Pièce tirée du troisième album de Keven Desrosiers en Hommage à Thérèse Rioux. | Piece taken from third CD of Keven Desrosiers «Hommage à Thérèse Rioux». 

Soirée Chez Alcide

Air De Noce

A lovely polska from Hoven Droven, which I came across via a recording of Andy Cutting playing it. Played on my 2-voice (bandoneon-tuned) G/C instrument which I built with Emmanuel Pariselle. I recently revalved the lowest reeds to reduce valve noise when changing direction a lot, which seems to have helped.

Also in video form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmUo0J9SHSY

Årepolska

Polcàs Corrézienne Et Morvandelle

The Snowy Spring (John Dew); and
The Plight of the Penguin (Ingrid Henderson).

What do you get when you cross a piper with a temperamental whistle and a fiddle player with a guitar that doesn't like staying in tune? Apparently, this.

Snowy Penguin

Another song from the William Winter Quantock tune book! This is one of two quicksteps i played with a group of people as part of the Faustus weekend at Halsway Manor last year. what fun we had!

New Royal Quickstep

These are two tunes I wrote, which I arranged and recorded with Dylan Cairns-Howarth. 
"My Room" was named after the room which I currently live in, meaning it's mine, but which Dylan first lived in, which he claims means it's his. Silly. (Not that I'm possessive at all...) 
"Above the Clouds" was in point of fact written above the clouds, on a plane making the journey across the Atlantic Ocean. No better way to pass the time on an airplane that writing tunes!

My Room/Above the Clouds

I first heard this played by Calum Stewart  and Heikki Bourgault at Cwlwm Celtiadd 4 or 5 years ago. They call it Yellow on the Broom, but I understand  it's a.k.a. The Sweetness of Mary. I've recently finished building a hardwood (sapele)-topped guitar (pictured, thanks Catherine). This is what it sounds like.

Yellow On The Broom

Bassoon Rambling And Friends Ep 4 Melodeon

I had this tune originally from Lunasa, though I recently heard a nice version by Pierre Bensusan. Played here on a nine-string guitar I finished recently (pictured). I called the model "Neidr naw pennog", Welsh for nine-headed snake. The three treble strings are doubled and tuned in unison. This gives a bouzouki/cittern-like quality to the sound. I'm not a fan of twelve-string guitars because I don't like the doubled bass strings. Nine-string is a happy compromise. If I do this sort of thing again, I'll double the top four strings.

The Last Pint

Special sample tracks for melodeon.net

Centenary Reels, Return from Helsinki, Walking on water
played on Beltuna Alex 3 D/G 2 1/2 row

E Flat Tune -played on Cairdin C#/D

If you'd like to hear more or buy the album:
http://web.me.com/ianstephenson/Site/Listen.html

Cheers,
Ian

Return from Helsinki

I'm a melodeon/concertina player, and this is an archive of my progress as I learn the instruments. It goes back to the first recordings I made, and hopefully it will be helpful to others who are also learning to see the changes over time!

Årepolska

robotmay

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