here on concertina.net? Check it out at www.niamhnicharra.com

[ceemonster]

speaking half (but only half)-waggishly, there is i believe a phd dissertation to be written about the misogynistic side of the back-history of irish traditional music as viewed through the history of the "woman's accordion." yes, the instrument indeed had that nickname at one point. and yes, particularly in clare, it was played much by women.

 

but they were largely playing in the kitchen, because it was only, you know, the really great, serious players, i.e., males, who were allowed to play out.

 

not coincidentally i believe, liner notes about female traditional irish musicians older than 20 to 30, almost invariably include somewhere in the story, support from a male ally. one of mary mac's cd notes include a very supportive dad whose daughter began playing a concertina he had gotten for an older female relative, and who then bought his daughter a lovely wheatstone. my favorite among these stories is that of mrs. crotty who, fascinatingly, had a husband who was delighted to have her play out, perhaps because it brought renown and business to their pub, but, one hopes, also because he thought she was wonderful. mrs. crotty also had a chronic illness, or, a freudian might say, "illness," that necessitated many visits to doctors in dublin, where the illness did not prevent many, many hours of great playing with the pipers club and the great dublin trad musicians.

 

the classic green linnet issue (was this a reissue of an old Topic LP?), "clare concertinas" (surprise, no females on it) contains a nauseating note by an older male trad heavyweight to the effect that (this is not verbatim but close), while concertina was once a "women's instrument," "today, of course, it is indisputable that the great players are male." or something like that.

 

here on this very site, the notes to the classic recording "the lonely stranded band," which features the gorgeous playing of the west clare master miriam collins, state that ms. collins' playing is merely "intermediate" (i.e., not encrusted with bb-gun staccato, one presumes), and goes on to say that ms. collins' playing is the very epitome of a remark by noel hill about concertina being the quintessential women's instrument.

 

once you've finished being sick, here are some lovely younger concertina players to enjoy:

 

 

 

edel fox---wonderful cd by a west-clare virtuoso from miltown malbay; there is also a fantastic "comhaltas live" video of her playing solo on the comhaltas web site:

 

http://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/comhaltas...ment_5_edel_fox

 

kate mcnamara---this is a lovely young east clare player very much in the style of mary macnamara, but with a few "phanton button" ornaments in the mix. no cd yet, but she plays beautifully on the three-cd anthology of anglo concertina playing, "anglo international." and speaking of which, check out mandy murray on the same cd. she is an irish player based in london whose repertoire and aesthetic are much inspired by paddy carty, one of my favorite recent finds.

 

sharon o'leary: this lovely young west clare concertina player can be heard on a 30-ish minute program on rte's "bloom of youth" site area, see saturday july 15:

 

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thebloomofyouth/1093333.html

 

other wonderful young female players such as ernestine healy and others can be found on the comhaltas site as well. i will post the link below or, after you have watched edel fox, above, hit the keyword "concertina" to the right , and you'll get them. (wonderful males there as well, i am loving jack talty of lissycasey, county clare):

 

http://comhaltas.ie/music/tag/Concertina

[Michael Reid]

Seconding ceemonster's recommendations of Edel Fox and Kate McNamara.

 

Another excellent player is Michelle Mulcahy, who is impressive on four(!) instruments: concertina, harp, fiddle, and piano. She was TG4's 2006 Young Musician of the Year -- an honor given to Edel Fox a few years back.

[m3838]

Edel Fox

Great player! But she is sitting with one shoulder higher than the other. No teachers paid attention to that?

She is heading full speed towards long and agonizing chronic back/neck problems.

Somebody tell her.

[ceemonster]

better watch it there, m3838....someone on the session.org site made a quip about how ms. fox was holding her head in that lovely video and despite the fact that the person had already humorously apologized, the Inquisitors swooped in with their Red Hot Pokers and shrieked until the person had abased himself grotesquely out of proportion to anything that was said. ms. fox herself had already dealt with the original remark quite properly with humor.

 

in any event--whew, lovely video, lovely playing.

[Stiamh]

here on this very site, the notes to the classic recording "the lonely stranded band," which features the gorgeous playing of the west clare master miriam collins, state that ms. collins' playing is merely "intermediate" (i.e., not encrusted with bb-gun staccato, one presumes), and goes on to say that ms. collins' playing is the very epitome of a remark by noel hill about concertina being the quintessential women's instrument.

 

Surely you mean "West Clare mistress"? Only joking.

 

Prompted by your outrage, I read the review in question and I think you have got hold of the wrong end of the stick. First, the writer states that "technically, the play is of intermediate standard..." but then goes on to praise the "unhurried simplicity, directness and warmth" , the "well-judged, musical ornamentation" and the occasional "gorgeous wistfulness."

