Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
There's been many over the years.Planxty with Paul Brady singing The Lakes Of Pontchatrain at Cambridge in 1973 or 1974.Joe Burke dazzling us with his version of The Shaskeen Hornpipe at the Gooik festival.The Albion Band with their version of Babylon Has Fallen.Dave Swarbrick roaring through a set of reels and holding a conversation with Martin Carthy at the same time.
Re: Worst pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Funny thing! if there's one tune I hate more than any other on the planet it's that feckin annoying - 'Music for a found Harmonium' - a more gimmicky, soulless piece of musical drivel I have yet to encounter.
However, as loads of folk seem to love that tune I guess I am in a minorty of one on this issue........or, maybe not.....?...............
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Being a young man of 25 years, the best i've seen so far was planxty and christy singing little musgrave at vicar st.
Anytime al o'donnell plays, im bedazzled too. Especially by his song, Westmoreland Jane.
Trad wise, last sunday in vicar st was quite amazing. A Tribute to John Breen, with gerry o'connor, scullion, triona ni dhomnaill, and also john mcsherry, donal o'connor tony byrne and some other piper and i can't think of his name as at first light. Spectacular
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
So many to choose from but Dick Gaughan singing anything live is hard to beat. Hang on a minute... It could be me bould self singin Hard Travelin' in Fitzgeralds Hotel, Bundoran in 1977. I've lost count of the number of people who say they were there that night!!!!!!!!
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
I heard The Cheiftains down at Flamore Waterford I believe around 93 and they were totally amazing, they played loads of types of music and of course were great crack, as well.
Just by the by...
I once heard a whistle player in Milltown who was just 'out there' he was so good John Mc Sherry the piper just stared at him and was left not knowing what to play when he'd finished!
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Ahhh Murfbox & Johnboy, you have made an old man very happy, this day. I used to feel all alone in the world!
At present, I am actually hatching a scheme to destroy every Harmonium on the planet, in the hope that if there are no more Harmoniums, people will finally forget about this inane tune, once & for all!
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
I'm not that hot for the tune but their live set without it seems like somethings missing at the end. Its got good key changes and thats what catches my ear.
Let's not step into the arena of "What I like has to be better than what you like" it is so so infant playground material and boring. I started this thread on whats your favourite ??? Positive +
We could all sit here all day proving we've seen better saying joe burkes bucks of boringmore is overdone and tacky as is Finbar Furey's lonesome boatman John Sheehans San Maino waltz etc etc but you have to remember what made them popular at gigs in the first place. What some folk love others may hate.
I'll start a new thread on worst pieces of music............ and everyone can rant that they have only been to top quality gigs and what their favourite pieces of music are . Because thats how it works isn't it ? It has to be a N.I. thing to just contradict for the sake of it, what is that ??? I have never understood it.
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
As for the semtex shelve it back up yer crack with a 20m cable connected and I'll touch the - and + off a battery at a safe distance and watch th first man from ulster to go to the moon
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
....em 21061 you obviously don't understand the principal of the 'hijack'! If you went off & started a 'Worst Pieces of Music', I'd just have to tell you what I did like!
But seriously, I think of these threads more as conversations which, like any good conversation, can meander off & then back on topic again.
I personally think folks here are smart enough to cope with a few meanders along the way. Some of the best fun I've seen here has been when a thread went a little pear shaped.
Course if you are using this thread as the basis of your thesis or doctorate I guess we had better behave ourselves, but then, do we get paid for our contributions?
Oh, & just for the record, one of my all-time favourite musical moments was a street session in Buncrana 25 years ago, with Ciaran Kelly & co playing 'Australian Waters' - a magic moment. My first live experience of the wonderful C#/D Box.
Prefer to be in amongst the music rather than sitting staring at it myself. Although if you pressed me I'd say, the whole De Dannan concert in Dundee around 1977/78.
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
If you hear why and how "Music for a Found Harmonium" doesn't seem so bad. But it's not ITM.
I'm with Dafyydd ( sp ? ) it's got to be something from the early '70s', I'd rate a Boys of the Lough gig, or something from Planxty, one's youthful experiences are always so much more intense ( sigh ).
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
I think 21061 knows what a hijack is, and in fact, seems to be Macthewife under a new name.
Add me to the list of folks who wished the Harmonium was never Found, I think I am number 5.
Best live tunes, I am not sure of, as I don't generally know the names of tunes that I don't know myself. But seeing Solas for the first time at the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA, back in the 80s, and seeing La Bottine Souriante at the Rhythm and Roots festival in RI in about 2003 have to rank high on the list of great live performances.
