Performers

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Peter Arsenault

Peter Arsenault has been playing various instruments for most of his life. Starting with percussion at an early age, he moved to harmonica, and then finally gave the fiddle a try. A full time self employed painter/wallpaper hanger by day, Peter’s real passion and therapy happens after a day’s work when he takes the fiddle in hand. Surrounded by friends and neighbours who also share the same passion for the fiddle, musical evenings are very common and a big part of everyday life on Prince Edward Island. Peter’s father Eddie Arsenault has been the major musical influence for many island fiddlers. Throughout Peter’s years living at his parents home, there was always a constant flow of fiddlers and lovers of the music who would come over and listen to Eddie play. It was only natural for Peter and his siblings to take up the instrument they had heard all of their lives. Peter’s style has been influenced by the older fiddlers who are rarely heard anymore. Peter play’s the local repertoire and composes many of the tunes he plays.

Harvey Beaton

Harvey was raised in Port Hastings on the island of Cape Breton in northeastern Nova Scotia. He began step-dancing at age 14 and soon found himself dancing in the summer Scottish concert circuit in Cape Breton and various parts of the Maritimes. Besides being an accomplished dancer, Harvey is also in great demand as a step-dance instructor and has performed and taught in many parts of Canada, the US, and Europe. In the States, he has held workshops in many places including Alasdair Fraser’s Valley of the Moon School of Scottish Fiddling; Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Washington; the National Folk Festival; and at the Washington Irish Festival. Overseas, Harvey has danced in Ireland at the University College Cork and for Irish Television in Dublin. He was a step-dance tutor for many years at Sabhal Mor Ostaig Gaelic College in Skye and most recently was a featured artist at the 2005 Feis Ross in Ullapool. Although he is primarily known as a dancer, Harvey Beaton is also an accomplished piano accompanist who has played with a variety of Cape Breton fiddlers. He currently teaches dancing on a part-time basis and lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

Kimberley Fraser

Kimberley, a twenty-three year old native of Sydney Mines, Cape Breton, began impressing audiences with her step dancing talents at age three and soon after decided that she wanted to master the fiddle and piano.  She is now considered one of Cape Breton’s finest young musicians, performing all over North America and parts of Europe.  Career highlights include a tour of Sweden with Cherish the Ladies in 2004 and an appearance at the Tonder Festival in Denmark in 2005.  Kimberley is also a much sought instructor.  She has regularly taught at the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts in St Ann’s, Cape Breton and has also taught at the Ceilidh Trail School of Music in Inverness, Cape Breton along with numerous other workshops across Canada and the eastern United States.  In addition to her debut album, Heart Behind the Bow, released in 2000, Kimberley will be releasing her second album sometime this summer.

Jerry Holland

Jerry Holland is a fiddler strongly rooted in Cape Breton, Scottish and Irish dance music traditions.  An active performer and recording artist, many of his own tunes have entered the traditional repertoire around the world.  His tunes, books and recordings have remained influential wherever Celtic music is played.

Traditional musicians always have a high respect for their sources.  Jerry is no exception.  In his childhood, Jerry’s father exposed him to some of the last generation’s greatest Cape Breton Scottish fiddlers.

The beauty of traditional music lies in the individual expression.  Because Cape Breton was so remote, its fiddle music and dancing kept to the old Scottish style, a tradition that Jerry was raised to respect and support.  He has taken his music to Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Scotland, Finland, Germany, Mexico, England, France, USA and all over Canada.

www.jerryholland.com

Lawrence ‘Teddy Boy’ Houle & Anne Lederman

In the First Nations and Métis (mixed aboriginal, French and Scottish) communities of Manitoba, Canada, is found a unique culture and a style of fiddling dating back to the early days of European settlement, when men from the Orkneys signed on to work for the mighty Hudson’s Bay Company of Adventurers, sailing halfway around the world bringing their fiddles, their music and their dancing with them.  What happened to that music in the hands of their mixed-blood offspring is a wonderful reflection of the country itself.  One part French-Canadian, one part Scottish and one part First Nations (mainly Ojibwe and Cree), the music has taken on some of the character of traditional First Nations song - long irregular phrases, repeating motifs, introductions and rhythmic endings. Combined with vigorous foot rhythms, it is a unique expression - Scottish at base but delivered in the dialect of the French and Native peoples of Canada.

