Barnaby Walters • Notes

Argh my winter travels this year are at the wrong time for everything — missing Red Dog Green Dog/Wod and Ai Weiwei in the UK, Bafnu in Hamburg, then Solarference again in the UK. On the other hand, family christmas and then Folk Marathon should compensate somewhat.

Video: Jelängerjelieber — Solo Hurdy Gurdy

Jelängerjelieber played on solo gurdy as a wickler/slängpolska for an epic eight minutes (it feels like much less on the other side of the instrument!) — so grab the nearest person and wickl some time away :)

This lovely tune is Matthias Branschke’s Säckpipa version of what was originally a Sorbish song from the Kralsches Geigenspielbuch called “Fa ßym ta jena hubena ßryota”, and was given a new name by the Verein zur Förderung traditioneller Musik des deutschsprachigen Raums (who need a new name themselves, phew), and published in 2015 in “Neues aus alten Büchern 2” — full of nice tunes and highly recommended.

Sheet music for this tune is available here

The instrument is a 2nd generation Vio gurdy from me, recorded with an AKG C1000S and the internal pickup.

Reasons not to assume everyone uses a traditional green-on-black terminal:

❤️

↪

Mallory Ortberg: Oh my god ok everyone send me your best dad music stories @khalkeus3d

@mallelis my dad genuinely, unapologetically enjoys listening to Chaz and Dave. Perhaps you have not come across this uniquely British act in the states. Here is a sample of their work, listen at your own risk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1fOZjiDaw4

Die Tanzsammlung Dahlhoff is now available to download in PDF format, one file per book, from the internet archive:

Tanzsammlung Dahlhoff

If you want full-resolution, archive quality TIFF files then the best place to get them from is still the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin site, but if you just want access to complete, usable, small-ish filesize PDFs then this is, as far as I know, the easiest place to find them. Viel Spaß damit!

“Schottisches are like wind turbines. There are already so many, but, for the greater good, we still need more.” — P. Gerhardt

Most other dances are simply wickler with more rules.

Apparently the lyrics for Steve Knightley’s Unlock Me are not on the web yet. Here is my attempt to fix this:

you hand me a bunch of keys
said “let’s look through the past.”
you know I like to please
but all I ask
is which one,
oh, which one
unlocks me.

the first key opens a garden gate
where I play in the sun.
under the trees a shadow grows dark
and I want to run.
does this one,
oh, does this one
unlock me?

you look around, there’s no-one there
you say “something’s wrong”.
what is it that I’ve got to hide?
then we move on.

the next key opens the old front door
daylight shines in the hall.
I hear a voice I’m trying to hide
pressed up against the wall.
does this one
oh, does this one
unlock me?

we enter a room at the top of the stairs
I hide under the bed.
my hand touches a small wooden box
with my name written in red.
you open the box, there’s nothing inside
you say “something’s wrong.”
what is it that I’ve got to hide?
unlock me

I’m not speaking to you any more
I throw your keys at your feet
down the stairs, through the front door
I open the gate to the street
will someone
please someone
unlock me

unlock me
unlock me
unlock me

Blue flames in my Kachelofen tonight:

There is a blissful joy in not knowing what you don’t know, the joy of being a beginner. Is learning what you don’t know worth the price?

Vorsicht! 100 Eier! // Caution! 100 Eggs!

Only in the GDR…

↪

Brian Suda: wonders if @glennjones has seen this: http://dumbcuneiform.com WELCOME THE ENTIRE LAND. http://optional.is/required/2009/12/03/welcome-the-entire-land/

@briansuda THIS IS THE BEST THING SINCE SEEING ACTUAL CUNEIFORM TABLETS IN THE MUSEUM IN ISTANBUL

Prepared some Cedar and European Walnut for dulcimer building:

The Vienna Folk marathon organisers get it :D

(“gender” would be a little more appropriate, but not as funny)

Steve Tyler is the master of the multi-tracked gurdy and here is the proof:

iOS 9 just autocorrected “ye,” to “'Twas”, complete with apostrophe. Classy. #19thCAutocorrect

↪

Tantek Çelik: Japan airport security is basically pre-2001 (sans theater) * keep shoes & jacket on * metal detector Unlike: American airport security * remove hoodie, jacket, etc. * slower and more radiative millimeter/backscatter I went through both Tokyo/Haneda and Chitose airport security this week. Haneda's security was also ok with using a single tray for liquids, devices, laptop, coins etc. for their x-ray machiens, in contrast to U.S. airport security requiring separate trays for each laptop, and any liquids or anything else. I can only conclude that the TSA's extra procedures and expensive radar devices are a waste of time & resources, no more than a perpetuation of a culture of fear since 2001. I remain hopeful that the TSA will eventually adopt measures similar to Japanese airports and return to just using metal detectors.

@t sounds about right, see also https://takingsenseaway.wordpress.com/ blog written by a former TSA employee, debunks a lot of TSA practise as nonsense. I’ve found European airports to vary, e.g. some want shoes off, every electronic device in it’s own tray, some don’t care. When traveling with the gurdy I’ve had reactions ranging from highly suspicious with swabs being taken, to people not caring, or wanting to hear it played purely out of curiosity.