The Co. Antrim Hammered Dulcimer!

Hammered Dulcimer at Ballycastle Pub Session!

2010-09-19T04:54:00.001-07:00

Here is a Hammered Dulcimer being played on BBC 2 Northern Ireland.

This was recorded in the House of McDonnell, Ballycastle, Co. Antrim,

in November 2010.

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Isaac Isaacs ~ 1st Hammered Dulcimer player in Ireland!

2010-08-28T04:36:00.000-07:00

This may well be the first written record of a Hammered Dulcimer being played in Ireland!

“A German Dulcimer player in Eighteenth Century Dublin“

“Among the musicians to enjoy her patronage was a fashionable performer on the Hammered Dulcimer, a musical instrument rare in Ireland at any time. He was Isaac Isaacs, a German born Jew, who was first heard of in Dublin performing at Smock Alley Theatre during the 1767-68 theatrical season and billed as recently arrived from Dublin.”

Read more of how he received patronage of 50 Guineas a year for two years, from a Mrs Leeson. She used to take him along to play at parties & even on walks when she would ..

“have my groom, with the Dulcimer tied on his back, Isaacs playing on it, and another man on the violin, to play through all the walks”

Isaacs obituary appeared in the Dublin Evening Post, 5 May 1791:

“Deaths …. In Winetavern Street, after a few hours indisposition, Isaac Isaacs, a German Jew, well known to the pleasurable circles as one of the first Dulcimer performers in Europe.”

So it looks like the Hammered Dulcimer was being played in Ireland almost one hundred years before instruments like the Accordion, Concertina & Tenor Banjowere even invented & certainly long before instruments like Guitars & Bodhransbecame popular!

So why did the Dulcimer not become more popular or ever really become accepted as part of the Tradition, in most areas of Ireland? Were musicians just too lazy to tune all those strings, or was it because the instrument simply was not available?

We know that when the Concertina & Accordion arrived in Ireland, they were being mass produced & many were also cheap, so if only an Irish Luthier had taken a shine to the Dulcimer & started making them, who knows, we might have seen it become as ubiquitous as the humble Bodhran by now!

The Dulcimer at Dunluce Castle again!

2010-08-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

Promoting the Hammered Dulcimer at Dunluce Castle!

Yes, we were out again, last Saturday!

Among the visitors, was a group of students from China.

None had played their version of the Dulcimer before, the Yang Chin.

However, one of their number, who played Piano, stepped forward & played a lovely version of 'Scotland the Brave'!

The World is certainly getting smaller& smaller!

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2010-01-31T11:50:00.000-08:00

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Out again last Saturday promoting the Co. Antrim Dulcimer in Carrickfergus Castle.

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2009-11-30T01:33:00.000-08:00

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I promote the Hammered Dulcimer whenever I can, especially in Co. Antrim.

Here's a video clip of me playing a couple of old Marches, 'Down the Brae' & 'The Halting March', in Carrickfergus Castle, Co Antrim, just last weekend.

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New European Dulcimer website!

2009-07-13T18:26:00.000-07:00

Dulcimer players will I'm sure be interested to learn that I launched a new website last weekend which promotes the Dulcimer players of Europe, the many forms of Dulcimer in Europe and of course all the European Dulcimer music too.

Joining this new site is easy and once you become a member, you will have lots of fun setting up your own page, where you can post lots of interesting PHOTOS of your musical Dulcimer experiences and instruments. You can also entertain other members by posting MP3s of your own playing, impress them with your playing on VIDEO too and keep other members informed of forthcoming Dulcimer EVENTS in your area.

European Dulcimer Players

Cheers,

Dick

Nikita was a big hit in the Springhill Bar, Portrush!

2009-07-10T18:46:00.000-07:00

Well, before we went out to the session, last Thursday, Nikita treated us to a few tunes on his Hackbrett, in our kitchen.

Then Nikita took his Hackbrett along to the Springhill Bar & the punters really loved his playing.

As you can see from the second photo, he also took his accordion with him.

Tonight in the House of McDonnell, Nikita took only his two Castagnari Accordions, as there's not much room for a Hackbrett around our tiny session table!

Cheers

Dick

Hackbrett player visits North Antrim

2009-07-03T04:10:00.001-07:00

Visiting musician, Nikita Pfister, will be with us for a few days at the start of July 2009. He lives in Lausanne, Switzerland where he plays and teaches the Swiss Hackbrett. He also plays Accordion and enjoys playing all sorts of music, including Swiss, Balkan, Irish & Scottish. It's going to be wonderful, to have the sound of a Hackbrett ringing around the Causeway Coast Sessions. You can learn more about Nikita's music by visiting his website.

Tympanon

I play the Dulcimer every week, in the Bushmills Inn, Co Antrim.

2009-07-02T04:12:00.000-07:00

Dulcimer being Hammered in the Bushmills Inn

If anyone would like to see & hear a Hammered Dulcimer being played in County Antrim today, then you should visit the Bushmills Inn any Saturday night, where you will hear me play my Hammered Dulcimer along with our group Scad the Beggars at our weekly Session.

The Bushmills Inn

The Causeway Dulcimer Festival

2009-07-02T03:08:00.000-07:00

In front of Glenarm Castle at the Festival Launch.

