Obit: John Wright, France. 04Sept13

Subject: RIP John Wright
From: Dave Hunt
Date: 05 Sep 13 - 04:46 AM

Yesterday I got this shocking news from John's brother Michael (below)

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Very sorry to tell you that John died this lunchtime. We were exchanging emails this morning as he is helping with the book I am writing, so this is very sudden.I can't get my head around it.
Can you please let those in the folk world who knew him the sad news using your contact list.
Michael
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John was one of the world's greatest experts on the Jews Harp...he had done an enormous amount of research and written extensively on the subject - as well as being a brilliant player. Also a fine fiddle player and singer with a wonderful repertoire of traditional material. He had also done a considerable amount of collecting in France

He had lived in France for a very long time - moving from Paris to Angers a few years ago, back to the area his wife Catherine Perrier came from.
We had been friends for almost 50 years,starting as residents at the renowned Giffard Folk Club in Wolverhampton in 1963. We sang together, played together and had lots of fun and enjoyment together....we met on rare occasions over the last few years, but it was always a pleasure and as if we had never been apart...My wife Maggie and I will be in France in October and are hoping to get to Angers to see Catherine. A sad loss to us all.

Subject: RE: RIP John Wright
From: OldNicKilby
Date: 05 Sep 13 - 05:09 AM

I was at School with John in the late 50's. It came as a real surprise when I was at a Fest Nos in Brittany to find myself standing next to John, who was fronting the Band , at the Bar. Great Jews Harp player as are his Brothers

Subject: RE: RIP John Wright
From: Mr Happy
Date: 05 Sep 13 - 05:24 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwwJscW-YS0

Subject: RE: RIP John Wright
From: RoyH (Burl)
Date: 05 Sep 13 - 06:43 AM

Another top man goes. When John was still living in the Midlands he used to visit the old NTMC quite often. It was always a delight to hear him play, and sing, he was a grand singer. I am so sorry to hear of his passing. My condolences to his family.

Subject: RE: RIP John Wright
From: peregrina
Date: 05 Sep 13 - 07:05 AM

It was amazing to get to hear John at Whitby FW five or six years ago. The story about how he inspired his brothers to take up the jew's harp still seems remarkable. RIP and condolences to his family.

Subject: Obit: John Wright, France. 04/09/13
From: GUEST,Roland Scales
Date: 05 Sep 13 - 08:57 AM

Many who have an interest in traditional folk and world music will be sorry to hear of the death of John Wright (not the John Wright who fronted the John Wright Band, and who died in 2008, but the other musician of that name.)

John, who was born and raised in England, but settled in Paris in the mid-1960s, and who found employment in the ethnomusicology section of the Musée de l'Homme, will be remembered as the godfather of the French folk music revival, co-founder of the Paris folk club Le Bourdon in the 1960s, world authority on the Jew's harp, researcher into mediaeval stringed instruments, collector and ethnomusicologist, and an outstanding fiddle player. He later moved from Paris to Angers, where he continued his research at an age when most people would already have retired. Recently he was surveying mediaeval carvings of rebec players and working on a set of plans for a reconstruction of a rebec; fiddles of all varieties were a passion of his, along with the Jew's harp.

He died on Wednesday 4th September.

He leaves a widow, the equally distinguished singer and folksong scholar Catherine Perrier, to whom, I am sure, we send our deepest condolences. Our condolences, too, to Michael and Lucy Wright.

Subject: RE: Obit: John Wright, France. 04/09/13
From: Elmore
Date: 05 Sep 13 - 10:53 AM

I remember John and Catherine from the Fox Hollow Folk Festival ages ago. He seems to have led a full and interesting life. I'm sorry to hear of his passing.

