My good friend Magnus McKay giving a fine rendition of James Kelly's version of The Foxhunter's.

The Foxhunter's - Magnus McKay and Louis Bingham

A taster from the new album we're currently working on. 'Crazywell' is one of my own compositions, named after a favourite wild swimming spot up on Dartmoor. Louis Bingham (guitar) Gris Sanderson (Nyckelharpa).

Crazywell

Reels: Miss Monaghan, John Kelly's, The Gooseberry Bush

Taken from our forthcoming album 'Curlicue', here's a set of two jigs and two reels. The first tune which lends its title to the set was composed by the wonderful Tom McElvogue.
Curlicue will be released this autumn on Waulk Records. Keep checking back for news of release dates and launch events.
http://www.waulkrecords.com/
http://www.louisandfreya.com/
Freya Rae: Flute, whistles.
Louis Bingham: Guitar, tenor banjo, bodhran.
Tune names: The Foorglass Jig (Tom McElvogue), The Orphan (trad.), Drag Her Round the Road (trad.), Mullingar Lea (trad.)

The Foorglass Set

Title track of our debut album 'Curlicue', out now on Waulk Records.
www.waulkrecords.com/
www.louisandfreya.com/
Freya Rae: Flute, Clarinet.
Louis Bingham: Guitar, Bouzouki, Tenor guitar, Bodhran.
Tune names: Paddy Fahey’s (Paddy Fahey), Elizabeth Kelly’s Delight (trad.), Curlicue (Freya Rae)


Curlicue

Louis Bingham: Guitars, Frame Drum, eBow
Molly McAlpine (hornpipe) Seán Ó Duibhir an Ghleanna (set dance) all trad. arranged Bingham.

Molly McAlpine & Sean O'Dwyer

A rough experiment with fingerstlye techniques on tenor and six string guitars, and the resulting flavours and rhythmic possibilities afforded by the interaction between the two instruments.

An Phis Fliuch

June 29th, the first time I've really been able to clear my head and play in six days or more. My mind is running on vague ideas of time and place, landscape, location and identity. More to come.

A Glimmer, And Maybe A Place

A taste of things to come... two classic reels Glen of Aherlow and Castle Kelly played on Bb Whistle and Tambura.

Whistle & Tambura Reels

Mostly improvised working around a couple of rough patterns emerging from a tuning experiment.
Louis Bingham: 5-String Banjo, Calabash, Brushes.

Hazelhammer & the Flatfoot Gourd

These ones have been knocking around in my head since the end of last year and I've kept putting off doing anything with them. Still work in progress of course but I'm nearly done with the tinkering stage. Thanks to Paul Rae for the inspiration and extended loan of the tamboura.
Louis Bingham: Tamboura, Guitar, Bodhran.

Tamboura Tipi Tunes

This one just emerged from beneath the fingers, product of a seemingly idle moment this wet Saturday afternoon, July 22nd 2017. More to come, some dormant ideas have been reinvigorated and clarified, and a few new ones sparked.
Louis Bingham: Tamboura, Guitar, Vocals

Waltz of the Summer Rains

A bit of frailing on a lovely vintage banjo I recently restored and set up for a  pupil, a Windsor Eclipse zither banjo made in Birmingham early C20.

Windsor Eclipse - Model 11

Dance a Dance, words and music by Louis Bingham.
Junction Pool written by Ian Hardie is played at the end.

Dance a Dance

I wrote this tune just over a year ago and have been tentatively playing it these last couple of weeks in the hope that it would bring on some much needed precipitation.
After nearly two months without rain I was finally woken up by the sound of a cloudburst this Sunday morning (1st July 2018) and felt the need to mark the event by making this recording.
Crouched in the doorway looking out on our thirsty garden I'm joined by my mum Gris on fiddle, and the rain which raises the dynamic and picks up the tempo about halfway through.

The Happy Gardener - Waltz of the Summer Rains

Two tunes we learnt from Freya's dad Paul, an excellent bouzouki and mandolin player.
Louis Bingham: Guitar, Lewis Powell-Reid: Bouzoukis, Freya Rae: Flute

Paul's 7's - Tréyes

Four An Dro dance tunes from Brittany. The first two I picked up from James Dumbelton on a visit to Guernsey in 2017, the third came from the playing of Jean-Michel Veillon, and the last I learnt from a classic Kornog album.
Louis Bingham: cittern, guitar, vocals, bodhran

An Droiou

Two tunes picked up on a recent trip to Galicia. The first is a Xota learnt from a CD of el gaiteiro de Foso, Manuel López López, which I found in a music shop in Santiago de Compostela. The second tune I heard in a session at A Gramola, Praza de Cervantes also in Santiago, and have since learnt is a Swedish Waltz after a master fiddle player called Ante Falk, from Stavre, Offerdal in Jämtland. Thanks to Xacobe Varela of the Gramola session for the info on that one.

