[Harp-L] Happy New Year

[Aongus Mac Cana]

I got my musical year off to a flying start with an unexpected invitation to
a house party on New Year's Day. Some of the cream of Irish Trad was in
attendance. Four button box players including an All Ireland Champion, the
current representatives of two Fiddling dynasties and an American lady from
New York who is a highly respected concert flute player. Add to this the
King of the Piano Accordion and a harpist granddaughter of a Clare fiddling
legend. In view of the company I was keeping I discreetly slipped my own
"concealed weapon" (a G Chromatic) back into my pocket. The whole session
was driven by Ireland's leading composer arranger on piano. With no playlist
or called tunes the assembly morphed on seamlessly from one lively tune to
the next for four hours. I could only describe it as the musical equivalent
of a murmuration of starlings and ask myself: How the heck can they do that?
And how can a domestic living room fit in all these musicians?

The very next day, TG4 ran a one hour documentary about Alan Lomax' 1951
trip around Ireland collecting Irish Traditional Music, which was the start
of his Columbia Masterworks series of LPs of World Music.  Apparently Lomax'
start in Ireland was precipitated by the fact that in the full rage of Mc
Carthyism, his slightly left of centre perspective on American folk music
was making things too hot for comfort back home. American Blues as well as
Irish Trad owes a debt to Alan Lomax.

Harpers all - regardless of genre let's make 2019 a special year for the
free reed.

Beannachtai

Aongus Mac Cana