In 1985, Lawrence and Anne collaborated on creating a 4-album set of recordings, which were immediately hailed as ‘the most important collection of Métis music ever published’.  Many of the players who recorded in 1985 -1986 have since passed away, but in the hands of a few such as Mr Houle, the old tradition survives.  Lawrence and Anne have performed together a number of prominent Canadian festivals, and we are honored to have them join us at NAFCo 2006.

Lawrence ‘Teddy Boy’ Houle & Anne Lederman

In the First Nations and Métis (mixed aboriginal, French and Scottish) communities of Manitoba, Canada, is found a unique culture and a style of fiddling dating back to the early days of European settlement, when men from the Orkneys signed on to work for the mighty Hudson’s Bay Company of Adventurers, sailing halfway around the world bringing their fiddles, their music and their dancing with them.  What happened to that music in the hands of their mixed-blood offspring is a wonderful reflection of the country itself.  One part French-Canadian, one part Scottish and one part First Nations (mainly Ojibwe and Cree), the music has taken on some of the character of traditional First Nations song - long irregular phrases, repeating motifs, introductions and rhythmic endings. Combined with vigorous foot rhythms, it is a unique expression - Scottish at base but delivered in the dialect of the French and Native peoples of Canada.

In 1985, Lawrence and Anne collaborated on creating a 4-album set of recordings, which were immediately hailed as ‘the most important collection of Métis music ever published’.  Many of the players who recorded in 1985 -1986 have since passed away, but in the hands of a few such as Mr Houle, the old tradition survives.  Lawrence and Anne have performed together a number of prominent Canadian festivals, and we are honored to have them join us at NAFCo 2006.

Claude Méthé Bio to come
Marie Soleil Pilette Bio to come

Sherry Johnson

Sherry started step dancing at the age of six.  She has performed throughout North America and Europe, first with her five brothers and sisters in The Johnson Family Steppers, and more recently with her youngest brother Mathew.  She won the Canadian Open Group Step Dancing Championship in 1984 and 1986 as well as a number of individual prizes.  Sherry has been teaching Ottawa Valley step dancing for 20 years and is also in high demand as a judge on the competition circuit.

Kelly Russell

A professional musician since 1975, Kelly has been a member of a number of landmark groups in Newfoundland, including Figgy Duff, The Wonderful Grand Band, and The Irish Descendants. Working closely for many years with legendary fiddlers Rufus Guinchard and Emile Benoit, learning, recording and documenting their unique music, Kelly has inherited status as one of Newfoundland's leading traditional music performers.

Kelly is a prominent musical ambassador, and has received a number of awards recognizing his contribution to cultural renewal in Newfoundland.  He has performed around the world, and his own record label, Pigeon Inlet Productions (est. 1979), has released well over thirty full length recordings.  He has visited many of the province's schools promoting an interest in Newfoundland culture with youth, and has also been active in reviving the art of storytelling and recitation, inspired by his late father, Ted Russell.    

In recent years, Kelly has brought his expertise in Newfoundland music and culture to the growing tourism industry, running cultural entertainment events with his wife, Tonya Kearley.  He has recently published two music books: Kelly Russell’s Collection – The Fiddle Music of Newfoundland & Labrador – Volumes 1 & 2.

http://www.pigeoninlet.com/kelly.htm

Tonya  Kearley Russell

Over the past fifteen years, Tonya Kearley has been an innovative activist and educator dedicated to the preservation and promotion of authentic Newfoundland culture and heritage. Tonya is a forerunner in the Newfoundland traditional dance revival and has been instructing traditional dances at her ‘Dance Up!’ show with musician husband, Kelly Russell for over fifteen years. She co-manages Newfoundland independent music label, Pigeon Inlet Productions, and brings Newfoundland into the classroom as a high school teacher. An active participant and coordinator within the cultural performance sector, Tonya has orchestrated countless venues for traditional musicians both locally and internationally.