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
You might laugh...Golden Stud, Stockton's Wing circa 1983 at Milwaukee Irish Fest. After that, some excellent performances by Altan with Frankie; Trian; Patrick Street's first tour; James Kelly and Daithi in Madison; Martin Hayes, John Williams and Dean Magraw. Wait, can't forget Niamh Parsons singing in the Basilica with Arcady, or Nicolas Quemenar's Breton song. Then there was the time DeDannan joined the Chieftan's onstage at Milwaukee. Or sitting a few feet from Tommy Peoples for a solo concert. Or James Kelly when Nicolas Q sat in. Or Paddy Glackin with guests Paul O'Shaughnessy and Paul McGrattan when Robbie had his appendix out. I'm sure that I am forgetting some.
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Well, I think asking about the best performance you've seen is like asking what's the best bottle of beer, or wine, or whiskey you've ever drank. That wrinkles my forehead!
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
21061, I didn't mean that all performances sound alike. It's just that the energy and immediacy of live music (and theater) are very moving, and there seems to be little gems that I carry away from nearly all of these events.
I am very lucky in that I live in an area that sees a lot of great musicians passing through. But it's hard to say what was the best.
Harmonium? I just find it to be a tad annoying. It reminds me of some of the Wohlfahrt studies my teacher made me play when I started fiddle. Totally subjective. I'm sure I love some tunes that drive other people mad. (I played Trip to Pakistan at the drop of a hat for a while, and I know that one encourages homicidal tendencies.)
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
I'm a lot fonder of Harmonium since I heard John Williams set fire to it. WOW.
I had a great-uncle named 20161 -are you sure we're not related?
Oh, yeah the topic: Robin Williamson and his Merry Band doing "These Islands Green" or "The Poaching Song" . Any closing by the Batlefield Band.
In the category of best performance by combined foriegn folk solo acts: Gilles Chabenat ("the guy that wrote 'Crested Hens'") and Patrick Bouffard playing an unamed french scottish that everybody knows anyway (read: "trite"). It was like turning on the toob and threre's some little neighbor girl you haven't seen in 10 years appearing in Miss Universe. It was like a volcano blowing in yr back yard. They were trading licks: The leads were impressive, the backups were incredible the bits where they harmonized were impossible. Just thinking about it instills a sense of reverence.
I only mention because of the word "folk" . My head was seriously folked for a long time after that.
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Woo ! Hoo! Owell
At last someone else who like Robin Williamson. I saw him with his Merry Band (and a great band they were too) at the Brillig Arts Centre in Bath in 1978 and it was probably the best live gig I ever saw, although the McGarrigles at Colston Hall (Bristol) in 76 or 77 might run it close. Bully Wee and the Tannhills were good too. Happy days.
Of late I don't get to see many bands as I'm usually out playing.
I like Music for a found harmonium. It's not ITM but it is quirky and catchy and I don't mind owning up to the fact that I enjoy it
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Owell & Geoff, re: Robin Williamson - here are a couple of quotes from a footstompin thread which you might enjoy:
“I was also fortunate in being introduced to the Crown Folk Club in 1962, held once a week in the Crown Bar in Bristo Street, Edinburgh.
The club was run by Archie Fisher and regular floor singers included Robin Williamson and Clive Palmer (who weren't really felt to be up to much at the time!).
Regular guests included Hamish Imlach, The Corrie Folk Trio and Paddie Bell, Matt McGinn, Wee Wattie, Bert Jansch, and even on one memorable occasion The Dubliners.”
&
"I used to think Roy and Robin Williamson were related .... I think I was mistaken..."
“Yes, you are, but you might be forgiven.
There's actually a Corries LP on which the sleeve notes state that they were brothers.
You would think that someone would have checked!”
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Interestingly enough, I recently found a harmonium. Not that it was really lost – it was in a small shop in the small town where I live – but it was in the floor and I didn’t notice it until I nearly tripped over it on the way out.
“Holy cow! It’s a harmonium!” I exclaimed.
“I can’t believe you know what it is,” replied the proprietor.
“An ITM fan has to know these things,” says I.
And that’s a true story. Except for the last line, which occurred to me only after I was out the door and on the way home.
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Aye Bob, how often does that happen, we think of a great one-liner, on our way home after the event!
Anyway, truth is I have an old Harmonium in the corner of this room, as I write, with the stamp from an old Aberdeen shop above the keys, & also a 'Drone Box' on a chair behind me.