In 2005, in an effort to raise the profile of the Co Antrim Dulcimer even higher & perhaps even kick start a revival, I organised the first ever Dulcimer Festival in Co Antrim, the 'Causeway Dulcimer Festival'.

This event took place in & around Bushmills over a weekend, with various warm up events taking place during the week before, plus classes, sessions, talks & concerts during the weekend itself.

Dulcimer players came from America, Scotland, England & mainland Europe too, to help celebrate the life of John Rea & the history of the Dulcimer in Co Antrim.

In 2006, funding was not to be had so a few enthusiast gathered & enjoyed a number of Dulcimer sessions over a weekend.

The Causeway Dulcimer Festival

The Black Nun Fest, Ballycastle, Co Antrim

2009-07-02T02:58:00.000-07:00

An old photo of John Rea in typical stooped playing pose.

In 2004, for my Black Nun Fest in Ballycastle, I was very fortunate to be able to ask an American Hammered Dulcimer player, Rick Davis from North Carolina, to help keep the Dulcimer flame burning in Antrim.

The Glenarm Castle Kitchen Concert

2009-07-02T02:48:00.000-07:00

John Rea's Solo LP

In 2003, in memory of John Rea and also in an attempt to raise the profile of the County Antrim Dulcimer, I organised a concert in Glenarm Castle, the Glenarm Castle Kitchen Concert, which was attended by three County Antrim Hammered Dulcimers players, Nat Magee, William Rea & Barry Carroll, plus myself, now a Glens resident.

The Glenarm Castle Kitchen Concert

Barry Carroll

2009-07-02T02:27:00.000-07:00

Barry Carroll

Today, the best player in Ireland is still a County Antrim man, one Barry Carroll. Barry has also recorded a CD with Hammered Dulcimer & Uilleann Pipes. More recently was a guest musician on Sharon Shannon’s last CD.

Derek Bell of The Chieftains

2009-07-02T01:58:00.000-07:00

Derek Bell

Another well known County Antrim Hammered Dulcimer player was Derek Bell of the Chieftains.

Although he called his Dulcimer a Timpan, it was simply a Hammered Dulcimer. He regularly used his Dulcimer both for recording & performing with the Chieftains.

Derek Bell

John Rea of Glenarm

2009-07-02T01:50:00.000-07:00

John Rea of Glenarm

The most famous Co. Antrim Hammered Dulcimer player of them all was John Rea of Glenarm. He started out on the Dulcimer at the age of eight, and says his brothers all got fiddles but he was too small, so he got the dulcimer! John worked on the tug-boat in Belfast Lough and lived on board a lot of the time, which I suppose gave him plenty of time to practice. Today people play the dulcimer with little wooden hammers but John Rea used hammers made of thick steel wire, wound with wool, which were his own idea.

John, in his day, was very famous. He performed on the TV, played with ‘The Chieftains’ and recorded two LPs.

In Scotland the players used to play a lot of old song airs, and of songs which were popular between the wars, but John Rea tended to play the old traditional tunes he learned from his dad’s fiddle playing. So Reels, Jigs, Marches and Strathspeys were more his cup of tea and a fine healthy mix of Scottish and Irish tunes he played too.
John Rea, before he died, used to regularly play duets with his brother William Rea, and thankfully Willie is still going strong, as is Nat Magee, so the glens still ring to the sound of these two men playing their Hammered Dulcimers.

Blogger Mark Thompson had an interesting piece on John Rea recently.

David Kettlewell's History of the Dulcimer in Antrim

2009-07-02T01:38:00.000-07:00

William Rea's Co. Antrim Hammered Dulcimer

Much of the information for this piece was gleaned from the pages of David Kettlewell's wonderful Dulcimer website.

I did contact David by E-mail, & asked for his permission to use the information below, and he kindly agreed, saying so, because it was for a good cause.

Although this instrument is relatively unknown now in Co. Antrim, some say it has actually been on these shores, in one form or another since, at least, the 18th Century.

In England it was very popular during the late 16th century and it seems likely that the hammered dulcimer was also being played in Scotland in the C16th, for there is mention of it in a Scottish poem of 1543, calling it a ‘dulsacordis’! It then probably travelled to County Antrim with the Scots, at least 4 or 5 generations ago.

The first player to be mentioned here was a Harry Coudy, who was a well known player in the 20’s. Then there was a John Johnson who only died in 1974. “He made four dulcimers, while Alec Magee of Larne made about a dozen instruments, many of them for young people, who apparently gave up when they found it too difficult; he was a joiner, took the measurements for his instruments from that of John Rea, and used autoharp pins from a music shop.”

Other more recent players included "James & Andrew Davidson of Buckna, Miss Katie Johnson of Owencloughy, William McMullan of Ballyclare, Thomas Taylor of Mullaghmore, Robert Gilbert of Kilwaughter plus others from around Ballyclare including Nat Magee ( Alec's son ), Mrs. Craig, Mrs. Doris Apsey, Jackie Apsey, Mrs. Woodside, William Mundel and Alec Rea of Ballymena."

Here is the link to David's site.

Go to the section there on 'Northern Ireland'.

David Kettlewell