World’s Only Cuban Cigar-box Banjo
Some people have a gift for choosing presents
I may have mentioned number one son before. He’s the consultant anaesthetist who never quite let go of the techno music fad when the rest of the world moved on. He is still quite adept at tracking down warehouse raves wherever they pop up around the country.
Well, I should mention, lest he seem two-dimensional, that he does a great sideline in choosing just the present that is going to make the recipient’s face light up at birthdays and Christmas.
The trick seems to be to have an accurate read on how the person really is, rather than how you or others might want them to be, and to choose a gift that honours the essence that you have seen in them. To get a present like that makes you feel understood, accepted and, well… loved!
In the case of his old Dad, he never forgets that I’m a wannabe musician. Before the banjo, he had already recycled some four-track mixing equipment in my direction, and one year bought me a beautiful octave mandola. The Greeks would call this a bouzouki but, tuned an octave below the mandolin’s GDAE, this is just the ticket for blasting out the Irish jigs and reels that I love.
At a snail’s pace, in my case, but the tone of the instrument is arresting, with its lower strings paired between a thick lower one and a thinner one an octave higher.
This year he surprised his step-sister with a Swarovski jewellery set, which she put to immediate use when heading out with her friends that evening. The ultimate accolade from a twenty-year-old who is tremendously careful about her appearance and notoriously difficult to buy for.
For me, he acknowledged that I’m still just a big kid at heart and bought me a pro quality drone. I have always wanted one, but have never been able to come up with even the most convoluted explanation as to why. No need now — I need to master it just because it’s there.
When I turned sixty, my son took care of all of the arrangements for a huge family party, back in the North-East of England, which is still the centre of gravity for the extended family. It was a memorable evening, but throughout the weekend he continued to say that this wasn’t the real present, which was still in the works.
And then the banjo arrived, the curious-looking instrument you can see above, equipped with pickup, tenor banjo tuning and, yes, a cigar box as its body. The instrument has a beautiful tone (though it’s much more like a mellow guitar sound than a plinky banjo). And it has just enough of a soundbox without amplification for me to practice without disturbing the whole family.
The instrument was made to order, by some younger members of my ex-wife’s very large family.
Here’s the thing, and maybe I’m reading entirely too much into this. My second wife is Cuban, and my divorce and remarriage was deeply distressing for the children of my first marriage for the longest time. Because he commissioned this particular gift, with a Cuban cigar box as its base, I felt seen, acknowledged, accepted and loved despite all of that history.
I love you John, and I’m proud of the man that you have become.
Many thanks for reading!
For more glimpses of family life chez Kelly, you may like these:
