The fifth performance – ‘Berlin’s Jig’.
Overtone Live Acoustic Concert from 2009 features twelve performances.  This hugely important archival footage was lost for over a decade and found again recently.  Hence the delay in releasing it! On Friday the 13th of November 2009, sixteen musicians and composers came together to celebrate the launch of the new album ‘Overtone’ Ancient Music of Ireland. Over the coming weeks each performance will be released on this website and on AMI YouTube Channel https://youtube.com/@ancientmusicireland?si=Cai5RuNm-Oj6EZcC

This fifth performance is called ‘Berlin’s Jig’ and asks the question as to how complex the music may have sounded in Europe circa. 3,000 years ago.
This lively dance tune was composed by five participating musicians on the day of the concert to celebrate the Bronze Age musical instruments of North Western Europe. The instruments played are horns and trumpets of the Irish, Scottish and British family combined with a German lur. Percussion was played on Bronze Age hand bells (crotals) and a frame drum known as the bodhrán in Ireland. This was the only instrument for which there is no actual evidence in the Bronze Age, yet these drums do occur in ancient civilisations around the world. The tempo is based on jig time. The instruments played are an dord íseal (bass Bronze Age Irish trumpet) and crotal (Bronze Age Irish hand bell), mid-range Bronze Age trumpet (Sussex, England) and adharc (side blown Bronze Age Irish horn), German Lur and Irish bodhrán (frame drum). Musicians left to right: –
Dr. John Purser – dord íseal
MA (University of Glasgow), PhD (University of Glasgow) a well-known composer, broadcaster, music archaeologist, playwright, poet and writer. John has been playing Bronze Age Irish trumpets for over 30 years. Dr. John Purser
John Meskell – dord íseal
Multi-instrumentalist including fiddle, bouzouki and bodhrán, John is a top bass Bronze Age trumpet player. He has been playing and developing the technique for over 30 years. John became one of the first musicians to play Bronze Age trumpets with Ancient Music Ireland. The great presence and variety of his playing made an invaluable contribution to the ‘Overtone Live Acoustic’ Concert. John remains one of the top dord-íseal (bass Bronze Age trumpet) players today and one of the few that produces the beautiful overtones.
Maria Cullen O’Dwyer is manager and Co-Founder of Ancient Music Ireland.
Maria has played bodhrán on several albums for both Reconciliation Band and for Ancient Music Ireland. Her playing style lends itself in an unusual way to the pulsing dance rhythms of ‘Reconciliation’. She is dedicated to the promotion, research and documentation of the ancient musical instruments of Ireland. Ancient Music Ireland
Simon O’Dwyer – dord íseal
Co-Founder, Ancient Music Ireland. Simon has dedicated his life’s work (40 years) to the study and reconstruction of prehistoric musical instruments. He is in the vanguard of the pioneering research which is taking place into the music of prehistory worldwide. Simon has composed for Bronze Age horns and trumpets, Iron Age trumpets, Early Medieval horns and bodhrán. Simon has recorded several albums. Ancient Music Ireland
Joachim Schween – German Lur
Based in Hameln in Germany, Joachim is an archaeologist and musician specialising in North German lur and Irish Bronze Age trumpets and horns. He is the keeper and player of a reproduction lur which was cast in 1915.
Rod Callan – Sound Engineer
Rod has recorded both original and reproduction ancient horns and trumpets with Ancient Music Ireland since the research first began over thirty years ago. In this instance he travelled from Penylan Studios in Wales to record the ‘Overtone Live Acoustic’ concert in Galway. His brilliant expertise and experience with the instruments perfectly captured the complexity and multi-colours of the sound. Penylan Studios