Irish Fiddle Blog

The Irish Fiddle

• Trad legends flock to festival
  Next weekend in Baltimore, west Cork, Declan McCarthy's Fiddle Fair will celebrate its 20th anniversary and one of the most beautiful villages in the world will come alive to some of the best traditional music on the planet. Grammy-winning musician Tim O'Brien, who will perform once more at this year's event, has said of the Baltimore Fiddle Fair: "You couldn't ask for a better line-up or a

  
  

  
  
  
• Martin Hayes to play Kinvara
  Cover of Martin Hayes "Martin Hayes, regarded by many as the finest fiddler of his generation, will play a solo gig in Johnston's Hall, Kinvara, on Friday 27 April at 9pm. The concert is hosted by Kinvara Area Music Collective (KAM) as part of its concert series for 2012. This will be Martin Hayes' first concert in Kinvara and promises to be a special night. The intimate venue should perfectly

  
  

  
  
  
• Canadian fiddles with Celtic culture
  Bilingual sign, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, in Scottish Gaelic (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Scottish tenants brutally forced off their land in the Highland Clearances of the late 18th and early 19th centuries have a direct bearing on why Gillian Boucher plays the fiddle. The Canadian violinist, who will perform with musicians Andrew White and Owen Van Larkins at the Bent Horseshoe Cafe in Tokomaru

  
  

  
  
  
• Fiddler Molsky returns to Cornell for workshop
  Cover of Bruce MolskyAcclaimed fiddler Bruce Molsky, who started playing while studying engineering at Cornell University, will return to Ithaca Saturday for a pair of events sponsored by the Cornell Folk Song Society. At 3 p.m. he'll host an old-time fiddle workshop in the Willard Straight Hall Music Room 411, and at 8 p.m. he'll play a concert at 165 McGraw Hall on the Cornell Arts Quad.

  
  

  
  
  
• Canadian fiddle wonder April Verch returns to Mansfield’s Rose Garden Coffeehouse on Saturday - Brockton, MA - The Enterprise
  April Verch Band performs Saturday on the Custom House Stage (Photo credit: Wikipedia)"It’s not often you get the chance to hear and see an Olympic-caliber fiddler and performer. But if you’ve ever attended Mansfield’s Rose Garden Coffeehouse, April Verch‘s name should be familiar. She has performed there several times and returns this Saturday, April 28, 2012. An effervescent Canadian fiddler,

  
  

  
  
  
• Arts body elects new members
  Aos Dána (Photo credit: photopol) "Aosdána, set up in 1981 to honour those who have made an outstanding contribution to the arts in Ireland, elected three new members at its general assembly yesterday. The election of Frances Hegarty, Patrick McCabe and Tommy Peoples brings its membership to 273. Frances Hegarty was born in Teelin, Donegal. She has worked over four decades with video, audio,

  
  

  
  
  
• Irish Music Kicking off the 14th annual Arts Festival at Boston College on April 26
  "Irish fiddle champion Seamus Connolly, head of the Gaelic Roots Music Program, is kicking off this year's Arts Festival at Boston College on Thursday, April 26, 2012 at O'Neill Plaza, starting at noon. Connolly, a noted musician, composer and educator, and Sullivan Artist in Residence at BC's Irish Studies Program, will lead an ensemble of Irish teachers and students to perform a 45 minute set

  
  

  
  
  
• Gerry Diver: The Speech Project – review
  Cover of Alan Lomax"The idea is certainly original: take a series of interviews with well-known Irish musicians, and then mix short excerpts of speech with instrumental work that follows the rhythms of a spoken phrase. The interviewees include Christy Moore, Shane MacGowan, Damien Dempsey and traditional singer Margaret Barry (heard talking to folklorist Alan Lomax in 1953), and the music is

  
  

  
  
  
• Fiddle Tutorial - The Irish Washerwoman
  Free online fiddle tutorial - learn an Irish jig, the Irish Washerwoman Related articlesIrish Arts Center' Bodhrán instructor films Irish scene for 'Gossip Girl' (irishbodhran.blogspot.com) Traditional Irish Music in a Modern Ireland (Documentary) (irishtradmusic.blogspot.com) Evening of Irish culture planned (irishbodhran.blogspot.com) Music, dancing and storytelling highlight Celtic family

  
  

  
  
  
• Fiddle experts visit Skokie
  Image by grepsy via FlickrRachel Baiman and Christian Sedelmyer aren’t just fiddlin’ around with their music. They’re serious, committed young musicians, living in Nashville, and immersed in performing, writing, and exploring a wide range of folk and related styles, from traditional and bluegrass, to folk-rock, swing, and progressive. They are multi-instrumentalists but concentrate their music