Iron Broo Ceilidh Band

Tag: waltz

  • Sarah, A Scottish Waltz for Accordion

    Sarah, A Scottish Waltz for Accordion

    A favourite tune

    Sarah, is a Scottish Waltz tune written by the famous Scottish accordion player, Max Houliston. Max founded the very first Accordion and Fiddle Club in Scotland. In 1965 he opened one in his own licensed premises, The hole in the wa’, in Dumfries.

    I first heard this tune played about twenty years ago in the Dee Motel in Aberdeen. It was where the Aberdeen Accordion and Fiddle Club used to meet. Over the years I have noticed that the tune Sarah is a favourite of many accordion players and listeners. We used to play as a waltz at many ceilidh dances years ago.

    Lighthearted lockdown ceilidh frustrations

    I hope the Lockdown is being good to you and look forward to getting out to play again. We had 40 weddings booked during this Lockdown period. As a result of Corona, all been postponed and a few, unfortunately, cancelled. To make things worse we can’t even get to the Blue Lamp on a Monday night for good traditional music session to clear our heads. We can’t even go busking in the streets to earn a crust.

    Without an audience and with the current social distancing laws in place all we can do is stay in, stay safe, and play with ourselves. 😜

    I know many of you may have been spending the time jigging away furiously in your living rooms, with the curtains drawn, desperate for the lockdown to end. Itching for a Dashing White Sargeant or a Gay Gordons. I’ve seen you on the internet, strutting your stuff. 😂

    Social distancing is difficult as it is against our human instincts. Unfortunately, for the time being, we must put up with it and try to remain positive that better days lie ahead. I am spending my time with family, mastering the art of sourdough bread, putting an internal window to my dark office space, making music and planning our next album. During the Easter holidays, we camped out in the garden, which meant we could we have a campfire and marshmallows! The campfire is the best part about camping in my opinion. It connects us with our ancestral past. I like to watch things burn. 🔥

    How you can help musicians with very little effort.

    If you would like to help me out during this time please consider becoming a Patron so I can continue to make music. Check out my page and let me know what you think in the comments below. It’s a new avenue for me so creative feedback is helpful. As is hard cash 😎

    https://www.patreon.com/CharlieAbel

    If you don’t want to become a Patron for now don’t worry. I will survive. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel for free and please do so now if you haven’t already. Watch as many videos as you can from start to finish so I can qualify for a share of the ad revenue and my own performance royalties after I reach the 4000 hours annual watch time. I’m about 3400 hours at the moment and I have 1.1K subscribers. A wee push here and there with some extra viewings will make a difference.

    www.youtube.com/c/CharlieAbelwww.youtube.com/c/CharlieAbel

    All the best folks, stay safe. See you after the Lockdown for an almighty ceilidh.

    Oh aye, and now would be a great time to buy a CD…

    Charlie Abel - A Celtic Voice (CD)

    Charlie Abel – A Celtic Voice (CD)

    Released on St. Andrews Day 2018.

    16 tracks, 66 minutes of music including 7 original pieces.  A new take on old traditions.

    Vocals and accordion led, moving forward in the folk traditions of Scotland with a hint of Irish and other Celtic flavours.

     

    £11.00
    Shop now

    or download any of our tracks from the internet. See our Cal Records page for CD’s and available downloads.

  • Margaret’s Waltz

    Margaret’s Waltz

    Margaret’s Waltz

    First Dance idea or a waltz at Wedding

    I had a special request to play this tune on my YouTube Channel by Kevin Dempsey. He is a regular at the Edinburgh Ceilidh Club and they have been dancing Rosa’s Waltz to this tune. He also suggests it is a great tune for the first dance at a wedding. I would have to say I agree with him. It’s a melody that suits a wedding as it’s neither happy nor sad, it’s just beautiful and deeply familiar. A lovely tune.

    Margaret’s waltz, a wee history.

    Margaret’s Waltz is a popular tune in Scotland among traditional musicians made famous here by Aly Bain. For a time it was known to be the most requested tune on Radio Scotland. I often get asked to play it at ceilidhs. The tune was composed in 1959 by Pat Shuldham Shaw (1917-1977). I believe Pat was at a party at Aly Bain’s house in Edinburgh, and Aly wanted to let him hear a new tune he had picked up because Pat came from New England and Aly thought the tune sounded like a “New England” tune. When Aly asked if Pat liked the tune he was taken aback by the reply from Pat, “Of course I do…I wrote it!” More history here

    Iron Broo also recorded this tune back in 2007 during a live ceilidh at the Moray ceilidh club. The CD Album is available here along with other live audio clips and live video clips

    Iron Broo play Margaret’s waltz live. It’s the third tune in this set. Skip to 4.08 to hear it .

  • The Dark Island

    Nostalgic Scottish Music

    Leaving Loch Maddy, North Uist. Looking back towards the Dark Island

    It’s a tune every Scottish accordion player learns and probably the most widely requested Scottish music tune I ever get. In my experience, it’s also the highest earning tune in my repertoire back when we were busking or playing in bars. Many a time I would get asked at the end of a gig in a bar to play the Dark Island. Usually by an older person, quite emotional after a few drinks and they would often hand us a tenner or a twenty afterwards with a tear in their eye. “That’s braw son…just braw”.

    It’s a tune soaked in nostalgia for lots of people.

    I recall playing on the St.Clair ferry from Aberdeen to Shetland one night, many years ago. Myself and my fiddler pal Bill Edwards were asked to play it for a guy after our show. He handed us £120. (£60 each.) For a few minutes playing, that was a lot of money for us back then and still would be today.

    I visited Benbecula last year on a camping trip and used the photos I took during the week to make a video using the track from my album. (A Celtic voice)

    The dark island is one of the first tunes I practised when I picked up the accordion.

    I remember my dad trying to play it, it was one of the 3 tunes he could still remember from playing when he was a teenager.

    The Dark island Video

    Here’s my latest YouTube video of the Dark Island with photos from Benbecula, Eriskay, Berneray, North and South Uist and below is one of my previous videos of the same tune done live, one with Sandy Mathers on fiddle, recorded in front of my pizza oven.

    It’s funny how a tune can creep up on you. I didn’t realise I played it so much.

    The Dark Island – A Celtic Voice
    Sandy Mathers & Charlie Abel

    The forecasting stone outside a shop near Berneray is indicative of the type of weather you can expect around the Dark Island. You won’t see many trees either

    The Forecasting stone

  • The Lover’s Waltz

    This lovely waltz was written by Jay Ungar and Molly Mason.  We were asked to play it for a first dance for a wedding in 2016. It stuck with us. Here we played it just before a ceilidh during the sound check so it’s a wee bit rough in places but we hope it does the tune some justice.