Peter P. Johanssen

Recently, I bought myself a 4-string banjo. That is the beginning of the story. I love Irish music.

I am originally from Germany and for the past 17 years I am living in the UK.
I felt always, one third of my ancestry is of Celtic origin, hence, the love for Irish folk music.

At the moment, I am concentrating on finding 12 Irish tunes.

Two or three months ago, when I bought the tenor banjo, I promised myself to recoup the money by playing Irish tunes on the streets of London or the London Underground. This takes a lot of courage on my side, but is also a good training. The instrument plus case had cost me £160. I got both parts for 50% of the original price as my local music shop was on the brink of closing down and it had a sell-out.

There is actually another story behind all of this.

Once upon a time, I owned a 5-string banjo which vanished over the years; I have moved to too many places. Last year I found then another instrument slumbering in a second-hand shop. She, the instrument, called out at me, "Buy me, buy me!" I gave her a good look and I desired to buy her and I bought her. £ 75 was the price. The owner insisted on on the price. No compromising. I paid.

Next, the music shop announced its closure by the end of year 2012. As already mentioned, many items were on offer at the time, many for 50%.

I jumped at the opportunity, took my 5-string banjo by the hand, rushed to the store and asked for a hard case. The shop keeper looked around the shelves, found one, showed me one. However, it was not the right length. "No, we don’t. Unfortunately, we don’t have any!" the shopkeeper announced.

"Mhmm, I don’t give up," said I in my mind. I looked around and I saw a 4-string banjo hanging at the wall. She, the instrument, had, so it seemed to me, looked down for years into the shopping area and was often unattended, unconsidered and unloved, time to pay attention to her. "Let’s try this out!" Im said by pointing at the instrument. We got the lovely 4-string banjo from the wall and put her into the softly lined-out hard case. It fitted 100%. It was all perfect.

This was the story of how I bought my Irish tenor banjo.

(last update: 3 March 2013)