1. Overtone Live
The first performance – ‘Overtone Live’.
Overtone Live Acoustic Concert features twelve performances. One track will be released each week for the next twelve weeks on this website and on the Ancient Music Ireland Youtube channel https://youtube.com/@ancientmusicireland?si=Cai5RuNm-Oj6EZcC The audio files are on bandcamp https://ancientmusicireland.bandcamp.com/album/overtone-live-acoustic
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. That evening they performed a concert at St. Nicholas’ Collegiate Church in Galway City. The event was organised by Ancient Music Ireland to explore the overtone properties of the ancient and prehistoric horns of Ireland, Britain and Europe both in a live acoustic habitat and accompanied by other more modern instruments. The concert was recorded by Rod Callan of Penylan Studios.
Performers were collected in groups which brought together particular combinations of sounds and musical traditions. The main purpose of the concert was to explore the variety and colour of music that can be played on ancient horns and to demonstrate them as complex musical instruments in their own right.
Some of the tunes featured only bronze horns whilst others combined them with traditional and modern acoustic instruments. It was very important that the concert would be played completely acoustically. Thus, no electronics of any kind were employed. The only microphones present were recording and the only effect was the natural soundscape created by the magnificent acoustic properties of the building. It was hoped that one or two unusual audio colours might be realised during the performance but no one could have predicted the tremendous power and richness of the sound spectrum that filled the room nor the complete certainty with which the instruments, old and new combined together in harmony.
Musicians travelled from America, Germany, England, Scotland and different parts of Ireland. Though many had not previously met each other before, during the rehearsal sessions on the day of the concert it became evident that something new and exciting was happening. Tunes and instrument combinations which had never been played together before took shape mainly due to the proficiency and professional excellence of the players. One particularly historic aspect was the introduction of a reproduction English Iron Age carnyx. This was the first time in modernity that one of these instruments was played and heard in public in approximately two thousand years. Though the distinctive head of the carnyx was yet to be attached by the maker, the essential sound, tuning and power were imminently evident.
About Overtone Live Performance
‘Overtone Live’ was the first tune played at the concert. In a way it was the simplest, yet the most important. Three bass bronze trumpets or ‘dord íseal’ were featured to explore the multiplicity of overtones that are created and emphasised when bass trumpets in the same key are played together. In this instance they were all tuned to low E flat. The idea was inspired from the album ‘Coirn na hÉireann’ when an original bass bronze trumpet was over tracked three times and generated higher tones that were clearly audible. Thus, the research which began in 1994 into instrumental overtones had culminated in the concert at St. Nicholas’ Collegiate Church. The tune perfectly demonstrates the concept of embellishing a continuous single tone with a variety of shades of higher and lower moving and changing colour to transform it into a rich and encapsulating musical experience.
John Meskell – dord íseal (end-blown bass Bronze Age trumpet). Multi-instrumentalist including fiddle, bouzouki and bodhran, John is considered as 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.
John Purser – dord íseal (end-blown bass Bronze Age trumpet). 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.
Simon O’Dwyer – dord íseal (end-blown bass Bronze Age trumpet). Co-Founder, Ancient Music Ireland. Simon has dedicated his life’s work (40 years) to the study and the 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 and registered many pieces for Bronze Age horns and trumpets, Iron Age trumpets, Early Medieval horns and bodhrán. Simon has recorded several albums.
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.