OK so I have two Harmonii () - doesn't mean I gotta like that infernal tune though!
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
I hate that tune and that link above makes me positively suicidal. But I did see 'A Feast of Fiddles' recently and thinking of that and listening to the cd makes me happy to be alive. The biggest highlight [there were so many] was Peter Knight [of Steeleyespan] playing an improvised piece inspired by the setting of Pacific Rd Birkenhead, just a few yards from the river, I closed my eyes and thought of the great River Mersey just down the way from us and it all made perfect sense I will never forget that experience.
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
!990s line up of Battlefield Band doing Land of a Thousand dances at a pub concert. The shift from scottish dance to Beatles to stage Scots to rap seemed perfect for the night and the mixed taste crowd.
La Bottine Souriante. Dunno what it was called. But impressive.
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Definitely these:
- The Bothy Band at Durham Folk Fest. in 1976, playing their "Kid On The Mountain" set - thrilling, especially the "Kid" tune itself;
- De Danann with Mary Black at Newcastle Guildhall, 1983, especially when they combined on Mary's songs;
- Phil Cunningham playing "The Wee Man From Skye" as an accordion solo during a Silly Wizard concert in Durham Town Hall in the 1980's;
- Battlefield Band members Ged Foley (Northumbrian pipes) and Duncan McGillivray (guitar) playing "The Keelman Ower The Land", maybe with others joining in, at the end of a set at a gig in Durham, 1980's.
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
- and I agree entirely with Ptarmigan about that "Found Harmonium" tune.
Whenever I've heard it played on record or live, I've just hunched up and waited for it to stop. It reminds me a bit of that reel ("The Four Courts"?)
which starts in D, goes to G, then A, then high D and then down a kind of spiral staircase to begin again, and so ad infinitum. I don't care for that one either.
"FH" may have aspired to the kind of manic exhilaration that Penguin Cafe actually achieved...
Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
I always liked
Four men and a dog's, new found harmonium
Hungry grass doing the parting glass
Christie Moore, cliffs of donneen
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Ripthecalico
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Dermot Byrne going into some beautiful D reel in the John Doherty's reel set with Altan - one of the best trad Irish gig moments ever.
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by katiebee
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
There's been many over the years.Planxty with Paul Brady singing The Lakes Of Pontchatrain at Cambridge in 1973 or 1974.Joe Burke dazzling us with his version of The Shaskeen Hornpipe at the Gooik festival.The Albion Band with their version of Babylon Has Fallen.Dave Swarbrick roaring through a set of reels and holding a conversation with Martin Carthy at the same time.
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by dafydd
Re: Worst pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Funny thing! if there's one tune I hate more than any other on the planet it's that feckin annoying - 'Music for a found Harmonium' - a more gimmicky, soulless piece of musical drivel I have yet to encounter.
However, as loads of folk seem to love that tune I guess I am in a minorty of one on this issue........or, maybe not.....?...............
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Ptarmigan
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Being a young man of 25 years, the best i've seen so far was planxty and christy singing little musgrave at vicar st.
Anytime al o'donnell plays, im bedazzled too. Especially by his song, Westmoreland Jane.
Trad wise, last sunday in vicar st was quite amazing. A Tribute to John Breen, with gerry o'connor, scullion, triona ni dhomnaill, and also john mcsherry, donal o'connor tony byrne and some other piper and i can't think of his name as at first light. Spectacular
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by copo24
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
This:
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/1767
also Cara Dillon singing "Sweet King Williamstown".
Finbar Furey playing "Lament For Oliver Goldsmith" - Thurso Folk Festival 1977.
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Kenny
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
So many to choose from but Dick Gaughan singing anything live is hard to beat. Hang on a minute... It could be me bould self singin Hard Travelin' in Fitzgeralds Hotel, Bundoran in 1977. I've lost count of the number of people who say they were there that night!!!!!!!!
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by strayaway
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
No, Ptarmi, you´re not. Make it two !
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by murfbox
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
I havn't been to many concerts but Andy Irvine singing "The Blacksmith with planxty at Christmas 04 was something else.
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by PaddyCmusic
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Lúnasa playin the morning nitecap set
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by double bass
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Am ....ptarmi.three!!
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by johnboy
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Make that 4.
The big band version of "La Bottine Souriante" singing "Je voudrai changer d' chapeau" at the Pontardawe Festival in the early 80's.
