An Unpredictable Day

The day started off routinely, I cycled to the boat intending to clean the inside ready for painting. I checked it for water in the bilges. There was quite a bit of water but it was fresh water it was not from the sea, I have no idea where it is coming in from. I played flute for a short while, made a coffee... Then my friend and his 2 children came over and the kids climbed on board and came in the cabin. They were asking a lot of questions about the boat and they had never been on board a cabin boat before. They asked questions about sailing and other nautical things "how do you know what 3 knots is?" errrrrrrrr! I did not do any painting as the tide rushed in and as I was closing up the cockpit and preparing to leave my friend started talking to me about his new love in his life. We headed back to the shore and went for a walk around the village. As I was leaving I realised I had left my bike bag on the boat with all my tools, phone etc lying in the cockpit. I thought to leave it until another day but it could get stolen or I could have a puncture and walk home. So I decided to wait until the tide went out. I calculated it would be out about 7pm, it was 3pm when I realised so a long wait was in store. I laid down and watched the sky pass above me, but it was cold the wind was blowing the clouds by, so I got on my bike and headed out past Bowness along a small road along the salt marshes. I had not biked along that road for decades and it was lovely, quiet and windblown. I headed back to the boat but the tide was still coming in. I cycled in the opposite direction and walked for a bit by the shore, getting chilled as the wind got stronger. I cycled back and then I cycled again towards Bowness. It was getting dark when I reached the boat again and there was my friend waiting in his car. He had come back with a flask of coffee and prepared to wait it out with me. We had a nice chat and as 7pm approached he drove off leaving me to wade out to the boat in freezing water in the darkness. I took off my shoes and the icy water went above the knees and they went numb. I got my bag and returned and realised I had forgotten my phone so back I went this time inside the cabin searching in the darkness for my phone. Luckily I noticed some beach shoes in the cabin and wore them so no stub my frozen toes on the rocks. As I jumped down from the boat my sole of the beach shoe went through a spike that was in a fishing weight on the sea floor. If I did not have the shoes on I would have had a 4cm spike through my foot, as it hit the sole it bent and missed my heel by millimetres. Then I cycled home without lights on my bike, when a car came towards me I used my mobile phone light as a lamp light. I got home about 8.30pm.

Pipes, Concertina and Boat.

I have been back from Madrid now for 4 days and I have busy with one thing and another.

Monday i went to the boat to check on her, she was fine, the strong winds had blown off a section of tarp and i tied it down with more ropes as the strong winds are not finished yet and bailed a little water out from the bilges. I brought the seat covers home to be cleaned.

I tired busking in Carlisle from 4pm until 6pm tuesday and wednesday, but it was slow. It is a time i normally do not play, but since i was going to be in town in the evenings i thought i would give it a try, anyways it is good for practising if nothing else.

Thursday, I played some European melodies on the concertina: Galician, French and Swedish in preparation for a practise next week with the harpist. Later, I got the Border pipes out and practised for tomorrow's session in Langholm with 2 other Border pipers. The melodies are long, and I am out of practise with the runs and keeping the instrument steady, but they sounded good and relatively in tune to concert pitch "A"...amazing. I mended the strap on my bellows to make it more secure, as it has a habit of coming off in mid-tune. Played more in the evening until my ears rang!

Spanish Gaita and Uilleann Pipes

The Irish music session at Taberna Elisa last night was even better than last week with tunes coming fast and furious and with a lot more energy. An addition of an fiddler and a guitarist who also played button accordion made a fuller sound. Pennie whistles were brought out to play along with the flutes. What attracted my attention was a man who played one of these whistles also took out a Galician gaita/bagpipe and played along with the Irish melodies. I had seen this man before at the Spanish Jam session on a Friday night, and I had meant to ask him about his pipes. They were in the key of D/Re which is perhaps is unusual as most of the gaita players play in the key of C/Do. The chanter was smaller than the C chanters in fact the over all bagpipe was smaller to what I had seen before and higher in pitch. With this smaller chanter he could over blow into the 2nd octave and achieve a larger range of notes that the C chanter could not get (an extra 4), reaching a top C/Do so it would fit quite well with Irish melodies, also it had the European open fingering technique so it was fully chromatic within 2 octaves, quite a versatile instrument. His drone arrangement was standard: one D/Re bass drone over his shoulder and a smaller tenor drone across his chest also in D/Re. What was unusual was he would remove the top end of the drone and this would give him a drone sound in E/Mi so he could play melodies with a drone accompaniment in E minor/major. He has a excellent mastery over the instrument and played Irish melodies with the Uilleann piper. This video proves it:

