From SidneyR: Troubadours from "The Pit of the Pendulum" (30 points)

 

"One, two...ah, one-two-three... No, no.  We go on 'four', not three.  Always four, never three.  It's been that way since Valencia in '84.  Let's go again.   ...  Ah, one, two... one-two-three... NO, WE GO ON FOUR, never 'three'... Let's take it from the top...again..."

Fernando Cantante, Frustrated "musician", 1688

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When Curt suggested a Chamber for Challenge XI based on torture, my mind stumbled towards the everyday horror of playing the violin as a young boy, and the terrors that created in my family.  Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, lingering in the family home for hours would suddenly leave, making their excuses quickly.  The world has few horrors to match a young, enthusiastic, yet hopeless, musician armed with a cheap violin.  And so this Challenge submission was born.

Ladies and Gentlemen, esteemed Challengers, if you ever visit an army camp in late seventeenth century Flanders, and these two travelling musicians appear, prepare to flee - quickly.  Regiments which are steadfast under the heaviest fire dissolve in chaos before the musical repertoire of Señors Fernando and Antonio Cantante. 

From Cadiz to Milan, from Antwerp to Naples, the brothers Cantante have plied their musical 'gifts' for many diverse audiences.  The takings in their battered hat, proffered enthusiastically, are rarely high enough to bring an early end to the evening's 'entertainment', at least until the brothers start singing.  At which time, enough florins and guilders usually trickle into the hat to persuade them to move on. 

War may be terrible, but if you are faced with an enthusiastic but hopeless pair of musicians, even the hottest of cannon fire is perhaps preferable.

I've had these two figures hanging around the painting table for years.  They started life as a Games Workshop C46 Villager (with the viol) and another figure from, I think, a medieval tavern set. I swapped one of the heads for a Redoubt seventeenth century head, and added a lot of green stuff to turn the medieval outfits into something perhaps 'more 1688'.  The drum is from Redoubt, and the collection of discarded uniforms (clearly from a soldier hurrying away from the terrifying noise) is from Dixon Miniatures.

I've added another of the Laarden 'Character Cards' for the tuneless Troubadours - keep collecting folks, many more to come this Challenge!

As regards points, Fernando and Antonio are in 28mm, so 5 points for each brother and 20 for completing 'The Pit of the Pendulum', in truly terrifying fashion.

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The 'Music/Musician' Theme is now up for Viewing! (and Curt's 'Alpine Duet')

Greetings Everyone!

The third Theme Round of Challenge VIII is now up for your viewing pleasure!

This fortnight's theme is 'Music/Musician' and we have 34 participants who have submitted entries for your enjoyment. In the theme gallery you will see every assortment of lute, drum and horn (plus a few other instruments thrown in between the registers). 

Please click here, or on the 'Bonus Theme' link in the navigation bar above to take in the efforts of the participants. Again, once you're there, please use the links on the right sidebar to navigate through the entries. As I mentioned before, there is a bug in Blogger in how it displays multiple entries over several pages on a single day, so use the links in the sidebar so you are sure to see everyone's entries.

Finally, remember to take time to vote for your favourite submissions. You can vote for as many as you like. The top three in votes will get additional points added on to their total for the round.

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It was a bit of a scramble for me this week, but for my entry I've come up with a vignette that I've been wanting to do since I began my Italian Wars project a few years ago: a Swiss alphorn player calling out to his reisläufer camarades. 

A very unique instrument, the alphorn has its roots extending back to antiquity, with theories believing that it originated with the lituus war horn from the Etruscan period.  Early medieval alpine myths frequently refer to the horn being used as a signalling device between mountain villages, while the first documented reference of the word 'alphorn' is in a 1527 account book of a Cistercian abby, where an alphorn player was paid two Batzen for his playing.

So with this in mind, I've extrapolated that if the alphorn was a fairly common instrument amongst the Swiss from at least the early medieval period, one could conjecture that they would have used them in their military campaigns, for signalling purposes and, like the highland pipes, to raise the morale of their fighting men.

As there are no alphorn figures in the market (a shocking oversight, I know) I made my own by bisecting the torso of a Perry Swiss musician, removed his existing instrument, and reposed him (aided with a liberal amount of wire and green stuff) to accept his 10 foot alphorn.  

The alphorn itself was made from a length of plastic rod with greenstuff wrapped around it and then sanded to shape.

For a bit of fun, I've accompanied the alpshornist in a somewhat mismatched duet with a Landsknecht flautist, while a few onlookers are taking in the concert, enjoying a refreshment. 

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Now, please visit the theme gallery and enjoy the wonderful entries for 'Music/Musician' and remember to vote for your favourite submissions (voting closes next Saturday at 11:45pm).

Take it away!

Song: 'Heart of Cairo' (2013)

Artist: Eliana Burki