Manx to You
Posted at 5:15 AM on September 15, 2009
by Dale Connelly
(23 Comments)
Here is your opportunity to win tickets to the Cedar Cultural Center this coming Saturday night, for a performance by Kelley Hunt. You may know Kelley from her appearances years ago on A Prairie Home Companion.
She has a big, rich voice and plenty of range at the keyboard.
You want power? No problem. Tenderness? She can do that too.
Enter online. Obey the rules. Good luck!
Harry Manx is scheduled to stop by the studio around mid-morning. He played in St. Peter and Mankato the past few days, and he's performing tonight at the Dakota in Minneapolis.
Harry Manx has a thing for islands. He is originally from the Isle of Man, situated between Scotland and Ireland, and now he lives on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, Canada. He lived in Japan for ten years too. But it's the years he spent in India that make his music distinctive. You can see him in this short documentary playing the Mohan Veena, a 20 string guitar invented by his Indian mentor, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.
Harry spent five years learning to play it.
We'll get the interview on the air immediately following the Dale Connelly Show re-broadcast at 1 this afternoon, so I encourage you to tune in (or stay tuned in) for a visit with this well-traveled and fascinating musician.
If you could receive the skill to be an instant virtuoso on any musical instrument, which one would you choose? For me, it would be the piano. How about you? Tuba? Ocarina? Mohan Veena?
Comments (23)
hammered dulcimer - love the sound of this instrument. but i'd just like to be able to play almost anything as well as i did in 9th grade, i guess. 20 strings - that sounds very intimidating for just those few fingers on one's hand.
Good Morning!
Good morning, everyone,
Just woke up to the news that we lost Patrick Swayze. Dale, would you please play "Save the Last Dance for Me" by the Drifters?
As to what instrument I'd like to instantly be able to play, hands down it would be the peddle steel guitar. I could really get down with that.
Wow, Jesus on peddle steele! That might be an incentive to be a good girl from now on.
Harmonica. It doesn't need a carrying case or a lot of storage space.
Speaking of "Waking up Slow", I guess I should spell it PEDAL steele, don'cha think?
Because I know my limitations, musically, I'd be content to master the cowbell. (Ya'll remember the SNL skit with Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken? One of Will's best, IMO.)
Gotta say, yesterday was one of the funnest/funniest TB strings yet. The DC sets were wonderful too, but when aren't they? I'd forgotten about the Catie Curtis Red Light song. Love that!
Pedal STEEL. LOL
Wow! Harry Manx!
If I could be imbued with musical genius for just one instrument, it would certainly be guitar and specifically blues guitar. I especially love the way that guitar skills translate to the voice for those players who choose to sing. They can capture all the nuances and microtones that they hear repeatedly while playing. You can tell I've given this topic no prior thought whatsoever. ;-)
The hammer dulcimer, hands down. Thanks for Jon McCutcheon and the follow-up bagpipes. I'll dance myself all the way to work!
Greetings! Goodness, it's hard to choose just one instrument to excel in -- piano for sure, and maybe flute and trumpet as well. And playing the harp would just be so cool ...
Those are some exotic instruments folks have mentioned. Time to start up the virtual RH band!
I can't play an instrument, and it is hard to imagine that I would be able to play one, but I guess a mandolin would be my first choice.
I took a quick look at the story on the people who fly the drones. They didn't mention something that Howard Zinn has pointed out about bomber pilots and which would be even more true for drone pilots. They don't really see the damage they are doing up close and it is too easy to do this damage without thinking about it.
I guess they do mention that the drone pilots are affected by what they do, I think nothing was said in the article about the problem of civilians being killed by the drones these men are operating.
Trumpet. I want to learn the trumpet. I played flute when I was younger and now it is time for something with a little more oomph, a little more sass, a little more noise. (As a bonus, could I be like a long-lost sister of the Marsalis family? And be talented like that?)
I took organ lessons in grade and junior high school. Never mastered the keyboard, but still would like to work at it. I've thought about taking piano lessons. My wife and daughter play violin, it would be fun to accompany them.
The bagpipes have always been a goal of mine. The first reason is heritage as both my father's and mother's maiden names are Scottish. The second reason is to march circa 5 am playing Amazing Grace for those who kept me up at night.
Have any mornful pipess, Dale?
One instrument? Can't do it. Dobro like Jerry Douglas, fiddle like Mark O'Connor, harmonica like Charlie Musselwhite-the list goes on and on.
Dale, please consider having the Harry Manx interview available to those of us not able to listen this afternoon. But my consolation is I will be at the Dakota tonight!
well, Kris, hammer dulcimer may be fun, but i chose hammered dulcimer - drunken dulcimer playing - because that sounds even more fun.
and we always need more cowbell
Something I can hit -- drums, or xylophone or hammered dulcimer like Barb, or its cousin the cymbalom... Dale, do you by any WILD chance have Balogh Kalman & the Gypsy Cimbalom Band? (Tomorrow if it's too late for today...)
On the quest for stomach ache songs
Doesn't Trout Fishing in America on their inFINity album have something. I"ll have to listen to it after the show. Junk Food Jump looks promising.
i had not thought of the voice as an instrament until i heard bobby mcfarrin discuss a conversation he had with some guys in india. the voice is so intimate. imagine being a virtuoso of something so personal. i would love to be able to hit all the notes i think about hitting.
Cool, Tim -- if we get into virtuoso voices, I want to be able to do one of these birds -- lark or warbler or nightingale or catbird that can imitate them all...
WOW, thanks Dale. I got to see that Gipsy Cimbalom Band play at the Cedar a few years back, but had forgotten what an aerobic experience it must be to play that thing.
Violin is a beautiful instrument, ever since the soundtrack to the movie "Master and Commander." That was an amazing movie accented by cello and violin duets.
On stomach ache songs, did you play "me no like icky yucky sushi?" I believe the narrator blows chunks in the song.
Have a great morning!
I'm told that I have 'a voice.' In fact, just yesterday, I was over at McPhail being encouraged to take either some classes or lessons. I'd LOVE to learn to play something. Piano, guitar, percussion...I've always wanted to learn to play some instrument. Just never had the time to devote to it. As far as exotic instruments, I've always been intrigued with the armonica...sometimes referred to as the glass harmonica. It wouldn't be easily portable but talk about a cool instrument to be able to play with such a haunting sound...love it!
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