Taberna Elisa: Bluegrass Jam Session

I have attended over the past weeks various events at the bar "Taberna Elisa" in down-town Madrid and i have enjoyed all of them. They must get 100s if not 1000s of people in through their doors and yet they are always welcoming and have, in my opinion, a good attitude to music and musicians. It is a unique place as i think about it. As The Clash once said "you just plug in and play" and in a way it is what happens at Elisa. In the various rooms/basements strains of various instruments: Highland bagpipes, gaitas, guitars, tambourines, flutes...filter through the Bluegrass, Spanish, Breton, Irish...CD recordings behind the bar. The concerts are always well attended and have a great relaxed atmosphere, friendly and one is able to meet people, dance, jump up and down...join in with the music. The session nights have excellent musicians and, to me it shows the ability of Spanish musicality. They have gotten behind the musical notation (if that is what they use) and adopted their chosen musical style whether it be Irish, Breton, USA....with feeling, style and good technique. For me personally, I love the gaita, and I have enjoyed listening to the pipes there, the flauta y tamboril (pipe and tabor) come a close second but there is a variety and I have learn a lot. I hope these videos from Taberna Elisa show a little of what I mean.
This video is of the Bluegrass session held on a sunday night, audience participation is welcome and in the close proximity of performer and audience it is easy to get into the evenings music.
The video is of a song I use to play in my own band, an old Bluegrass favorite called "Salty Dog Blues".


This next video is the version of "Salty Dog Blues" we played in the group as you can see it was a little different! It was recorded in London, my group was called "The Virginia Vagabonds". We were formed in August 1988, a meeting of two 3 piece bands busking in Amsterdam´s Leidseplein. The two bands, ´The Lonesome Pump Attendants´ from Carlisle and the ´Cottonpickers´ from south London fused to become The Virginia Vagabonds consisting of 2 banjos, 2 guitars, a double bass and a fiddle. The following five and a half months we played over 60 gigs in clubs, colleges and pubs in and around London. We disbanded in 1989. This video represents us towards the end of our career. R.I.P.

Spanish Jam Session (29.01.11)

It was my first time back in Madrid for some time. We decided to go to Taberna Elisa for a firday night out to see what the Spanish Jam session was like. i had forgotten the good atmosphere from the place, beautiful old pub with photos on the walls of the musicians who had played there. Tonight was a mixture of Spanish music and Celtic melodies, all done with a Spanish accent. In the back room there clustered around the walls were some of the musicians warming up, we asked if this is where the music would be, thinking it was a little too small and cramped to let all who wanted to see enjoy the music, but we were told that when they felt like it they would come on stage. Impromptu sessions like this always seemed to spring up often when the main act was on stage! Tonight there was guitars, Galician bagpipes/gaita, percussion with a good atmosphere. An Italian man got up to sing a few Irish songs, and another man got up on guitar to sing Irish songs and play on his guitar with the backing of the Spanish session musicians. It was all un-amplified, fine for the musicians but the vocals needed a little help.

