Harper and Hanway take the banjo into the future

TOM Hanway and Dave Harper will be playing at the Highway in Crusheen on the night of November 24.

 

Described as “a futuristic blend of traditional tenor and five-string banjo music reaching back to old time, country blues, and bluegrass gospel songs” the duo have known each other for many years.
Tom Hanway is a native of New York and he said they met in Miltown Malbay, when both of them were camped next to each other at the Willie Clancy festival.

“We camped in the same field, we were right next to each other. It was my very first trip to Ireland and he was one of the first people I met and I started playing sessions. I was just learning the ropes back then, I had never been here and I only had a small number of tunes.

“I brought a tape recorder and for two weeks I went around Ireland and taped tunes. What happened was he was one of my first teachers, that’s how we came together. We played together on and off for years, we’re old friends. He’s one of my old mentors and I’m really happy now that I have enough tunes now to play with him.”

He says that they combine elements of a few different styles. “We’re both banjo players, but I play the five string banjo and I have an American musical palate. Dave is a multi-instrumentalist and plays the tenor banjo and the flute.

“We can combine different traditions, I still play Irish traditional music, I’m a tune collector. I collect Irish tunes and tunes from Wales and Scotland and other places. We both have a love of traditional music but it’s a broader musical palate than just Irish traditional music.”

Tom still frequently travels back to the US, playing tunes and collecting traditional music from across a wide spectrum. He is also a writer and in 1998 published a seminal work, The Complete Book of Irish and Celtic 5-string Banjo.

Dave Harper lives in the Burren and is a much sought after traditional musician and singer with an extensive musical history and background. He is known as one of the foremost exponents of the Irish tenor banjo, while he also plays and teaches the concert flute, tin whistle, guitar, mandola and bodhran.

He tours Denmark three times a year with fiddle player Lars Kristensen, while he has given workshops at home and abroad including at the Feakle international music festival. In 2009 he took part in the much-publicised Pure Irish Drops European tour with piper Micheal O’Connell and accordionist Conor Keane.