From Norfolk – the distinctive singing and melodeon playing of Tony Hall

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Yarmouth, engraving by William Miller after Turner

A 19th century engraving of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, by William Miller, after a
typically drama-packed painting by Turner. Image from the Wikimedia

For the last few days I’ve been listening to the melodeon playing of Tony Hall, a musician I’ve admired since the 70s. Tony plays the melodeon, a kind of push-pull accordion that came to dominate the music of much of England, when cheap models arrived in large numbers from Germany in the 19th Century.

Of course, it’s commonly been a seaman’s instrument – just think of old Bob Roberts, skipper of the last working sailing sailing barge, the Cambria. I’m glad to say I was lucky enough to hear him perform not so very long before he passed away.

Now, since one of Tony’s recently recorded songs, Down on the Hard, has some dreamy boatbuilding references, I thought I should share it – with the CD label’s permission, of course. Click on the link for a little song that I think will make many of you smile.

And for a bonus, here’s Tony again, this time playing his version of The Abbot’s Bromley Horn Dance.

For more of this stuff, order a copy of Tony’s new album, One Man Hand on the Wild Goose label.

Follow the link for more references to songs and singing at intheboatshed.net.

Dylan Winter on gaffers and smacks

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The gifted Dylan Winter has excelled himself this time with his latest short YouTube video series Keep Turning Left. In this one he drools over a series of gaff-rigged yachts and smacks, and praises the English for their amazing reasonableness.

Hopefully someone, somewhere will one day have the vision to commission him to do a series of properly budgeted videos – if nothing else this hugely enjoyable series must be a great advert for his skills and screen persona. Maybe the lucky man will even be offered the rich prize of a book contract!

It seems churlish to say it but one thing I slightly regret is that chooses a lot of Irish music for these videos. Maybe he knows and has rejected the wealth of great English traditional music that might seem a more approriate accompaniment to videos that are at least for the moment centred on the English coast, but my feeling is that the Scots, Irish and Welsh will no doubt get their turns later…

PS – I was delighted to find this exchange in the comments to this video on YouTube:

‘What are you watching,’ my wife asked. ‘You’ve got that look on your face.’

‘What look?’ I replied.

‘That look that says I want to be doing what they are doing – you’re not watching porn on that thing are you?’

Fogo Island Regatta – a ten-mile rowing race on the open sea

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Fogo Islanders hold an annual ten-mile rowing race in traditional carvel-built rowing boats. I recommend you take a moment to enjoy the videos, and the deteminedly traditional rules. This isn’t a race that just anyone with a boat can enter:

‘A punt may be disqualified from The Great Fogo Island Punt Race to There and Back if it contains fiberglass, particularly if the hull has a fiberglass coating.’

‘The seam between each plank can be spunyarn, marlin or oakum. Petroleum-based sealants are not permitted.’

And

‘For a punt to be eligible to enter The Great Fogo Island Punt Race to There and Back it must be built by a local boat builder on Fogo Island or Change Islands.’

Fogo Island Regatta

PS – I’ve just discovered this very nice if slightly tricky website about traditional boatbuilding in neighbouring Winterton. Read the story explaining boatbuilding, or use the line of little white boxes to navigate the collection of photographs. There’s even a little song to learn…