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The Guide to Irish Traditional Music by Fintan Vaallely

CD Compilation

3/ The bowed string - fiddle styles and repertoire

Distinctly stylish is South Donegal fiddler Vincent Campbell's King George V Highland, the local variant of Scottish strathspey, while utterly differently,

Dublin fiddler Caomh’n î Raghallaigh explores the depth of Clare fiddle master Patrick Kelly's setting and scordatura tuning in The Foxhunters reel with enveloping, double-stop drone, and selective dropping to the bass fingering.

East-Galway-influenced, Irish American fiddler Kathleen Collins takes the bowed strings in yet another contemplative, artistic direction with great variation, snappy rolling and long, drawling bow in Paddy Ryan's Dream and Coleman's Cross reels accompanied by James Mahon's piano.

Matt Cranitch, M‡ire O'Keeffe and Johnny McCarthy bring fiddles together with yet more variance, in Sliabh Luachra style, on pulsing, mantric polkas Din Tarrant's, John Keane's and John McGovern's with bassing on low octave, scraping drone, a lashing interplay on top notes, held together by pounding foot timing.

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