Québécosse

Québécosse is a unique line-up designed to introduce audiences to a lively and engaging blend of Québec and Scottish-American traditional music and dance. Featuring two generations of accomplished musicians, the group presents a seldom-heard repertoire that brings together dynamic roots fiddling; Québécois call-and-response songs, ballads and complaintes (laments); traditional and contemporary-influenced French-Canadian stepdance and a chance for music lovers of all ages and experience (or lack thereof) to participate in traditional Québec called dancing (similar to contradance or square dancing).

The group is comprised of veteran Québec fiddler/singer/composer Claude Méthé; American fiddler Laura Risk, now a Québec resident, known for her gorgeous compositions and sensitive interpretations of Scottish-rooted repertoire; young and energetic stepdancer/dance caller Marie-Soleil Pilette, whose talent has earned accolades across Canada an in the US; and guitarist/podorhythmist Dana Whittle, a seasoned accompanist of traditional instrumentalists and a singer/composer in her own right.

http://www.claudemethe.com/quebecosse/quebecosse.shtml

Dana Whittle Bio to come

Fromseier Rose (Ditte Fromseier Mortensen & Michael Rose)

Fromseier Rose features the contrasting temperaments, cultures and styles of Danish fiddler Ditte Fromseier Mortensen and American pianist Michael G. Rose, playing music based in the Scandinavian and Celtic traditions.  Ditte is from the Danish island of Bornholm and is currently reviving the many great fiddle tunes from the island. With formal training in both Denmark and Ireland, she has won recognition for her mastery of both Danish and Irish fiddle styles. Michael is originally from Boston but has lived in Copenhagen for many years. He blends many diverse influences, from New England contra dance to Latin jazz, into a unique and playful improvisational style.  As a duo Fromseier Rose are noted for their seamless interplay and musical dialogue. Their CD, Contradiction, won international acclaim.  

www.fromseierrose.com

Sophy and Emily Ball

Sophy and Emily Ball were brought up in the Hope Valley in Derbyshire, where they grew up listening to their parents play music at home, and for ceilidhs with their group The Village Band. Both girls joined the band in their teens but later moved to Newcastle to study.
After a degree in Chemistry, Emily took the one-year MMus, where she concentrated on solo performance, becoming interested in the progress of tunes over different regions of the British Isles and how those tunes are performed differently in different styles.
Sophy completed the Bachelor of music course (or BMus) in 2005, where she focused on Northumbrian tunes and style, traditional English repertoire and modern compositions based within the English tradition.
Both sisters regularly teach, working with a range of instruments, abilities and ages, and perform with their award-winning band 422.

Paul Burgess

Paul Burgess comes from a family of dance-band musicians stretching back at least four generations.  He plays English fiddle, recorder and sings and has performed at venues from Adlestrop to Zanzibar with everyone from the CBSO to Laurie Lee.  He is currently a member of the Old Swan Band (25 years plus) as well as playing with Johnny Coppin and others.  He was a founder member of the Mellstock Band, John Kirkpatrick Band, Edward II & the Red-Hot Polkas and The English Country Dance Band and has provided music for radio, TV and film.  He has tutored regularly at the Folk South-West Easter school and the traditional Carols weekend.

Alex Fisher & Carolyn Francis

Alex Fisher and Carolyn Francis have been performing together since 1999. They are both based in the North West of England, and first met whilst touring Cumbrian schools as part of a project promoting Lakeland music, song, and dance traditions. Carolyn (fiddler) and Alex (step dancer) were inspired by the experience of putting together the traditional hornpipe steps, collected in South Cumbria in the 1960 by Tom and Jean Flett, with hornpipe tunes discovered in 19th century Lakeland manuscripts; they believe that they are the first revival performers to do this. David Oliver, Folkworks Programme Leader, based at The Sage Gateshead, has described their performances as: “Dynamic, rhythmic music and dance from two excellent, highly professional performers who combine a deep love and respect for the tradition with an energetic, modern, versatile and uninhibited approach”.

