Africa Polka is a song I got from Turner’s Banjo Journal #10, a British magazine of sheet music from the 1880s or 1890s. I think it was a yankophile thing populated mainly with American music. There was a banjo fad going on in England, an early example of American folk culture crossing over to the top of the pops. It was similar to the way that Howling Wolf’s shows in Britain in the 1960s influenced the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton.

I was playing with live dancing in mind. The part with just chords and no melody might be fun to jam over — the chords are C-G-G-C and G-D-D-G.

The guitar has a couple rattles. There’s a blooper note near the end that I am hoping doesn’t really affect anything. YouTube reencodes the original video to sound and look really bad.

This recording is hereby in the public domain.

I know this is obsessive, given that I’ve already done five, but I have two new versions of Horace Weston’s Old Time Jig, this time dated March 3, 2010. I thought I was done with this tune but I happened to play it at a slower tempo that was just right and magic happened.

The first of the two new versions is a straight acoustic recording from the mic on my laptop. The second is the same recording with an effect that gives it a electronic feeling. After all these straight acoustic recordings, it’s interesting to hear it with heavy processing.

The untreated naturalistical acoustic version:

• MP3
• Theora
• Flac
• Ogg Vorbis

The unholy electronista version aka Horace Weston’s Electronic Jig:

• Horace Weston’s Electronic Jig.mp3
• Horace Weston’s Electronic Jig, March 3 2010.ogv
• Horace Weston’s Electronic Jig.flac
• Horace Weston’s Electronic Jig.ogg

About the copyright on these recordings, I hereby put them in the public domain.

“Egyptian Retreat” is another tune I got from Ellis’ Thorough School for the Six or Seven- Stringed Banjo (PDF). In this recording I play the 1st banjo part on the Fairbanks potato-bug mandolin I just got and the 2nd banjo part on my parlor guitar.

Here’s the sheet music for people who are inclined suchlike and accordingly:

My recording is hereby in the public domain. Do whatever you want with it.

Yesterday’s version of Horace Weston’s Old Time Jig was better than the day before, but it started weak and was emotionally distant. It needed a beginning and it needed fire.

So here it is, the fourth and (I hope) final recording.

It’s 1:43 long. It’s in A minor. The time signature is 2/4. The tempo is 173.

Here’s a version of Horace Weston’s Old Time Jig which improves on yesterday’s in that it’s faster, it fixes a timing problem, and it’s on my steel string instead of my nylon string.

I have done a new recording of the 1885 schottishe “Slightly On The Mash”. You are welcome to reuse my recording in derivative works or upload it to other people. It is in the key of D. The time signature is 4/4. The length is 1:16.

MP3
AIFF
Ogg Flac
Ogg Vorbis

<br /> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfuvmmmYtVA"><br /> <img decoding="async" src="http://soupgreens.com/audio/slightlyonthemash/LucasGonze-SlightlyOnTheMash.png" alt="Lucas Gonze playing Slightly On The Mash schottische" /><br /> </a><br />

This is the second recording I’ve done of this tune and the fourth post related to it. Other posts in the series: Slightly on the Mash; E. Pique revealed; E. Pique motherlode