No corn whiskey required

The Tinkers: Traditional Irish and American Music
Cassette available from Tim Meyen (06) 230 2504, or Sean Kenan (06) 2470 294
Reviewed by Denis Kevans

If music means timing, then this tape by the Tinkers, which skelters, without heltering, is superlative music.

The Tinkers are four young men, led by Sean Kenan, the fiddler. The sets step from one dance hall to another without missing a beat. Josh Gordon (fiddle), Dan Gordon (flute, whistle), Tim Meyen (dulcimer) and Pablo Shopen (guitar), led by Sean, make music that moves fast, is never ragged, and shouts and leaps with no corn whiskey required.

The tape opens with “The Kesh Jig” “Out on the Ocean” and “Kid on the Mountain”. Each set is timed to fit into radio station broadcasts. The hammered dulcimer of Tim Meyen (eg “Ashokan Farewell”) adds a note of nostalgia and a memory-nudging flavour. For the first time we hear Sean Kenan's own inspiration in “The Fern Glade”.

Sean Kenan, a community leader, was not just pushed around but actually tortured by three federal police sergeants after the Aidex arms bazaar at Canberra in 1992.

This music will get a thousand feet tapping, as the rosined bows tickle the whiskers of mountain tops.

This article was posted on the Green Left Weekly Home Page.
For further details regarding subscriptions and
correspondence please contact glw@greenleft.org.au

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