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Ian Stevenson
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
great Martin Hayes playing Port Na Pbucai
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by fiddlemax
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
I heard The Cheiftains down at Flamore Waterford I believe around 93 and they were totally amazing, they played loads of types of music and of course were great crack, as well.
Just by the by...
I once heard a whistle player in Milltown who was just 'out there' he was so good John Mc Sherry the piper just stared at him and was left not knowing what to play when he'd finished!
K
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Kess
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Ahhh Murfbox & Johnboy, you have made an old man very happy, this day. I used to feel all alone in the world!
At present, I am actually hatching a scheme to destroy every Harmonium on the planet, in the hope that if there are no more Harmoniums, people will finally forget about this inane tune, once & for all!
Are you with me?
I'll supply the Semtex!
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Ptarmigan
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
I'm not that hot for the tune but their live set without it seems like somethings missing at the end. Its got good key changes and thats what catches my ear.
Let's not step into the arena of "What I like has to be better than what you like" it is so so infant playground material and boring. I started this thread on whats your favourite ??? Positive +
We could all sit here all day proving we've seen better saying joe burkes bucks of boringmore is overdone and tacky as is Finbar Furey's lonesome boatman John Sheehans San Maino waltz etc etc but you have to remember what made them popular at gigs in the first place. What some folk love others may hate.
I'll start a new thread on worst pieces of music............ and everyone can rant that they have only been to top quality gigs and what their favourite pieces of music are . Because thats how it works isn't it ? It has to be a N.I. thing to just contradict for the sake of it, what is that ??? I have never understood it.
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Ripthecalico
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Humble apologies Ian, didn't spot you there. Welcome aboard, ..... Yarrr me hearty & shiver me timbers!
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Ptarmigan
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
As for the semtex shelve it back up yer crack with a 20m cable connected and I'll touch the - and + off a battery at a safe distance and watch th first man from ulster to go to the moon
Are you with me ?
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Ripthecalico
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Ok Gerry, no prob we'll have that bottle of black bush and dob eachother in to the P.S.N.I. for driving under the influence.
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Ripthecalico
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
....em 21061 you obviously don't understand the principal of the 'hijack'! If you went off & started a 'Worst Pieces of Music', I'd just have to tell you what I did like!
But seriously, I think of these threads more as conversations which, like any good conversation, can meander off & then back on topic again.
I personally think folks here are smart enough to cope with a few meanders along the way. Some of the best fun I've seen here has been when a thread went a little pear shaped.
Course if you are using this thread as the basis of your thesis or doctorate I guess we had better behave ourselves, but then, do we get paid for our contributions?
Oh, & just for the record, one of my all-time favourite musical moments was a street session in Buncrana 25 years ago, with Ciaran Kelly & co playing 'Australian Waters' - a magic moment. My first live experience of the wonderful C#/D Box.
Prefer to be in amongst the music rather than sitting staring at it myself. Although if you pressed me I'd say, the whole De Dannan concert in Dundee around 1977/78.
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Ptarmigan
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
If you hear why and how "Music for a Found Harmonium" doesn't seem so bad. But it's not ITM.
I'm with Dafyydd ( sp ? ) it's got to be something from the early '70s', I'd rate a Boys of the Lough gig, or something from Planxty, one's youthful experiences are always so much more intense ( sigh ).
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Hey 21061 - "I'll touch the - and + off" - No way Man, I'm not letting the likes of you touch my - 'and + off'!
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Ptarmigan
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Aye there's the rub Guernsey, it sure as heck ain't ITM but just what in the name of bejaysus is it?
Where would you file it in a Virgin store?
Under Miscellaneous? [ i.e. dross. ]
Ah, Boys of the Lough, now yer talkin'.
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Ptarmigan
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
I think 21061 knows what a hijack is, and in fact, seems to be Macthewife under a new name.
Add me to the list of folks who wished the Harmonium was never Found, I think I am number 5.
Best live tunes, I am not sure of, as I don't generally know the names of tunes that I don't know myself. But seeing Solas for the first time at the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA, back in the 80s, and seeing La Bottine Souriante at the Rhythm and Roots festival in RI in about 2003 have to rank high on the list of great live performances.
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by AlBrown
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Good Man Al! - 'The Famous Five' - weren't they some kind of super heroes? If so, maybe we won't need that Semtex after all!
Macthewife eh? OK, so this is more of a hi-Jacqueline then!
Sorry guys, have to go to work now, can someone keep count? Ta.
