This week's winner is L'inconnue de Limoise, which was sumbitted as a mazurka from France. Here is the link to five settings of this tune on thesession.org, where it says it is also known as The Unknown Piper.
I didn't know this tune, looked it up when I saw the poll, loved it, voted for it, and seem to have contributed to settling the vote. It will take me longer than a week to learn, but here's another nice version on melodeon:
What a great tune, I love mazurkas. I have been told that this tune is usually played in the key of C, so I gave it a shot on the mandola with some concertina, double bass and piano.
I love this tune, and recorded it a couple of years ago on mandolin, OM and tenor guitar: 1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin Mid-Missouri M-111 octave mandolin Ozark tenor guitar We've been playing it fairly regularly in our weekly mandolin get togethers since then -- it's a popular tune with my fellow players (and by now a bit more practiced than my old recording). Martin
At last, I have recorded this. Dedicated to my lovely wife, who isn't from Limoise but at least from the same country.
That sounds sweat Gelsenbury. Do you play accordeon yourself? A good combination of instruments. I love it.
Lovely Gelensbury, really enjoyed it. I like the tremolo on the mandolin, was hoping for more of that but then the accordion stepped in and took that role. Really well put together.
Just listened to David’s version. Concertina is so sweet- really fits this tune. Brilliant.
Dennis, that was really very good, perhaps your best effort to date, everything was absolutely perfect.
Thank you, those comments mean a lot to me. I tried to take on board some of the recording tips I have read around here, and the whole experience was much more relaxed than I had expected. It's the tune that's perfect ... It has a special quality to it, and working the other instruments around the melody was great fun. It was also nice to find a role for the accordion, although unfortunately playing a few notes is the full extent of my skills at this stage. Finding practice time for the accordion is even harder than for the mandolin! Thank you again for the encouragement. I'll try to work on my backlog of songs-a-week.
Dennis, that was delicious. I listened to it with the same joy as I had while listening to David's and Martin's version.
Yesteday, I felt like playing something completely different from my ususal waltzes. So I had a look at the Table of Contents and chose L'inconnu de Limoise BTW:Brillant versions David, Martin and Gelsenbury
Fine recording and playing, Christian. Your tremelo technique is excellent and tone is really good.
Ah, one of my favourite tunes of all time! Your tremolo has really turned into something special, it's so smooth and tasteful. The recording quality is great too. And FC Limoise ... now that's a team I didn't know!
Nicely done!
Thanks John, Gelsenbury and Frithjof! Tremolo might be OK, but I still have to work on my tremability...
Tremolo ok? No, it’s great! You have a really nice bounce to it. Really well done. Thanks.
This is one of your best Christian. I love it. Do you do your own guitar too?
Thanks atsunrise and Ginny. Yes, I play my own guitar. That's the instrument that got me started a long time ago...
This tune has just been revived by Simon in a different thread, where I've also posted my own new recording. Both his and mine should really have gone here, so I'm reposting: We've played this lots of times with our group since my original 2014 recording as it's a big favorite of some of our players. Here is a new recording as a simple mandolin and tenor guitar duet, omitting the harmony we normally use. Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin Vintage Viaten tenor guitar Martin
Martin, your new recording fits well in this thread with so many real amazing recordings. And thanks for connecting the other tune with this official SAW. While listening to Simon’s recording over there I had the strong feeling that I know the tune – but couldn’t set it in the right place. I’m happy now to get some structure in my music memories.
Thanks Martin, same here, I arrived at the other thread with my tune to post and I thought, yes I know we’ve done three or four French tunes in the last two years but I was sure L’inconnu de Limoise was one of them! I trusted the computer over my own memory... Here is another fragment of that earlier post: ‘Seeing as I live over here I thought I should at least post a couple of French tunes. Octave mandolin on this one, expertly backed up by a little ukulele. And yes, today is the coldest so far so I’m sitting on the electric radiator, playing music at the same time. Hope you guys enjoy this. Thanks Christian, yes it’s [edit: the song is] a lovely true story of some construction workers who were digging to build a new motorway. They found a shallow grave with a man’s remains in it and alongside the man they found his set of pipes. One of the lines of the lyrics expresses the man’s surprise to have been sleeping there peacefully for so long and suddenly, impolitely, be moved -for what good reason? It was an unmarked grave. The title of the song however, implies that the man was not simply unknown, but perhaps a stranger, a foreigner or someone who is somehow different from the others. Here’s the ukulele improved version: https://youtu.be/Q72b_3AQncY And here’s one of my ‘lift’ secrets. I like to call this one ‘Play a hornpipe rhythm like John Carty in a couple of hours’ -it works! Pick pattern DU, DU, DU etc and you can set YT time button to X1.5’ https://youtu.be/mtg3w7pmz_s
Here’s an abc file with three parts if anyone else wants to do this as a full production! (using mandolintab.net) X:1 T: L’inconnu de Limoise C: J-F Maxou Heintzen arr. Isa van Meel M:3/4 %Meter L:1/8 % K:G V:1 gchord=down D GA |:"G"B2 BG cA |B2 z B cd |"Am"c2 cB AG |"D"A2 z D GA |"G"B2 BG cA ||1 B2 z B cd |"Am"c2 cB AG |"D7"D2 z D GA :|2"G"B2 z B cd |"Am"c2 z B AF |"D7"d2 z B cd || |:"C"e2 gf ef |"G"d2 z c BA |"Em"GF GA (3BAG |"G"D2 z G GF |"C"E2 z F GA | "Am"G2 F2 E2 ||1"D"F2 z E FG |A2 z B cd :|2"D"FE FG AB |"G"G3 |] V:2 z3 |:d2 B2 A2 |G2 G2 z2 |A2 G2 E2 |F2 F2 z2 |d2 B2 A2 || G2 G2 z2 |E2 A2 c2 |d4 z2 :|G2 G2 z2 |A2 B2 c2 |A4 z2 || |:G4 A2 |B4 z2 |B2 c2 d2 |B4 BA |G4 GF | E4 c2 ||A4 D2 |D4 z2 :|A4 c2 |B3 |] V:3 z3 |:G,4 F,2 |G,4 G,,2 |A,,4 C,2 |D,4 z2 |G,4 F,2 || G,4 G,,2 |A,,2 B,,2 C,2 |D,4 z2 :|G,4 A,2 |F,2 D,2 E,2 |F,2 E,2 D,2 || |:C,4 C,2 |G,4 F,2 |E,4 F,2 |G,4 B,,2 |C,4 E,2 | A,4 A,2 ||D,4 E,2 |F,2 E,2 D,2 :|D,2 E,2 F,2 |G,3 |]