Gaelic low notes in Ré an tSolais ?

[Fielder 3,676]

 

At 1:45 the guy over on the far right, how is he making those low tones, almost sounds like a hurdy gurdy? (Trad TG4 uploads traditional music from Scotland and Ireland's TV channels).

 

 

 

[Fielder 3,676]

https://www.tg4.ie/ga/

[Chock 17,769]

That's Manus Lunny on the Large Bodied Irish Bouzouki. His brother, Donal Lunny is also a musician and producer, and is one of the musicians credited with bringing the Irish Bouzouki into existence; Donal was given a Bouzouki in the 70s, but in wishing to adapt it for suitability to the music he played, he altered its two lower G and D courses - a course is typically a pair of strings, these tuned an octave apart, and usually played as one string - so that instead of being an octave apart, the the pair of strings were changed to the thicker gauge, with both tuned to the lower octave, which Donal did in the hopes of creating a low drone with long sustain. Later, Donal had a luthier actually make a variant of the bouzouki more suited to this adaptation, with a partially staved back bowl, further enhancing the desired tonal range, and a brass bridge to increase the sustain.

This custom-built Bouzouki, and its popularity, led to the development of the 'Irish Bouzouki', which is now an instrument type of its own. Manus Lunny, is playing one of these instruments in that video. His instrument was custom made for him by luthier Andy Tobin, who you might be interested to note started out wanting to be an aeronautical engineer before deciding maths wasn't his strong point and ending up making musical instruments in Hertfordshire instead!

This is not as weird as it sounds; for example, the material developed for the sound damping in the Hughes 500 helicopter's cockpit, went on to be the basis of the 'plastic' bowl back of Ovation acoustic guitars, because of its specific acoustic properties. These guitars were popular in the 1970s with bands such as Supertramp and ELO and contribute a lot to their sound.

Manus Lunny's Irish Bouzouki has a number of features which help to increase its sustain, including a brass bridge and carbon fibre neck inserts. However, as far as getting that sound is concerned in regard to playing technique, if I had to guess, I would think he is playing harmonics to get those droning notes, which would explain the the long sustain and droning tone. Possibly he may be using an energy bow (difficult to tell from that camera distance, since EBows are small). You can also blag that EBow effect if you have a lot of sustain, by 'violining' the volume control on electric or electro-acoustic instruments (i.e. slowly rolling up the volume knob with your little finger as you pluck the string, to change the attack of the note to a slow rise). The same effects can be had with a volume foot pedal, so he may be doing that. Then again, it might just be an instrument with really amazing sustain and he's just going for it on the harmonics, he is after all, a very good player.

This is one of the interesting aspects of what typically gets called traditional music; it's often nowhere near as traditional as some people might imagine, with the musicians and singers often willing to expand and experiment, mixing influences from all over the place and the employment of a Greek/Turkish instrument in Irish music is a good example of that.

That's why at gigs I use a ten-stringed Puerto Rican Cuatro to play a cover version of Steve Earl's Copperhead Road, because it sounds like a guitar and a mandolin playing at the same time, which is the same concept of thicker strings creating a longer drone. You can hear when I play that, the low strings maintaining a drone whilst the thinner strings sound the melody, it sounds like a few instruments playing, but it is just me on the Cuatro, plus me singing and tapping my foot on a drum kick:

 

Edited March 16, 2021 by Chock

[TOGA-saurus 330]

Never thought I'd see someone post a link to TG4 on these forums 😂 Act tá sé Seachtain na nGaeilge anois so that could explain the hype 😄 it's a very impressive tone that lad is making though, pretty fascinating!

[Fielder 3,676]

Lol, I'm a displaced Scotsman myself, there is nothing so good on American TV despite all the channels.

There's a myriad of unusual stringed instruments to be encountered all over Youtube, but I never knew low registers could be called up as I think Chock was disclaiming by pairs of strings. There are things that look like very long guitars and is easier for me to understand.

Anyone can see how a gurdy mechanically sustains a note.

A renaissance kithara altered from ancient version which sang the music of the spheres:  Psalms 43:4 "Confitebor tibi in cithara, Deus, Deus meus,". The basic principle, even I do see. 🙂

 

[Fielder 3,676]

Oh great now they're messing with my mind again making an accordion sound like a clarinet...

 

[HighBypass 2,339]

Slight digression - excellent cover of one of my all time favourites, Al