 

In fact the entire piece is very complimentary to MC and I feel sure the "absolute vindication" comment was meant to convey nothing but the greatest admiration for MC's playing. "Though much praise is due to the other musicians..." seems to mean, not that MC is no good, but in fact that she is the star of the show. I grant the writer could have put his point across less ambiguously, but have another read and tell me if I've got it wrong.

 

Steve (a big fan of the record in question).

 

Warm, relaxed concertina/box/bouzouki play, with a solid trove of appealing concertina ornamentation from Miriam Collins. [...] Technically, the play is of intermediate standard: nothing to compare to, say, Noel Hill. It has, though, an unhurried simplicity, directness and warmth missing from many other recordings, uses well-judged, musical ornamentation, and has, thanks to the utterly selfless bouzouki accompaniment, an at times gorgeous wistfulness. Though much praise is due the other two musicians, I feel this CD is an absolute vindication of Noel Hill's claim that the concertina was traditionally regarded as a woman's instrument.

Edited July 3, 2007 by ZiziAllaire

[m3838]

better watch it there, m3838....someone on the session.org site made a quip about how ms. fox was holding her head in that lovely video and despite the fact that the person had already humorously apologized, the Inquisitors swooped in with their Red Hot Pokers and shrieked until the person had abased himself grotesquely out of proportion to anything that was said. ms. fox herself had already dealt with the original remark quite properly with humor.

 

in any event--whew, lovely video, lovely playing.

 

After having to fence off highly placed dermatologists twice in a row, I have no fear of inquisitors with mere Red Hot Pokers.

But the shoulder issue is rather severe, as I see it. And the excercize to get rid of it is quite simple and even fun. She just has to raise her shoulders as high as she can, sit in this funny position for a second, and then drop the shoulders down. A few times. She'll feel and look much better. Easy, huh? Tell her, somebody.

May be most concertina teachers in Ireland are old crackers, crooked and grumpy from hard work in the fields?

And their secret plot is to make every young one looking as crooked as them.

[allan atlas]

FOLKS: it was not only the "Anglo" in Ireland that came to be associated with women. . . ..the "English" shared that association in Victorian England. . . .see my article "Ladies in the Wheatstone Ledgers". . .it's now available online at www.concertina.com..............Allan

[Jim Stetson]

You might want to check out the book "Music in Ireland: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture" (Global Music Series) by Dorothea E. Hast. There are a couple of references in the index to concertina as a woman's instrument. I haven't read this book, I just happened to notice this as I scanned the index and remembered your recent post here. In the review of this book, by John Murphy, he states: "Why the concertina became the "woman's instrument" can be traced, intriguingly, to not only its relative affordability early last century but its sale at hardware stores."

Jim

Edited July 4, 2007 by Jim Stetson

[allan atlas]

FOLKS: one of the things that's very clear is that the concertina (the "English" in Victorian England and the "Anglo" in Ireland) became a woman's instrument for different reasons in different places. . . . . .it was certainly not affordability that led the well-bred victorian woman to play the English. . . . .rather, it was because string and wind instruments were simply off-limits to them until about the third quarter of the nineteenth century. . . . . .one need only read the manufacturers' adverts, which invite women to play violin and flute music on the concertina. . . . . . .the adverts also hold out entry to the string quartet literature. . . . . .one of the interesting things is this: when, in the third quarter of the century, women gained access to strings and winds, the English concertina began to undergo a change in social status. . . . there can be no doubt that the two things are related. . . . . .Allan

[ceemonster]

FOLKS: one of the things that's very clear is that the concertina (the "English" in Victorian England and the "Anglo" in Ireland) became a woman's instrument for different reasons in different places. . . . . .it was certainly not affordability that led the well-bred victorian woman to play the English. . . . .rather, it was because string and wind instruments were simply off-limits to them until about the third quarter of the nineteenth century. . . . . .one need only read the manufacturers' adverts, which invite women to play violin and flute music on the concertina. . . . . . .the adverts also hold out entry to the string quartet literature. . . . . .one of the interesting things is this: when, in the third quarter of the century, women gained access to strings and winds, the English concertina began to undergo a change in social status. . . . there can be no doubt that the two things are related. . . . . .Allan

 

 

yes, fascinating......this is parallel in a sense to the phenom in economics/sociology known as "the feminization of poverty" which sometimes refers to downward mobility in divorced females, but which also can refer to a phenom analagous to what you are pointing out here---the downgrading in status and pay of jobs once formerly excluded groups, in this case females, gain access to them......

 

i personally find the concertina cooler and more soulful because of this partly downgraded, declasse, "female" aspect to its mystique....i believe that unconscious insecurity about its "feminine" nature have have contributed to the attempts among irish players at least, to subject it to over-the-top displays of ornamental virtuosity, er, "virtuosity."

 

don't know about uk scholarship on all of this, but on the irish front, gearoid o'halmhorrhain has done a bunch of research on females and the concertina and is i believe working on a book about women and the music of county clare, with lots of material about the concertina.....