Xota Gallega / H-moll Valsen

The first tune is probably a twisted up version of two: Chris Newman taught me a jig by Tony Trischka in D with a name I don't recall, then I heard the Kane's version in E which is very similar but called Aherne's Egg.
The reel was taught to me by John Carty, and is Finbarr Dwyer’s version of Col McBain’s that he said he got in turn from Winston Scotty Fitzgerald, a Cape Breton fiddler.
Roughly recorded on a whim and with only the internal mics on my R8, so a sketch as always.

Aherne's Egg, Finbarr Dwyer's (Jig & Reel)

Two tunes which aren't quite finished yet, but I enjoyed messing around with them this morning so here's a rough version. They started out with the intention of fitting the Cornish Cabm Pemp dance, but I think some bars may have got a bit more twisted about in the roughing out process, so they may not be strictly danceable.

Both tunes are named for Howard Godfrey who has been good enough to loan me this little beauty of a mandolin which I'm really enjoying playing at the moment. He made the instrument himself two years before I was born, and it's a stunner. Thanks for the loan Howard.

Howard's 1 & 2

Two original tunes written for Clump Rypen in Berry Pomeroy, or one tune played two different ways if you prefer. Cows on the Clump is based on the 9/8 slip jig rhythm, and Hares on the Hill started out as a 3/2 hornpipe.
A rough recording using the zoom internal mics only, hence the odd peak and somewhat rushed mix.
Written, arranged and performed by Louis Bingham, 4th June 2019.

Cows In The Clump - Hares On The Hill

Sketching out a set of four single reels which suddenly found their way out this evening, 26th July 2019.
Pigtown, Seán Sa Cheo, Paddy O'Brien's, The Monaghan Twig.

Single Reels

A new tune written today, 20th September 2019. It's named for a journey made in the spring of 2018 along a section of the Camino Portugues, the ancient pilgrim's route from Lisbon in Portugal to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia.
"Buen camino" is the traditional call exchanged by walkers and passers by along the route in wishing pilgrims a safe onward journey.

Buen Camino

31st October 2019: an original semi-improvised piece written in celebration of being able to share music and ideas between people and cultures and across distances. Long may it continue.
Louis Bingham: Guitar, Cittern and Frame Drum.

The magic of exchange / la magie d'un échange

3rd March 2020 - New music for the new growth of the season. These are two tunes written for the Cabm Pymp or (Cornish five-step) dance, and arranged for Cittern and Guitar. I was tempted to do some more multi-tracking but it seemed like there was enough going on already

The image is of a newly planted Sea Buckthorn plant just about to come into leaf for the first time this year.

Written, arranged and performed by Louis Bingham. Many thanks to Peter Bingham at the Barn Studio for the studio engineering.

For more info on this music see this recent blog post on my website https://louisbingham.com/blog-2/

Of Bare Roots & Buckthorn

An original tune from my new collection of music Hares on the Hill. The whole album is available to listen to and purchase on Bandcamp via this link: https://louisbingham.bandcamp.com/album/hares-on-the-hill

This tune was originally intended as a hop-jig, but whilst getting into the recording process I realised it would serve just as well as a melody for the Ridée Six Temps, one of my favourite dances from the Breton Fest Noz repertory. It is named after a favourite saying of Norman Holmes (hoist by your own petardvark!), a mighty flute player who is partial to a hop-jig or two.

The Petardvark

This is the final track from my new release Waltz of the Summer Rains, an EP of three original tracks now available to buy on Bandcamp via this link: https://louisbingham.bandcamp.com/album/waltz-of-the-summer-rains

Petrichor is the scientific term for the scent of rain falling on warm ground, so it seemed a fitting title for this gentle final track. The theme is first played as a slow march in 9/8, moving into a 4/4 version which bubbles along with a more transatlantic feel to it.

5th June 2020.

Petrichor

Guitar and Bouzouki Jigs - The Blacksmith, Hardiman's Fancy

Track 2 from the new album "Sound" commemorating the life and music of Paul Ruane. This track features Paul Ruane(Fiddle), Dee Ruane (Button Accordion), and Louis Bingham (Cittern & Bodhran).
CDs are available via www.paulfiddle.com and you can see more about the project at www.facebook.com/PaulRuaneSound or soundcloud.com/paulruane-sound

Sound

Paul & Dee Ruane: Down the Broom, Gatehouse Maid

Fretted strings player and general dabbler inspired by music from all over the world including Ireland, Scotland, Brittany, Galicia and anywhere else where people still play music together as a normal part of everyday life.
contact: music.bingham@gmail.com

Louis Bingham

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