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Simon Thoumire

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New album! Glasgow Concert by Simon Thoumire and Dave Milligan

I’ve just released a new album with pianist Dave Milligan. The second one in two years! Recorded in 2020 at Celtic Connections festival, just before lockdown was a thing and we all became distracted. It took til 2024 for the album to arrive. Both Dave and me are massive Moscow Art Trio fans and one of our favourite albums is their Hamburg Concert. We decided to name the album Glasgow Concert in homage to them.

The thing I like about this album is it features live versions of the tracks that were on our first two albums – The Big Day In and Third Fight Home. Typically when we record a new album the tracks haven’t been performed before and they start to change as soon as we play them live! These are these live versions plus 2 tracks which haven’t featured on any other albums!

The album has 9 tracks and last approx 35 minutes. You can read about the tracks here. (download). You can listen to the album on the link above and here.

Thoumire – Milligan: Ardkinglas, Loch Fyne 7.00 pm Saturday 20th April 2024

Simon Thoumire and Dave Milligan have each performed at Ardkinglas before in different duos but this is a welcome chance to hear them together. They have an intuitive musical understanding of each other’s great talents, having recorded three albums together. Since winning the BBC Radio 2 Young Tradition award in 1989 Simon Thoumire has built a unique place for the English concertina in the world of Scottish
traditional music and beyond. His music has encompassed folk, jazz, improvisation and his own compositions, and he is also a tireless advocate for traditional music with the organisation Hands Up For Trad and the Scots Trad Music Awards. See www.simonthoumire.com

Dave Milligan is a musician of remarkable versatility. As well as his own bands and projects he has worked with a wide array of musicians including Art Farmer, Larry Carlton, Trilok Gurtu, Mark Knopfler and the McCrary Sisters to name just a few. See www.davemilligan.co.uk

Places (£15.00, students £7.50) must be booked in advance from Ardkinglas Estate Office
Tel. 01499 600261 email: info@ardkinglas.com

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My concertina after Steve Dickinson spent a week with it

I thought you would like to see this photo of my concertina after Steve Dickinson, concertina repairer took it away from West Country Concertina Players in Somerset and did some work on it.

I’ve never given my concertina away before so it was slightly daunting however when I showed it to Steve he said that he could take it away for a week and fix a few things on it. It was quite a sight! The thumb straps were wrecked as I hadn’t got round to replacing them – just added more tape, I had a red hanky stopping one of the sides from clicking as they rubbed together, my top Bb was missing completely and the button levels were all higgledy piggledy (is that how you spell that phrase?). It still sounded beautiful of course!

As you’ll see from the photo it is now looking beautiful. I’ve got a bit of practice to be doing to soften the thumb straps and get used the instrument in its new state. But that’s an exciting prospect in itself. I’ll have to get on to writing the music for my new piece a’ dol fodha na grèine and having the concertina all fixed up will make a difference.

Found this interesting post on the history of Wheatstone Concertinas!

I’m always looking for new subscribers to my Patreon! Feel free to join!

Music Review: Ileach – The Independent Newspaper for Islay and Jura

Music review

Portraits – Simon Thoumire and Dave Milligan

In 2001, concertina player, Simon Thoumire and pianist, Dave Mil- ligan released their first album to- gether, entitled ‘The Big Day’, a title that reflected the music having been recorded in a single day, due to the sudden availability of a recording studio.

‘Portraits’, however, took considerably longer, despite not having been conceived as an album in the first place. As was the case for many musicians, the pandemic forced the opportunity to create new music un- interrupted by gigs or touring. Such was the case for Simon Thoumire.

LISTEN HERE

And with no real opportunities to collaborate in person, ‘Portraits’ consists of music sent to and fro between himself and Dave Milligan, each track representing a different person in Thoumire’s life.

The results can be heard across the album’s eleven impressive tracks.

Simon Thoumire was once an integral part of John Rae’s Celtic Feet, a band that were stalwarts of those early Islay Jazz festivals. His concer- tina playing is every bit as identifable today as it was over quarter of a century past.

Dave Milligan has appeared at several Islay Festivals and whose own album, ‘Momento’ was reviewed in these pages a few years past.

The collaboration between the two musicians is, to confine it to a single word, ‘seamless’. Thoumire’s more folk-oriented approach is matched, note for note, by Milligan’s jazzier feel. If nothing else, this particular album underlines that the Scottish folk/jazz experiments from John Rae, Colin Steele, Fergus McCreadie and more recently, Fraser Fifield, have a value that highlights them as more than just a passing fad or notion.

The opening track, ‘Come on, let us sway together’ was written as a Valentine’s Day present for Simon’s wife and sways as the very waltz you might hear at a village hall ceilidh.

‘Anastasia McAroe’s Waltz’, howev- er is a smidgeon more emphatic in its 3/4 swing. And, as a nostalgic reminder of Thoumire’s time with Celtic Feet, ‘King Bill’s Hornpipe’, though a con- temporary composition, brings back memories of ‘Beware the Feet’.

