Derek Monypeny at Acme Records and Music Emporium in Milwaukee on July 8, 2019

Derek Monypeny came to Acme Records in July of this year and I must admit I went to see him on faith. Ken Chrisien, the owner of Acme, recommended the show, despite not having any LPs of Monypeny's to sell. Ken told me that there was a release on Bandcamp of Monypeny playing the oud and that it was fantastic, and that was all I needed to hear.

Derek's instrument for this show was a Shahi Baja, which is a sort of electric banjo made in India (see photo). There are 6 "playing" and 10 sympathetic strings on this instrument, although there are other versions with more sympathetic strings. One of the most interesting features of the instrument are the 30 typewriter keys which are used to bend the playing strings.

It goes without saying that the instrument played is irrelevant if the musician is not playing interesting music. Luckily, this performance was fascinating. 

Please support this superb musician by seeing his live shows, buying multiple copies of his great merchandise (your friends are starving for music -- why aren't you buying them music?), and talking to him respectfully after shows. Unless he looks tired or something.

https://derekmonypeny.bandcamp.com
https://www.derekmonypeny.com

downloads (click on the description to download):

16bit, 44.1kHz WAV file (412 MB)

suitable for burning to CD

16bit, 44.1kHz ALAC file (162 MB)

lossless copy of the wav file - can also be burned to CD or played on your iPhone

320kbps mp3 file (94 MB)

highest quality version of this lossy-but-popular audio file format