The heyday of the Anglo-German concertina (1860s to World War I) coincided with a time when social dances in houses, barns, woolsheds and community halls were all the rage in working class urban and rural areas. Here are 172 archival recordings of 36 early concertina players performing schottisches, polkas, quadrilles, waltzes, barn dances, mazurkas, and varsovianas from Ireland, England, Australia and South Africa – plus more from modern players in the old octave style. The digital book explores such topics as:
Nineteenth century social dances
Global sources of the house dance repertoire
Old-style octave playing on the concertina
The banning of house dances in early twentieth century Ireland
Biographies and playing styles of early concertina players (with archival recordings)
Modern players in the old octave style (with recordings)
It also includes:
- A tutorial on octave playing (with recordings, walking you through playing in octaves and across the rows)
- A ‘resources’ page, giving details of the real and virtual information available on the subject.
- A discograpy of all the recordings used.
- The whole thing includes more than 150 photos and graphics, and more than 200 sound files in MP3 format.
The players are:
- Australia: Dooley Chapman, George Bennett, Con Klippel, Jim Harrison, Charlie Ordish, Fred Holland, Clem O’Neal, Susan Colley, Ernie James, Percy Yarnold.
- Ireland: Musicians of the house dance repertoire: Mary Ann Carolan, Ella Mae O’Dwyer, Katey Hourican, Terry Teahan, Stack Ryan, Jim Droney, Martin Howley. Musicians of the céilí dance era: Elizabeth Crotty, William Mullaly, Michael Doyle, Patrick Flanagan, Tom Barry.
- England: William Kimber, Scan Tester, Ellis Marshall, Fred Kilroy, Eric Holland, Bill Link.
- South Africa: Faan Harris, Chris Chomse, Kerrie Bornman, Hans Bodenstein, Willie Palm, Pietie Prinsloo, Silver de Lange.
- Modern players in the old style: Australia: Ian Simpson, Ray Simpson, Keith Klippel, Peter Ellis, Dave de Hugard. England: Will Duke, Dave Prebble, Harry Scurfield. Ireland: Sean O’Dwyer. South Africa: Stephaan van Zyl.
This fine CD-ROM is available now from the MT Records website . Price £12.00.