Topic: NEWFOUNDLAND ACCORDION TUNES (Read 22106 times)

j-hart · « **on:** May 24, 2011, 04:03:35 AM »

Here is a small sample of some of the accordion music from here in Newfoundland!! want to know a few more drop me a message .

1.Mussels in the corner:played by the band shanneyganock. accordion player Mark Hiscock one of the greatest players to come from Newfoundland.

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

2.The Husky Reel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mFFPcXMxpA&feature=related

3.Ruby's Garden Jig

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agcgETf5rXA

4.The Star of logy Bay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV6Lq2rt2RI

patrickcavanagh · « **Reply #1 on:** May 24, 2011, 04:37:57 PM »

My favorite video of Newfoundland box playing:
Newfoundland Kitchen Party - Fogo Island
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXejSDUK0J4
The rhythm is just mighty!

j-hart · « **Reply #2 on:** May 24, 2011, 05:33:12 PM »

Any one that can play accordion from Fogo Island can pick it up and make the accordion talk. Sad to say though people that can play like that are passing on,and my generation just don't have the interest.

Hasse · « **Reply #3 on:** May 24, 2011, 07:18:14 PM »

Quote from: patrickcavanagh on May 24, 2011, 04:37:57 PM

My favorite video of Newfoundland box playing:
Newfoundland Kitchen Party - Fogo Island
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXejSDUK0J4
The rhythm is just mighty!

What a fantastic video! Just wonderful

Mick114 · « **Reply #4 on:** November 08, 2011, 05:53:27 PM »

Great stuff !!

sqwzboxstudent · « **Reply #5 on:** November 08, 2011, 07:15:09 PM »

one of my favourites is "rode up in a dory" - a cracking tune

Mick114 · « **Reply #6 on:** November 08, 2011, 08:11:00 PM »

While surfing for button vids I came upon these fellows . Seems to be a bid of a different style but man that guy is good.

http://youtu.be/jWPBM0w0d_8

sqwzboxstudent · « **Reply #7 on:** November 08, 2011, 10:34:06 PM »

they have some great stepdancers over there too!

OldDog · « **Reply #8 on:** November 08, 2011, 11:42:16 PM »

Hi,
The videos are great, but where can I find the sheet music or ABCs online?
Regards,
Paul N.
Tonawanda, NY

Matthew B · « **Reply #9 on:** November 09, 2011, 02:29:08 AM »

Paul,

Tracking down the sheet music for the Newfoundland tunes may be tricky. My experience is that these tunes are either old chestnuts, that can be found elsewhere (Geese in the Bog, Mexican Hat Dance, I'll Sing You One Oh, and so on) or they are local tunes that may never have been written down (Codroy Jig, Pushthrough Jig, MicMac Square Dance and so on). You have to learn them by ear. The elusive thing is the Newfoundland sound. That relentless drive, usually coming from some battered old Hohner something-or-other, with a thumping bass in the back, and hammering feet . . . nothing else like it.

Perhaps some of the folks from up that way can give you some more insight into how to do that part.

Terry?

nfldbox · « **Reply #10 on:** November 09, 2011, 03:09:39 AM »

You called?
The best source is O'Brien's, who have an online store, although I have never used it. At least at present the list of CD's is a bit hard to navigate but you can probably check out a number of the artists on Youtube or some such and see which of them fits your needs. If you want to ask something about an individual player one of us here can probably say a bit. For example, Buddy Wasisname is essentially a comedy act but Ray Johnson is a wonderful player and some of their albums showcase him well. O'Brien's has a good selection of some basic tune books by Kelly Russell and Christina Smith but they aren't listed in the online--at least I can't find them. You could email O'Brien's and ask.
This is the website: http://obriensmusic.com

nfldbox · « **Reply #11 on:** November 11, 2011, 04:36:51 PM »

A bit more. A fiddler friend said she has quite a few and could turn them into ABC's but her concern is rather representative: beyond the ones everyone knows, a lot of them "belong"--interpret that various ways--to traditional players who have neither recorded nor published them. Thus to print them some way that goes out to a general audience is inappropriate and unethical. On the other hand, if you hear them and then play them, well that is the tradition, no?
Here is the fiddler list, which is not extensive but will be added to:
http://nlfiddlers.org/?page_id=103
If you know the specific tune you want quite a few have been put on thesession.org. Someone who is in the process of putting a lot of the less obvious ones on youtube under "100newfoundlandtunes" can be seen at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcBgtFN6xl4

best to all
t

Matthew B · « **Reply #12 on:** November 11, 2011, 07:21:30 PM »

And that's about as good a justification as I can think of for a road trip up to Newfoundland.

Steve C. · « **Reply #13 on:** November 11, 2011, 09:50:57 PM »

Not sure where you are, but when we considered a "road trip" to Newfoundland this summer for the Folk Fest (we ended up flying) we were (should not have been) astounded that the distance to St. John from NC was about the same as from NC to Tahoe!

Pete Dunk · « **Reply #14 on:** November 11, 2011, 10:45:17 PM »

They're talking in foreign again aren't they?

Steve C. · « **Reply #15 on:** November 12, 2011, 01:58:54 PM »

translation into "English":

Trip from Hillsborough, North Carolina, US to St. John, Newfoundland, CA is FAR.

About the same as distance from home to Lake Tahoe, which is on the California/Nevada state line.

nfldbox · « **Reply #16 on:** November 12, 2011, 05:02:29 PM »

Sorry but I must say "St. John's" or as it is usually pronounced, "Sin Jawns."
And as to "foreign" St. John's is only foreign if you come from Mount Pearl.
Did any of you know that St. John's has a suburb called "Paradise"--sadly it isn't--and not too far away is a place called "Mahers", pronounced as in the god of war?
How is that for foreign?
t

Steve C. · « **Reply #17 on:** November 13, 2011, 02:39:27 PM »

Oops. Obviously another "foreigner".

Matthew B · « **Reply #18 on:** November 14, 2011, 05:45:00 PM »

I'm up in Maine, and it's a day and a half to drive, plus the ferry ride. It's a pretty ride, along the Airline up through New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and then over to Argentia. I spent a few weeks kicking around up there in the late nineties. Great place, and button boxes everywhere. At that time I had no idea that there was such a strong tradition in Newfoundland, and I stopped into O'Brian's on a completely different mission --- I was trying to find some decent epoxy to fix a busted kayak. Gord O'Brian spent two hours on the 'phone tracking down what I needed ("Got a couple of boys here from out of the Province, needing some help with waterproof glue . . ."). While I was there I pulled a box off the shelf, and we swapped some tunes. Gord told me "The button accordion is the National Instrument of Newfoundland", and so it turned out to be . . . there's one in every bar, and most of the homes, from what I could see.

Mick114 · « **Reply #19 on:** November 15, 2011, 03:03:15 PM »

Quote from: OldDog on November 08, 2011, 11:42:16 PM

Hi,
The videos are great, but where can I find the sheet music or ABCs online?
Regards,
Paul N.
Tonawanda, NY

Hey Paul....Not sure if this info is what your looking for but I'll post anyways. Check out http://www.accordions4u.com/ ( hope it ok to post a link on here) . This fellow offers a series of learning books ( he's in Newfoundland) and I'm using one of his books to learn the accordion. I got the entry level lesson but on his site he offers alot of Newfie tunes in a selection of books you can order 0nline. It's not sheet music but he has the tunes as button positions.............Mike

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Author Topic: NEWFOUNDLAND ACCORDION TUNES (Read 22106 times)