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| Mairead Nesbitt of Celtic Woman |
I love fiddle-playing.
Especially when it's imbued with a healthy dose of Celtic flavor...which country fiddling is, very often.
This is National Old Time Fiddler's Week, when some of the nation's top fiddlers meet up in Weiser, Idaho for competition.
When I ran across this fact, it made me think about how much I love the sound of a well-played, Celtic-tinged fiddle.
Pictured at right is Mairead Nesbitt of Celtic Woman, who makes an art form out of fiddle-playing. She definitely throws herself into it completely. Check out this video of Mairead performing "Granuaile's Dance."
American fiddle
It makes sense that country fiddling often has that Celtic flavor. This from Wikipedia:
Early influences were Irish fiddle styles as well as Scottish and the more refined traditions of classical violin playing. Popular tunes included Soldier's Joy, for which Robert Burns had written lyrics, and other such tunes as Flowers of Edinburgh and Tamlin which were claimed by both Scottish and Irish lineages. Soon these tunes were Americanized and local variations developed in Northern and Southern colonies...One of my favorite examples of country fiddling is Charlie Daniels' "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." While the tale of Satan and a young man having a fiddling competition over the young man's soul is far from theologically correct :), you have to love when "Johnny's" fiddle solo definitely trounces the devil's.
Now that's some good fiddle-playing.
I'm participating today in the Thursday Blog Hop, hosted by Katherine's Corner--join the fun by clicking on the button!
1 comment:
You are so right..whether fiddle or violin, bring it on! I remember a day when I was sitting on the back deck on our farm and heard what sounded like a sweet fairy playing almost-unheard distant music only to find out later that it was our neighbor practicing his violin in his front yard a 1/4 mile away. Magic.
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