Kathryn Tickell Bio to come

Matt Cranitch

Matt Cranitch is renowned as a fiddle-player and teacher, both at home in Ireland and abroad. He has performed extensively at concerts and festivals, on radio and television, and has also presented lectures, master-classes and workshops. In 2003, he received the ‘University College Cork Hall of Fame Award’ for his contribution to Irish music. Author of The Irish Fiddle Book, Matt has a particular interest in the music of Sliabh Luachra in the south-west of Ireland, and is actively researching its fiddle style. For this work, he was awarded a ‘Government of Ireland Senior Research Scholarship’ in 2002.

Matt currently plays with Sliabh Notes, whose most recent album, Along Blackwater’s Banks, was rated by the Irish Post as ‘one of the best albums to be released this year’. He is also the music consultant for TG4, Irish-language television.

Séamus Creagh

Séamus Creagh is one of the most respected fiddle players in Ireland. Throughout the seventies, the names Séamus Creagh and Jackie Daly were synonymous with the music of Sliabh Luachra, in effect bringing that infectious regional sound to the entire nation. Besides having recorded material for TV, radio and films, Seamus also recorded with, Jackie Daly, Colm Murphy (An Bodhran), Paddy Keenan ( Na keen Affair), Tomás O Cainnin (Irish Airs), Tickle Harbour (Newfoundland band). His album with Aidan Coffey was released on the OSSIAN label in 1999. “It’s No Secret” with Hammy Hamilton (flute) and Con Fada O ‘ Drisceóil (box), and produced by Pat Herring Ahern, was released on the OSSIAN label in 2001. In 2003 he co-produced Island to Island (Ossian) with Marie-Annnick Desplanques. The album features Irish musicians Aidan Coffey, Seamus Creagh and Mick Daly and Newfoundland Musicians, Colin Carrigan, Paddy Mackey, Billy Sutton, Graham Wells and Jason Whelan. Seamus has toured extensively in Europe, Canada, the USA, Asia and Ballydehob.

Liz Doherty

Donegal fiddler Liz Doherty was brought up in Buncrana, Inishowen, in Ireland's most northerly peninsula. Having been introduced to the fiddle by local maestro Dinny McLaughlin, she moved to Cork to study with Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, graduating from the Music Department of University College Cork in 1991. She was awarded a PhD in 1996 from the University of Limerick for her research on Cape Breton with a dissertation entitled “The Paradox of the Periphery - Evolution of Cape Breton Fiddle Tradition c 1929-1995”. Liz lectured in traditional music in the Music Department of University College, Cork for seven years, and has been a guest lecturer at many institutions and events throughout Ireland, the UK and Canada, as well as having several publications to her credit.  In 2001 she decided to resign from her full-time academic position to pursue her fiddle playing, and is well recognised internationally both as a performer and as a fiddle teacher.  She currently works as Traditional Arts Specialist for the Arts Council of Ireland.

Jerry O`Reilly

Jerry O`Reilly is a singer and dancer from Dublin.  A founding member of Brooks Academy, he is still actively involved and teaches a weekly dance class there.  He has annually taught dancing in Paris to the Association Irlandaise, at the Willie Clancy Summer School, at Wadebridge, at Sidmouth, and at Whitby.  He was invited to teach at the North American Convention of Comhaltas Ceoltoirí Eireann in Washington DC in 2000 and paid a return visit there in December 2001.  He also taught at “Feile Cois Chuain” in 2004.  Jerry is also a noted singer and has been involved with the production of several fine CDs of traditional singing in English and also the Irish language. Jerry is in demand as a teacher and caller all over Ireland.

Griežikai 

Folk music group Griežikai (musicians) based in Vilnius, Lithuania, was established in 1997.  Its musicians are graduates of Lithuanian Academy of Music in ethnomusicology and performance: Gaila Kirdienė (violin), Gintautas Beržinskas (violin), Liutauras Milišauskas  (violin), Arvydas Kirda (bandoneon). Six year old Elena Mantvilė Kirdaitė (drum, violin) has performed with the group since 2005.

Griežikai has participated at many festivals, concerts and events in Lithuania, Germany, Poland, Croatia, and Sweden, and they have released three group albums and five compilation albums with other groups.

According to composer and musician Algirdas Klova(1998),“in an incredibly short time, Griežikai has reached colossal results. They have known each other well for a long time and have perfected their playing as an ensemble. These are brilliant players and folklore specialists, who perfectly understand the folk music and its creators.”

http://www.etno.lt (find Folklore ensembles/Griežikai)

Arne Anderdal

Arne has been playing the Hardanger fiddle for over twenty years, with an emphasis on two different regional playing traditions. He plays the music of his birthplace in the valley of Hallingdal, and also the music of Voss in western Norway, where he now resides.  He is a featured performer in many concerts and annual festivals in Norway, including the Telemark Festival and Folk Music Week in Al, Hallingdal.  He is musical director of the Voss Spelemannslag, an organisation and group which plays traditional music, and is also an organiser of the Osa Festival in Voss.   As a practicing and performing artist on the Hardanger fiddle, Arne works mostly with music for dance.

Arne also works as an archivist and music instructor at the Ole Bull Academy in Voss, an institution which distributes folk music to students and performers, and which offers a four year Bachelor of Arts program in traditional music performance.

Annbjørg Lien

Annbjørg Lien is one of Norway’s most accomplished musicians, and serves as an outstanding folk music ambassador. Her recordings and concerts have demonstrated that she is a world-class, first-rate musician. Annbjørg creates modern folk music with international appeal, and the musicians with whom she collaborates are also top-notch performers.  She has a solid basis in traditional music, but is never afraid of crossing musical borders. Her collaboration with musicians from all over the world and her inspiration from other cultures have enabled her to make an international name for herself as a top performer of world music as well as Norwegian folk music. Her travels have taken her to Sri Lanka, Africa, Australia, Argentina, Bhutan, Greenland, Iceland, Asia, North-America, and mainland Europe – as well as other parts of Scandinavia.

Annbjørg is also much in demand as a teacher, and offers master classes all around the world. Her encounters with students are as intense and personal as her concerts, inspiring her audiences to join her on a vibrant and colourful journey into her own world of folk music.

www.annbjorglien.com

Atle Hoff and Arngunn Timenes Bell

Atle and Arngunn both come from the western part of Norway, and participate in Norwegian folk music and dance.  As well as teaching and working localy, they have also participated in the Norwegian championships in folk music and folk dance.  These events play a major role in connecting the folk music styles in Norway, and are a great inspiration to them both.  In recent years Atle has been considered among the best of the Norwegian dancers.  Arngunn will be his dance partner at NAFCo 2006, and we will also be able to listen to her fiddle playing.

Arngunn also plays hardingfiddle, and next autumn she will begin a two-year folk music course at Ole Bull Academy in Voss.  Mostly she plays music from her home-district, but she is well-versed in music from other districts as well.  Last year she participated in a project for talents at the Førde International Folkmusic Festival.  The project also included two other Norwegian artists and individuals from Mosambique and Zimbabwe.

Lately they have both been priviledged to represent Norwegian music and dance at several places around the world.

Norway Student Bio to come
James Alexander Bio to come

Paul Anderson

Currently Elphinstone Institute AHRC Fellow in Creative and Performing Arts, Paul Anderson is a well-respected performer in the time honoured tradition of Scottish fiddle music.  He began his training at school on a fiddle found under his grandparents’ spare bed.  He can trace his teaching lineage directly to Niel Gow, “The Father of Scottish Fiddle Music” through his own teacher, Douglas Lawrence.  Paul’s experience includes leadership of the acclaimed Banchory Strathspey and Reel Society and playing fiddle with Shetland folk rock band, Rock, Salt and Nails, however his main interest is performance and composition of traditional Scottish fiddle music. 