While not wishing to descend into clichéd ‘toe-tapping’ references, I dare anyone to listen to the en- tire album, while keeping both feet firmly planted on the floor, partic- ularly during ‘Louis DeCarlo’s 70th Birthday Strathspey’, (where Dave Milligan’s piano-playing provides one of the album’s finest moments), or ‘Misha’, a track dedicated to the Ukrainian pianist, the late Misha Alpern.

A joyous album.

bp

Find out more https://simonthoumire.ffm.to/portraits

New album: Portraits with Dave Milligan

It’s been sixteen years since Simon Thoumire and Dave Milligan last released an album, and twenty-two years since their first.

Portraits is album #3, and a brand new collection of original music, characteristic of the Scottish tradition but encompassing multiple styles and influences. Each track on Portraits was composed to try and capture the character of a particular person, and to reflect the connections in their lives. You can find out more at https://simonthoumire.ffm.to/findoutmore or click the bandcamp link below.

Their debut album The Big Day In was released back in 2001, and was named as such because it was recorded in a single day. Thoumire and Milligan had previously played several duo gigs, and were already considering some recording. Then they got a call from The Sound Café to say that they had an unexpected opening in their recording schedule, and a piano–on hire from another project–was still in the studio… but for one day only. Well, since the duo had started playing together, they always had an ‘unscripted’ approach to making music, with spontaneity as an integral part of their performances: One day, they felt, would be more than enough time to record an album. So that’s just what they did.

Fast forward a couple of decades to 2020, and the process of recording Portraits couldn’t be more different. It’s an album that has unfolded over a period of three years. It’s fair to say that it has been a ‘lockdown’ project, but the process was already underway before anyone was really aware of the approaching pandemic that would affect the world so dramatically.

Following a rare live performance from Simon and Dave at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival in January 2020, the first sketches of Portraits started in February, just a few week later. The opening track−Simon’s composition Come on, let us sway together−was written as a Valentine’s Day present for his wife, Clare. He sent the music and a recording to Dave and asked him to record a piano part to complete the gift.  Inspirited by once again creating new music together, Simon was encouraged to write more; so he began composing ‘portraits’ of some other special people in his life, each time sending a recording to Dave.

Of course, in any other period, they naturally would have met to develop and rehearse the music together. However, within a few weeks−March 2020−lockdown restrictions came in to force and it was clear that no-one would be getting together any time soon.  So they continued by sharing files electronically, exchanging scores and making recordings in their own homes. By this time Simon had already written six of his nine compositions on the album, and the two had established a creative process where Dave’s additions to the initial recordings would inspire Simon to rethink some of his original arrangements, before passing it back to be re-recorded again. In some instances the tracks would to and fro several times, expanding each time; until they felt they had reached a good ‘likeness’.

Simon says: ‘As time went on, the compositions evolved further to suit different portraits, and Dave’s reimagining of the music brought a new dimension to the project. Working on this music was not only exciting but also a great source of joy for us. The project spanned from February 2020 to March 2023, and each tune is a reflection of the deep connections and meaningful relationships in our lives.’

Among the portraits that followed in those early weeks were Persephone Nichol-Bose, dedicated to his friend and colleague, Percy; Grace Campbell Grierson, in tribute to his nana who passed away in the 1970s when Simon was seven years old; Caroline Ann Hewat, who was a beloved figure in the Scottish folk music community (and also happens to be Dave’s mother-in-law); Sonny Jim, written as a tribute to James McLaughlin, Simon’s late father-in-law; and David Francis, in honour of his dear friend and fellow musician.

Over the next year or so, the easing of lockdown restrictions inevitably meant that Simon and Dave became increasingly busy with other projects. However, there were more compositions to come from Simon: Louis DeCarlo’s 70th Birthday Strathspey was written for the beloved Edinburgh-based photographer; Su-a’s 50th Year, composed to mark a milestone birthday for Su-a Lee, one of Scotlands busiest and most talented cellists; and, finally, Anastasia McAroe’s Waltz, dedicated to Simon’s own mother-in-law, Anastasia.

The remaining two portraits were contributed by Dave, almost as an epilogue to the project. He wrote King Bill’s Hornpipe, in minding of his late piano teacher and college professor, William Kinghorn; and Misha, dedicated to the extraordinary Ukrainian-born pianist, the late Misha Alperin.

Dave added: ‘I don’t think there was really a point where we felt we’d finished as such, mainly because we didn’t particularly set out to record an album in the first place. But around the beginning of this year, we revisited the recordings and it really felt like an album. Each track was almost like a wee vignette; an honest and heartfelt sketch of someone special, and there was something quite poignant about that.’

He went on: ‘Every one of Simon’s tunes feels like a classic, and I think the consideration we gave to the nuances and character of each portrait was worth the time we spent on it. And the beautiful thing about ‘painting’ with music is anyone can make their own connection to a friend or loved one. It’s a special gift to have the opportunity to do something like that—it can be pretty powerful.’

Portraits is–in many ways–a home-made project, but the music was largely put together during a period of time where almost everything was done at home. It also frames a spell for people all around the world when relationships were often tested to their limits; and our sense of connection was suddenly spotlighted to become one of−if not the−most important things in our lives.