Martina Quiere Bailar (Martina Wants to Dance)

(5.2.11) As the band came on stage the audience came in and it filled up nicely, the band consisted of 2 violins fronting the stage and to the rear an accordionist and a guitarist. The accordionist was from Italy and he had some of his Italian supporters in the audience one of them being a tambourine player who hit hell out of his tambourine later on in the night as he joint the group on stage for a number, beating out a rhythm that made his thumb bleed. The rest of the group were Spanish and the mixture of nationalities blended nicely as did their melodies, rhythms and presence on stage. They were not static, especially the 2 female violinists who played their music intertwining their melodies and harmonies with each other, as well as their body movements. As the tune progressed all four of them seem to come together and dance and sway often forgetting that an audience existed. The audience did exist and Martina and many others did dance! This music was made for dancing and I got enjoyment in watching the audience, sometimes set dances other times excited leaping up and down always with couples and the slower tunes were met with intimate close contact dancing. Their melodies lasted a lot longer than the average 3 minutes, melodies were repeated 3-4 times to let the dancers enjoy the rhythms and to let them get into the swing. This could have been boring to the non-participants but it was not so bad as the on-stage movement made the performance enjoyable and watching the dancing made up for any musical repetitions.

Andaraje Concert

(4.2.11) A short walk from Alcobendas (Madrid/Spain) to the next area of San Sebastian Los Reyes, where the lesser known bull racing takes place each year in august on the streets. We were there to attend a concert of traditional choral music sung by the group "Andaraje" a 5 piece ensemble who sing religious and folkloric songs from the southern areas of Spain, Andalusia and Murcia. The event took place in the Ethnographic museum of El Caseron which holds musical events every friday nights at 7.30pm. We have been there a few times to see various groups and it is not only a concert but made for instruction also so there is a rapport between group and audience introducing them to style of music many are not familiar with or have forgotten.
"Andaraje" are mainly a choral group singing in close harmony, often monophonic or a call and response between men (2) and women (3). AS I do not speak Spanish I can not tell the content of the words but there is a mixture of religious folkloric content often religious themes were used a song about the "10 Commandments" or references to Mary etc other times thematic songs about the sea or humorous songs which tickled the audience.
Instruments were not used that often a guitar was played twice a finger picking style to accompany the singers. The mainly instrumental accompaniment were with wooden and metallic percussion instruments such as triangles, bells, rattles...these were shaken while singling perhaps to religious songs and occasionally hand gestures to explain the text and meaning of the song, syncopated clapping was also in a few pieces.
I recorded the show but there was about 25 minutes of song while the rest of the concert (total 1 hour) was with a dialogue with the audience.
Sometimes the performance was a little flat, they read the lyrics from a paper and this stunted their performance, i felt the songs should have been more from the heart and spirit, to sing out and with more feeling and personal interpretation as it would in a rural church and in the village life, it was not "felt" more like a classical concert. Often the singers were looking at the leader to start the song off giving the feeling that they do not rehearse so much now (?).
Here is one of their livelier songs.

Irish Jam Session

Taberna Elisa look rather empty at 10.30pm when we arrived to hear some Irish music. We chatted to the barmaid about which nights they had music and took our drinks to a table. In the basement we could hear the strains of the Highland bagpipe behind closed doors and waited for the Irish music to start. Start it did about 11.30pm when an Irish bagpipe player, 2 flautists, a harpist and a bodhran player sauntered on stage. It was a very informal and relaxed session, music well played and enjoyable to listen too. At one point the harpist did a few solo numbers that had a Breton feel to them and later one of the flute players got out the Highland pipes and did a few numbers that were well executed with good gracing and tempo.

Really enjoyed the night all the more enjoyable as it was the harpists birthday and she had made a cake which she passed around the small crowd!

Cruising Area

Reviewing my video clips from last year brought me to sun and warm weather, lazy days sitting by the incoming tide and enjoying the vistas out to sea. My cruising ground is a small area between Port Carlisle and Drumbrugh a distance of 4 miles by road but by sea it is a depending on tide, wind, currents and how lazy I am on the day. The area can be a pleasant afternoon's walk, from Port Carlisle past its canal basin and docking area of the harbour walls where a fleet of ships once unloaded cargo and took passengers to far off places. Continuing along the coast around a headland one comes in contact with very few people. It is quiet and peaceful. If the tide is in then you have to negotiate fences and and if the tide is high then keeping to the old canal/railway track is essential. Sailing in the bay i have seen porpoises and an occasional seal poking its head out of the water and overhead geese heading off to colder climates. Looking forward this this years sailing in that area and others too.