S q u e e z y t u n e s

My Fantasy Music Room

When I win the lottery (which is very unlikely given that I've never bought a single ticket) I will buy a big mansion. And in that mansion I will have a big music room. And in that music room I will have lots and lots of the world's most wonderful musical instruments including this hapsichord currently on Ebay.

It's a copy of a version made in 1645 that's on display in the Russell Collection in Edinburgh and is absolutely stunning. What a wonderful first addition to my Fantasy Music Room !

Framlingham Summer Festival

The summer concerts at Framlingham castle appear to be a thing of the past ever since Wingfield Arts stopped receiving funding from the government. Despite this disappointment though, a new organisation called Arts Framlingham are bringing us a Summer Festival this year.

Highlights are a demonstration of organ building and playing in St Michael's Church on Wednesday 29th June, a Photographic Exhibition at the Unitarian Meeting House (which I myself will be entering just as soon as I found out how), and a production of Hamlet at the Castle on Saturday 6th July.

Most exciting of all though is a concert by Alice Russell in St. Michael's Church on Wednesday 6th July. Alice Russell is best known as one of the funky, jazzy soul divas with the Quantic Soul Orchestra who are very, very cool. She also has her own CD out too which I bought a few weeks ago. Click here to read the reviews at Amazon, or here to hear soundclips from www.tunes.co.uk

The Big Weekend in Cambridge

Cambridge's Strawberry Fair seems to have been replaced with The Big Weekend this year. On Friday 8th July there's a free pop concert in the park, whilst on Saturday 9th there's a 12 hour show of rock and pop bands, a French market and a firework display - all free. Best of all though is World Music Day on Sunday 10th - free music from 12 noon to 8pm.

Only on Ebay

Before I highlight some specials on ebay this week here's an update on how last week's auctions ended up.

The "ancient" accordian ended up going for £82 which isn't too bad for a nice piece of squeezebox history.

The flutina went for just £60 reflecting the fact that it's bellows are slightly damaged. Again though this isn't a bad price for an early piece of squeezebox history as I've seen them go for considerably more.

Finally the accordina went for a massive £331.01. I had no idea how sought after these instruments are. I've noted that you can by them new from a maker in France although I've never worked out just how much a new one costs.

And so, on to this weeks goodies. First up is another rarity and something that I've never seen before a Harmoniflute.

These were apparently the first squeezebox instrument to feature a piano style keyboard and were made from about 1855 by a French company called Busson who incidentally also made the Accordina featured last time. They were not played upright like a piano accordian but were played either on your lap or on a stand. Nobody has bid for the auction yet, but there's a "buy it now" price of £155 reflecting the rarity of these. I guess though that these things don't sound too great and so that's a lot of money for an ornament. Click here to see the auction.

This weeks final featured instrument is for a 19th Century German button accordian. However this isn't just any old button accordian it's called a Wonderphone and it has 11 little trumpet horns coming out of one end of it. It's quite tricky to spot on the photos, but have a close look and eventually you'll make them out. Click here to see the auction.

Free MP3 of the Week

It's been a few weeks since I last posted links to a quality, legal and entirely free MP3, so this week I've got two. Both are by Rory McLeod, ex-circus clown and fire eater, one man soulband, poet and storyteller. So here are two versions of his anti-war song "No More Blood For Oil"

No More Blood For Oil - live version

No More Blood For Oil - studio version