He has won numerous fiddle competitions throughout Scotland, including the Glenfiddich Scottish Fiddle Championship at Blair Castle in 1993.  A regular on Scottish television and radio, Paul has toured extensively and has recorded seven solo albums.  In the tradition of many of Scotland’s great fiddlers, Paul is also a composer of some repute, some of which are published in “The Cromar Collection”.  Past performances include, the Festival Interceltique in Lorient, Edinburgh International Festival, NATO’s first and only Burn’s Supper, the New Hampshire Highland Games (USA) and in 2003/2004 was Huntly’s fiddler in residence, the first time a fiddler has held such a post anywhere in the UK.

www.abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/staff/anderson

Aurora

Aurora, Scottish Dance & Music, was formed in 1996 by a group of dancers and musicians who share an interest in traditional Scottish dance and music.  We enjoy a range of traditional dance styles including Scottish country, ceilidh and highland.   Our musicians enjoy playing traditional Scottish music for dancing.  Aurora's dancers and musicians have performed both locally and internationally at a number of Folk Dance Festivals.  Aurora has also welcomed a number of Folk Dance and Music groups from across Europe who have visited Aberdeen to attend their own Festivals. 

www.aurorascot.org.uk

Pat Ballantyne

Pat Ballantyne has been dancing and teaching for a number of years. She has taught traditional dance in schools, at fèisean, at various community workshops, and teaches step dance for Scottish Culture and Traditions in Aberdeen. She has performed in France, Belgium, Holland, Romania and Canada. Between 2002 and 2004, she created a ground-breaking website for Historic Collections at the University of Aberdeen on the music and dance of James Scott Skinner. An important component involved recreating social and highland dances as taught over one hundred years ago by Skinner and other dancing masters. As a result of this, she would love to revive the old style of Highland dancing, to make it a dance form that can be enjoyed and performed by all. 

Elizabeth Dearness

Elizabeth Dearness is a 23 year old fiddler from Orkney.  She began playing at the age of 8, and has been taking part in the Orkney Folk festival and many other performances throughout the islands ever since.  As she got older, her interest in music grew, as did her desire to teach the fiddle.  At age 16 she began leading workshops for the Orkney Traditional Music Project, demonstrating and teaching local tunes to fiddle students of all ages.
After leaving school, Elizabeth relocated to Edinburgh to study a degree in music, and now lives in Aberdeen where she teaches fiddle full time for Aberdeenshire council.  She is currently concentrating on composing fiddle music, which she plans to record this summer, with her brother on guitar.
Her playing provides an exciting mixture of traditional and contemporary tunes, sure to keep those toes tapping!

Cullivoe Fiddlers

In 1970, the Cullivoe Fiddlers were formed with an aim to preserving the old Shetland tunes in the distinct playing style of Cullivoe, North Yell.  This style of fiddle playing can be directly traced back well over one hundred years.  The distinctive sound of the local tunes, mostly reels, derives from the unusual tuning of the fiddle (ADAE instead of the conventional GDAE) and the lively bowing of the style. 

The Cullivoe fiddlers have enjoyed many revivals since their beginning. In the 1970s visits from Tammy Anderson and Peter Cook from the School of Scottish Studies put the group on the folk music scene.  More recently the fiddlers have achieved a higher profile through trips to Faroe and Sweden, and local events such as the Fiddle Frenzy in 2004 and 2005.  There are six members of the group today, with two original members remaining - Angus Henry and John Henderson.  They have recently produced a new CD The Cullivoe Fiddlers, which they hope will ensure this unique style continues to thrive.

www.cullivoefiddlers.shetland.co.uk

Alasdair Fraser

Master Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser is a consummate performer. His dynamic fiddling, engaging stage presence, and deep understanding of Scotland's music have created international demand for his solo appearances and concerts with a variety of ensembles. Alasdair has been a major force behind the resurgence of traditional Scottish fiddling in his homeland and in the US, inspiring legions of listeners and learners through his recordings, annual fiddle courses, and concerts. He was awarded The Scottish Heritage Center Service Award for outstanding contributions to the preservation and perpetuation of Scottish history, culture and traditions.