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Ptarmigan
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
You might laugh...Golden Stud, Stockton's Wing circa 1983 at Milwaukee Irish Fest. After that, some excellent performances by Altan with Frankie; Trian; Patrick Street's first tour; James Kelly and Daithi in Madison; Martin Hayes, John Williams and Dean Magraw. Wait, can't forget Niamh Parsons singing in the Basilica with Arcady, or Nicolas Quemenar's Breton song. Then there was the time DeDannan joined the Chieftan's onstage at Milwaukee. Or sitting a few feet from Tommy Peoples for a solo concert. Or James Kelly when Nicolas Q sat in. Or Paddy Glackin with guests Paul O'Shaughnessy and Paul McGrattan when Robbie had his appendix out. I'm sure that I am forgetting some.
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Jode
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Well, I think asking about the best performance you've seen is like asking what's the best bottle of beer, or wine, or whiskey you've ever drank. That wrinkles my forehead!
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by rainog
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
hey ptarmigan do you remember the big bang in the late 1980's
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Ripthecalico
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
I saw Cathal McConnell dancing off the stage in the Wrigley Sister's gig around 4 years ago in Edinburgh. That was fantastisch!
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by slainte
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
You hit the nail on the head, rainog. Maybe the best reply is "The last one." Hard to say....
Take an axe to the Harmonium. Sorry, 21061; and I like Penguin Cafe.....
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Batlady
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Well, y’uns are a bunch of reactionary boneheads! (
) I like Found Harmonium and I don’t care who knows it.
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Bob himself
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Bobi has come out of the Harmonium closet. (Gasp*)
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Batlady
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Thats a bit like saying every performance is the same, not quite right
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Ripthecalico
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
digress what dont u like about it ?
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Ripthecalico
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
......... erm, I don’t wish to alarm anyone, but check it out here, where da dreaded toon is classed in with the “Best of Irish Fiddle Tunes”!
Arrrg
see:
"4. Headed for home; Tune for a found harmonium
Best of Irish Fiddle Tunes
European Music • Irish music"
http://www.audiosparx.com/sa/artist/sounds.cfm/artist_iid.1548
In case anyone hasn’t heard this nonsense before, here’s a cool version!? I think Les Dawson had a hand in this recording!
http://www.musedit.com/med/InstrFeatures/Banjo/FoundHarmonium.mid
# Posted on May 18th 2006 by Ptarmigan
Re: Worst piece of music you have heard on a Harmonium?
Glad you found us Batlady - at this harmonious 'Bring your own Axe' party!
# Posted on May 18th 2006 by Ptarmigan
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
I love one of the solos Ciaran Curran does with Altan, I don't know the tune, but it's so amazing!
I don't like the Harmonium either. It was even in Napoleon Dynamite.
# Posted on May 18th 2006 by m
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
21061, I didn't mean that all performances sound alike. It's just that the energy and immediacy of live music (and theater) are very moving, and there seems to be little gems that I carry away from nearly all of these events.
I am very lucky in that I live in an area that sees a lot of great musicians passing through. But it's hard to say what was the best.
Harmonium? I just find it to be a tad annoying. It reminds me of some of the Wohlfahrt studies my teacher made me play when I started fiddle. Totally subjective. I'm sure I love some tunes that drive other people mad. (I played Trip to Pakistan at the drop of a hat for a while, and I know that one encourages homicidal tendencies.)
# Posted on May 18th 2006 by Batlady
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
I'm a lot fonder of Harmonium since I heard John Williams set fire to it. WOW.
I had a great-uncle named 20161 -are you sure we're not related?
Oh, yeah the topic: Robin Williamson and his Merry Band doing "These Islands Green" or "The Poaching Song" . Any closing by the Batlefield Band.
In the category of best performance by combined foriegn folk solo acts: Gilles Chabenat ("the guy that wrote 'Crested Hens'") and Patrick Bouffard playing an unamed french scottish that everybody knows anyway (read: "trite"). It was like turning on the toob and threre's some little neighbor girl you haven't seen in 10 years appearing in Miss Universe. It was like a volcano blowing in yr back yard. They were trading licks: The leads were impressive, the backups were incredible the bits where they harmonized were impossible. Just thinking about it instills a sense of reverence.
I only mention because of the word "folk" . My head was seriously folked for a long time after that.
# Posted on May 18th 2006 by Owell Mabee
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Woo ! Hoo! Owell
At last someone else who like Robin Williamson. I saw him with his Merry Band (and a great band they were too) at the Brillig Arts Centre in Bath in 1978 and it was probably the best live gig I ever saw, although the McGarrigles at Colston Hall (Bristol) in 76 or 77 might run it close. Bully Wee and the Tannhills were good too. Happy days.
