lisaniska
son of a lilter, jaws harp and box player, my family roots are in north Mayo with dad - Lisaniska (near Foxford) and mum - Tullnahoo (near Midfield) with more scattered in Mayo, Kildare, Dublin, Yorkshire, London, New York, Canada and Australia
. . . i'm one of the London Irish trad-heads whose seen a few heads, heard a few heads, drunk a few with a few heads and played with a few
''ah it's great crack . . . sure there's nothing to beat the crack . . . especially on the periphery of the crack''
Paul Gallagher (wooden flute and a great head and player) 1999
i love my mum and dad for a spendid (old cultural style) rearing and instilled 'love of music', then Tommy O'Sullivan showed me a revolutionary guitar tuning : CGCGCD (open C sus 2), after a music / drunken session nearly 30 years ago, which he claimed to of ''made up'', but either way, the 'harmonics' still blow me away to this day . . .
and ''influences'' have been dad with his early (Dunlop reel to reel) tapes and showing me how to play Miss McCloud's Reel on the organ (my first tune), then my first hippy guitar teacher, followed by Tony (in The Swinging Doors _ one of my dad's Irish showbands), Chet Atkins, Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore (in 'Deep Purple' _ the colour of heather which i seek to preserve, seriously), John Etheridge, Wizz Jones, David Byrne (in 2003 displaying precision 'less is more' on the electric) and Kelly Joe Phelps for sheer presence and passionate delivery _ already a seasoned master of his own style
All of these have made me think about my ''chosen'' more than i may of before or since . . .
and you know my 80-something dad says ''sure we're only passing the time and that's . . all . . there is to it''
John
Tunes in lisaniska's tunebook: 69