Alasdair's richly expressive playing transports listeners across a broad musical spectrum, ranging from haunting laments from the Gaelic tradition to classically-styled airs, raucous dance tunes, and improvisations based on traditional themes. His vast repertoire spans several centuries of Scottish music and includes his own compositions, which blend a profound understanding of the Scottish tradition with cutting-edge musical explorations.  Several of his tunes are now standard in the repertoire for Scottish, Irish, and contra dancing, and can be heard in sessions from Edinburgh to Canberra.  Alasdair has released a dozen critically acclaimed albums, and his recent release, Fire & Grace, with Juilliard-trained cellist Natalie Haas, received the Scots Trad Album of the Year Award 2004.

www.alasdairfraser.com

Iain Fraser

Iain Fraser is much in demand as a teacher, workshop leader and performer.  In 1990, he took over and expanded the very successful Glasgow Fiddle Workshop.  He was until recently the principal fiddle tutor on the Scottish Music degree course offered by the RSAMD and for fifteen years he has run monthly workshops with Feis Ross in the Dingwall area. He has taught at music camps from Wiston to Wellington and has performed in places as far afield as Lagos and Lapland. He is most excited by the kind of rhythmic, expressive and emotional possibilities offered by Scottish fiddle music and is as happy playing slow strathspeys by William Marshall as he is improvising around Celtic fusion themes.
Iain has settled in the Borders and has recently been appointed as Head of Instrumental Music for the local authority.

www.iainfraser.com

Fochabers Fiddlers

Fochabers Fiddlers is an energetic young fiddle group aged between 12 and 17 years. The Fiddle Group was formed in 1980, the initial aim being to encourage young musicians to play and take an interest in Scots Traditional Music which is so much part of our heritage and culture. They were soon in demand to perform locally mostly for charities and fund-raising events.  During the summer of 1988 the Fiddlers went on a concert tour to the Shetland Islands to see and experience at first hand the wealth of talent which exists there. The wider benefits of this trip soon became apparent as the added incentive to work hard and learn led to a rapid improvement musically which has prevailed.  Over the years, they have toured throughout the UK, Europe and North America.
The Fiddlers record regularly on the Ross Records label and have, to date, released seven albums.
Their most recent tour was to the Black Forest area of Germany in 2005.

Aonghas Grant

Coming from a long line of Highland fiddlers, pipers, Gaelic singers, and bards, Aonghus has traditional music in his blood.  In the 60’s and 70’s Aonghus won competitions around Scotland, including the Tom Anderson cup twice, and was four times fiddle champion at the Royal National Mod.  He played for many years with the west coast band, the Roshven Ceilidh, and became well known as the left handed fiddler.  Aonghus has taken his music to many countries, including Norway, Denmark, Holland, France, Brittany, and Ireland.  In 1976, he was the fiddler at the Bicentennial festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC, and has since returned to the United States as an instructor at prominent Scottish fiddle camps, and as a judge at the US National Fiddle Competition.

He is a lifetime member of the TMSA and the Edinburgh Fiddle Festival for his work promoting fiddle music throughout Scotland.  He has been a tutor at Stirling University Summer Schools for twenty-seven years, is involved with the Feisan Nan Gaidheal, and more recently has been a tutor at the RSAMD Scottish Music program.  In his spare time, Aonghus can be found in his workshop repairing fiddles and bows.

Christine Hanson

Christine Hanson, originally from Edmonton, Canada, is a cellist who is eclectic in her musical explorations. She has studied classically, but has established herself in the pop-jazz and traditional music genres.  Christine has recorded and toured extensively throughout North America and Europe. In Scotland she has recorded for BBC TV, collaborated and recorded with singer-song writers, Michael Marra, Rod Patterson and Bruce MacGregor of Blazing Fiddles. She has extensive theatre experience and recently, with fiddler Bruce MacGregor and actor, Billy Riddoch, was a member of the cast of the Dogstar Theatre’s critically acclaimed production of Hamish MacDonald’s “The Strathspey King”.  Christine has taught at a variety of workshops and camps, including the Sunshine Coast School of Celtic Music, British Columbia. She has toured with flautist Chris Norman and has been an accompanist at his Boxwood Festival, held annually in Nova Scotia.