Of late I don't get to see many bands as I'm usually out playing.
I like Music for a found harmonium. It's not ITM but it is quirky and catchy and I don't mind owning up to the fact that I enjoy it
# Posted on May 18th 2006 by Geoff Pollitt
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Oops! Tannahills! (Tannahill Weavers).
# Posted on May 18th 2006 by Geoff Pollitt
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Owell & Geoff, re: Robin Williamson - here are a couple of quotes from a footstompin thread which you might enjoy:
“I was also fortunate in being introduced to the Crown Folk Club in 1962, held once a week in the Crown Bar in Bristo Street, Edinburgh.
The club was run by Archie Fisher and regular floor singers included Robin Williamson and Clive Palmer (who weren't really felt to be up to much at the time!).
Regular guests included Hamish Imlach, The Corrie Folk Trio and Paddie Bell, Matt McGinn, Wee Wattie, Bert Jansch, and even on one memorable occasion The Dubliners.”
&
"I used to think Roy and Robin Williamson were related .... I think I was mistaken..."
“Yes, you are, but you might be forgiven.
There's actually a Corries LP on which the sleeve notes state that they were brothers.
You would think that someone would have checked!”
# Posted on May 18th 2006 by Ptarmigan
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Interestingly enough, I recently found a harmonium. Not that it was really lost – it was in a small shop in the small town where I live – but it was in the floor and I didn’t notice it until I nearly tripped over it on the way out.
“Holy cow! It’s a harmonium!” I exclaimed.
“I can’t believe you know what it is,” replied the proprietor.
“An ITM fan has to know these things,” says I.
And that’s a true story. Except for the last line, which occurred to me only after I was out the door and on the way home.
# Posted on May 18th 2006 by Bob himself
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Aye Bob, how often does that happen, we think of a great one-liner, on our way home after the event!
Anyway, truth is I have an old Harmonium in the corner of this room, as I write, with the stamp from an old Aberdeen shop above the keys, & also a 'Drone Box' on a chair behind me.
OK so I have two Harmonii (
) - doesn't mean I gotta like that infernal tune though!
# Posted on May 18th 2006 by Ptarmigan
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
I hate that tune and that link above makes me positively suicidal. But I did see 'A Feast of Fiddles' recently and thinking of that and listening to the cd makes me happy to be alive. The biggest highlight [there were so many] was Peter Knight [of Steeleyespan] playing an improvised piece inspired by the setting of Pacific Rd Birkenhead, just a few yards from the river, I closed my eyes and thought of the great River Mersey just down the way from us and it all made perfect sense I will never forget that experience.
# Posted on May 18th 2006 by flossie
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
!990s line up of Battlefield Band doing Land of a Thousand dances at a pub concert. The shift from scottish dance to Beatles to stage Scots to rap seemed perfect for the night and the mixed taste crowd.
La Bottine Souriante. Dunno what it was called. But impressive.
# Posted on May 19th 2006 by _________
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
Definitely these:
- The Bothy Band at Durham Folk Fest. in 1976, playing their "Kid On The Mountain" set - thrilling, especially the "Kid" tune itself;
- De Danann with Mary Black at Newcastle Guildhall, 1983, especially when they combined on Mary's songs;
- Phil Cunningham playing "The Wee Man From Skye" as an accordion solo during a Silly Wizard concert in Durham Town Hall in the 1980's;
- Battlefield Band members Ged Foley (Northumbrian pipes) and Duncan McGillivray (guitar) playing "The Keelman Ower The Land", maybe with others joining in, at the end of a set at a gig in Durham, 1980's.
# Posted on July 31st 2006 by nicholas
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
- and I agree entirely with Ptarmigan about that "Found Harmonium" tune.
Whenever I've heard it played on record or live, I've just hunched up and waited for it to stop. It reminds me a bit of that reel ("The Four Courts"?)
which starts in D, goes to G, then A, then high D and then down a kind of spiral staircase to begin again, and so ad infinitum. I don't care for that one either.
"FH" may have aspired to the kind of manic exhilaration that Penguin Cafe actually achieved...
# Posted on July 31st 2006 by nicholas
Re: Best pieces of music you have heard in concert from a folk band
( I've just read on another thread that Music For A Found Harmonium was actually BY the Penguin Cafe Orchestra - oh dear...! )
# Posted on August 1st 2006 by nicholas