Subject: RE: Obit: John Wright, France. 04/09/13
From: GUEST,Roland Scales
Date: 05 Sep 13 - 12:46 PM

I'm sorry about the pompous, dead-pan posting I sent in earlier. John was a good friend, and he and Catherine such a vibrant couple. I'd spend hours on the phone with them, and I've always been bowled over by their musicianship and the extent of their knowledge. The first time John and I ever met, was to play an impromptu session, just the two of us, on fiddle and concertina at the Saint-Chartier folk festival, one evening, in 1991, or '92. He didn't say much. After about 20 minutes he grunted (in typical John Wright-fashion): "Needs a cello." The following evening we were in one of the village bars, exchanging ballads. And that's how I first met him and Catherine.

Subject: RE: Obit: John Wright, France. 04/09/13
From: GUEST,Guest - Tracy
Date: 05 Sep 13 - 01:50 PM

So sorry to hear John's gone. He and Catherine extended their warm and open hospitality to me and those with me several times in Paris(once out of the blue) and made us really feel at home - we couldn't have done Paris without them. I'll never forget them - I hope Catherine can read all the entries and know that we're all thinking of her in her time of loss. All the best, Catherine.

Tracy

Subject: RE: Obit: John Wright, France. 04/09/13
From: GUEST,Albe Dawson Larsen
Date: 05 Sep 13 - 03:01 PM

I first met John and Catherine in the late '70s or early '80s at one of the Eisteddfods at what was then SMU and is now UMass, Dartmouth, and enjoyed time with them at the Eisteddfod and again at Howard Glasser's home, where Catherine taught me to make her tomato soup - which I do to this day, and always with thoughts of them. John gave my son patient lessons on playing the Jew's harp. We also met at Fox Hollow which we attended regularly.
Years later, when John was working on reconstructing medieval instruments based on measurements he made at the cathedral, Santiago de Compostela, in Compostela, Spain, I had the joy and privilege of visiting them in Paris and of seeing and receiving John's video of some of that work.
We have sadly been out of contact since then.
My thoughts are with you, Catherine, at this very hard time, and with all your and John's extended families.

Subject: RE: Obit: John Wright, France. 04/09/13
From: GUEST,Jack Sprocket
Date: 05 Sep 13 - 06:03 PM

There was a Jewsharper, old and hoary,
Who lived in the town of Ballyborey,
And this Jewsharper, he played before Moses,
And this was all the tne that he could play...

Diddley ay di diddly ay di diddly ay di daro,
Diddly ay di diddly ay di do.

Subject: RE: Obit: John Wright, France. 04/09/13
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Sep 13 - 07:04 AM

i met him in Angers a couple of times. A good musician. rest in peace.

Subject: RE: Obit: John Wright, France. 04/09/13
From: Dave Hunt
Date: 19 Sep 13 - 05:29 PM

Hi Folks....an obituary for John Wright from the Guardian site

(complete with the mis-spelt last word...but do not correct it or no site!!!):

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/sep/18/john-wright-obituray


There is a link to a YouTube clip

There is also quite a bit of other stuff on YouTube

Search for
John Wright 1
John and Micheal Wright at 7th international Jews Harp conference
Tran Quang Hai and John Wright
Catherine Perrier, La Vielle Fille
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Maggie an I are still hoping to get to see Catherine in October when we are in France

Subject: RE: Obit: John Wright, France. 04Sept13
From: matt milton
Date: 20 May 16 - 07:19 AM

I'm listening to John Wright's album on Topic, "Unacompanied", as I type this. It's great stuff.

Did John ever record any other albums?

Subject: RE: Obit: John Wright, France. 04Sept13
From: Thomas Stern
Date: 20 May 16 - 08:42 PM

https://www.discogs.com/John-Wright-La-Guimbarde/release/3108590

Subject: RE: Obit: John Wright, France. 04Sept13
From: Anglo
Date: 20 May 16 - 10:05 PM

John was a founder member of the sea music group Cabestan, and did several albums with them. He was also in a Carolanesque band, I believe it was called Hempson. And he did at least one album with his wife Catherine Perrier. All in France.