Please, could someone else listen to the midi file of the mazurka I gave a link to above (From: Helen Date: 05 Jul 06 - 05:56 PM). To me, the first part sounds almost the same as Louis Roy's mystery tune.

When I first listened to it, with the different speed, and being played with a piano sound, it seemed similar only, but then when I compared the sheet music on that page with the sheet music generated by the abc posted by Stewart on this thread (as generated at Concertina.net) I realised that the first part of the Mazurka is almost the same as Louis's tune.

If it is the same tune it doesn't solve the mystery, because Jack Kevans didn't know the name of the tune, which was not common for him because, as I recall, he knew the names of almost every tune he played and where he got it from. But, it might give a starting point for tracking it back. I know some people who played music with him and they may be able to shed some light on it.

The reason I went looking for Mazurkas in the first place, in relation to this tune, is that the name of Sally Sloane, kept popping into my head. SS was born in the 1890's in NSW, Australia and had collected many songs & tunes to play. Many of her songs/tunes were collected by John Meredith in his Folk Songs of Australia book, which has dance tunes like varsoviennas, mazurkas, schottisches, as well as songs. There were significant crossovers of American and Australian tunes, probably relating to the goldrushes.

Jack Kevans also played in a band set up to showcase the work of an old timer called Charlie Batchelor, a fiddler, who had been playing these old tunes for most of his life.

But, I need someone else to listen to and compare the two tunes.

Please.   :-)

Helen