"If you look at a thing nine hundred and ninety-nine times, you are perfectly safe; if you look at it the thousandth time, you are in frightful danger of seeing it for the first time."
-G.K. Chesterton
It's full of videos like the one below, taken from a fiddler's perspective, and in some really lovely locations. This was my favourite, or at least very close in the running, so far; it was kind of a bonus to hear a really good new tune that I'd never heard before (it was composed by the lady behind the fiddle and the camera) in the glory of such a boundless setting.
There is plenty more where that came from. Go have a look and a listen.
Here's a rather introspective piece. Maybe a bit more avant-garde than the usual fare around here. . .but it's a beauty. Far from Portland, from Lau. (I recall seeing a video on this one a year and some ago; that percussive bit at the start, and woven throughout, that is a little hard to place is an accordion bellows "breathing.")
Well, for starters, I found this video, which is quite a lot of fun. How to tap your feet like a Quebecois fiddler + Le Vent du Nord = what's not to like?
I enjoyed that enough to see whether the folks who posted it, the Institute of Musical Traditions in Maryland, had any other videos. Which they do indeed (YouTube channel here). But who would have guessed that "any other videos" would include an Alasdair Fraser/Natalie Haas duet?
Then the search veered off in another direction as I thought if I put up a fiddle version of "Gloomy Winter's Noo Awa'," I might do well to find a definitive sung version. It's hard to say if Ben the Hoose has a definitive sung version, as the sample they have on their website is likewise mostly fiddle, but they are another duo worth a listen, in any case.
Most coincidental of all (but far off the trad music track), the phrase "gloomy winter" had been used in this nature photography blog post--so if you'd like to see some birds in very sharp focus indeed, that would be the place to check. If you've had enough birds for one week, go have a look anyway. It's pure art.
Come to find out, we just missed the end of street football season in Kirkwall, Orkney. The town holds a big game--and I do mean big!--on Christmas, and another on New Year's Day where nearly two hundred citizens, divided into sides by neighborhood, strive to work the ball up or down the street and into the appropriate goal. It does sound like a good time! You can read more about it here.
I mentioned Saltfishforty a couple of weeks back; here are a few more names to add to the list of "Crazy-Good Orkney Fiddlers, etc."
When I worked at the music store, one of the CD's we had in the shop was Jennifer and Hazel Wrigley's The Watch Stone. I don't remember there being any other instruments on the recording, other than Jennifer's fiddle and Hazel's guitar; I do remember it included one of the most intricate versions of the reel "Mason's Apron," that has ever been my pleasure to hear, but that was only one of a dozen very lively tunes. It was a very hard CD to tire of, especially with the added surprise of "Tom and Jerry," and "Wild Fiddlers Rag," tunes one would expect to find behind the mic at an American fiddle contest--played in a style that would. . .well, no, it wouldn't quite have blended in at most contests. It would have risen to the top, instead. "Mason's Apron," itself is a seamless blend of American and, I would guess, Orkney styles. Although the video below, courtesy of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, centres on a more traditional take, you get some idea of the drive that underlies all of the Wrigley sisters' duets.
The new one to me for this month is Fiona Driver. Like both Douglas Montgomery and Jennifer Wrigley, she plays from the Orkney tradition, but in a style all her own. (That "Rats and Kippers" inclines rather to bluegrass, dontcha think?) Then, she plays another style still with the Lone Star Swing Band. Yes, as in Western Swing--and they keep it alive and kicking by Orkneyfying the end of "That's What I Like About the South," just a little. That's what I like, indeed!
"They broke the mold after they made these two." For some reason, the cliche was the first thing that came to mind when I sat down here to describe the Orcadian duo Saltfishforty. . .but you know, I don't think there ever was a mold for this kind of music. Two guys, a fiddle, a guitar, more energy than physics had previously attributed to the universe, and some pretty original ideas. Or maybe old ideas presented in new ways. Sure, 12-bar blues have been around for a while, and reels have been around for a while longer. . .but blues and reels together? In the video below, you get some idea of the sound. Here you get the duo, plus...a trombone player (Rick Taylor). Fiddle, guitar, trombone...sure!
Douglas Montgomery's fiddling (as you have seen above) is just something else. About the time you decide there is a definite Scottish slant to his playing, he slides off into the blues, or bluegrass, or maybe a bit of jazz. Never a dull moment! And Brian Cromarty's guitar keeps on driving, and driving, and just when you think it can't get any more driven--of course it does! There's a wee bit more to savour at the obligatory MySpace page.
