South African Musicians and Concertinas

[ben]

Here are two concertina players from South Africa that I filmed recently. First, Manie Erasmus plays a tune he composed, "Waltz for Hendrik" on a 1950's Wheatstone.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wcmkm5MevI

 

and second, Piet Visser plays "Kalfie Waltz" (A.K.A. "I will be all smiles tonight") on a "Wifra" concertina built by Willie van Wyk. Piet Visser is a member of the Concertina.net forum.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ykai8tI1orY

 

Third, Piet Visser plays "The Old Barn" (Die Ou Waenhuis) on a brand new 12 sided 40 button C/G anglo made by Koot Brits.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_bW63U9R-k...feature=related

 

Please choose the "High Quality" option for viewing these clips

Edited April 8, 2009 by un_owen

[JimLucas]

Here are two concertina players from South Africa that I filmed recently. First, Manie Erasmus plays a tune he composed, "Waltz for Hendrik" on a 1950's Wheatstone.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wcmkm5MevI

 

and second, Piet Visser plays "Kalfie Waltz" (A.K.A. "I will be all smiles tonight") on a "Wifra" concertina built by Willie van Wyk. Piet Visser is a member of the Concertina.net forum.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ykai8tI1orY

Oooh! Don't let the Irish see these.

[Steve Mansfield]

Kwela concertina! Love those two clips, thanks for sharing.

[Dirge]

Absolutely brilliant, Great fun.

 

If you haven't listened to them, do.

 

(and how many Anglo aeolas are there in the world?)

 

Editted to add: And look what saccharine pulp Mr. Visser started with: C&W version

 

Brilliant to get so much joy and life out of such tosh. He really shows off the instrument well. Almost leaves me wondering why I heft a bloody great duet arround. Nearly.

 

(and Mr Erasmus is impressive too)

Edited April 7, 2009 by Dirge

[LangoLee]

I've noticed that South African players seem quite keen on that tremolo effect.

 

I have acquired a few CDs of Boeremusiek, and from what I can make it out it's a sort of mutation of 19th century Germanic waltz and polka tunes, often souped up with guitars and electric keyboards for dancing (including some rather unfortunate MIDI-style backing tracks on the album I have by Kobus Fourie). It's actually hard to find much info about the style on the internet, because it's all in Afrikaans.

 

Is the target audience for this music still the rural Afrikaans population, or does it have any presence in the urban centres? I gather Die Klipwerf Boere Orkes have sold a lot of records nationwide.

Edited April 7, 2009 by LangoLee

[Dirge]

I've noticed that South African players seem quite keen on that tremolo effect.

 

I have acquired a few CDs of Boeremusiek, and from what I can make it out it's a sort of mutation of 19th century Germanic waltz and polka tunes, often souped up with guitars and electric keyboards for dancing (including some rather unfortunate MIDI-style backing tracks on the album I have by Kobus Fourie). It's actually hard to find much info about the style on the internet, because it's all in Afrikaans.

 

Is the target audience for this music still the rural Afrikaans population, or does it have any presence in the urban centres? I gather Die Klipwerf Boere Orkes have sold a lot of records nationwide.

It sounds very contemporary to me; if it's got 19c roots it's certainly not fossilised and it's acquired a lot of bluesey/jazzy stylings. I'd love to add Kalfie Waltz to my practice list; it would be interestingly different to everything else, but I suspect most of what he's doing is 'instant harmony' after playing this style for years (always?) and I'd have no hope without the notes. Great though. Sounds polyphonic at times..

[Henrik Müller]

Whoa! Fresh air!

 

/Henrik

[m3838]

Whoa! Fresh air!

 

/Henrik

 

Yea. The first one, the bald guy, is one of very very few players, who actually use gentle touch on the instrument, instead of ignoring the dynamics, like a proper concertina player should.

The question though, is the guy bald, or shaved?