Sharon Hassan Bio to come

Carmen Higgins

A close relation of the great ballad singers Jeannie Robertson and her daughter Lizzie Higgins, Carmen shows the family talent by being a fantastic fiddle player and fine tune writer. She has played  with Shetland  band Rock, Salt and Nails before becoming a founder member of Aberdeen band, The Old Blind Dogs

Douglas Lawrence

Douglas Lawrence was born in Buckie, Banffshire.  He was inspired by his grandfather, a self-taught fiddle player, and began learning the violin at school with Steve Merson. It was during this time that he became more interested in the traditional style of Scottish fiddle music and was fortunate to be introduced, by Merson, to Hector MacAndrew.  In his early teens, Douglas won all the major fiddle competitions, both for playing and composing, and in more recent years has often been asked to adjudicate those same competitions. After gaining a Performance Diploma at RSAMD, Douglas went on to play with the Scottish National Orchestra for twenty years. However, he still passed on the invaluable traditional skills learned from MacAndrew to his own pupils, some of whom have enjoyed great success at The Glenfiddich Championship, and many other festivals throughout the country.

Lauren MacColl

Brought up in the Black Isle and now based in Glasgow, Lauren MacColl is the holder of the prestigious BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award 2004/5 and is quickly establishing herself as ‘the leading light in the galaxy of young fiddle players.’  Immersed in the rich culture of the Highlands, Lauren learned fiddle through the Feisean movement of Gaelic arts in Ross-Shire, and it was at the Feis annual summer schools that she was taught by the some of the Highland’s leading musicians. Now studying at the RSAMD, her repertoire reflects her northern background and shows her love for Gaelic and pipe music.

In her relatively short career her playing has taken her to Montana, Italy, France, Bulgaria, Norway, Galway, Co. Mayo and across Britain, and has given her various radio and television opportunities.  Lauren combines her studies and performance with a passion for teaching, and is a resident tutor for Glasgow Fiddle Workshop, RSAMD Youthworks, and Feisean nan Gaidheal.

www.laurenmaccoll.co.uk

Catriona Macdonald

Catriona is a proud bearer of one of the world's great fiddle traditions, that of the Shetland Isles. A star pupil of the late Dr Tom Anderson MBE, Catriona at once embodies the strength and spirit of her heritage with the freshness and diversity of a thoroughly modern performer. Her superb playing and great charisma have established her worldwide reputation. As a solo performer, Catriona has toured Europe, North America and Africa; she is also a member of the Scottish fiddle supergroup Blazin Fiddles. Catriona's commitment to the promotion of her island's heritage through education is also an important part of her work; from helping to negotiate for the inclusion of Shetland Traditional Fiddle Music into the Scottish Certificate '0' Grade Music to being a visiting tutor as part of the
Scottish Music Degree at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Dance in Glasgow and also the Universities of Newcastle, Limerick and Stirling. Catriona also teaches Shetland fiddle at many of the UK’s main fiddle schools as well as running workshops at many of her festival performances both in the UK and overseas.

Peter MacCallum

Originally from West Perthshire, Peter first came to Aberdeen as a student in the 80's. He cut his guitar-playing teeth at the Aberdeen Folk Club and at the fabulous Aberdeen Alternative Festival, now sadly extinct. His playing was strongly influenced by the Shetland swing jazz style of guitarist Dave Jackson, who could add bounce to the most mundane of ‘traddy’ tunes. Peter has expanded this groovy style through many years of playing with dance bands, and has developed a wide palette of techniques for spicing up a melody line and for breathing a fiery lift into the rhythm behind a tune. As a founder member and lead tutor of Scottish Culture and Traditions Association, Peter has considerable experience in teaching guitar and demonstrating different ways to influence the mood of music with good accompaniment. ‘If you play a tune half a dozen times, you should be able to make it sound like half a dozen tunes’.

Mats Melin 

Swedish born traditional dancer and researcher Mats Melin is based in Angus, Scotland.  He has worked and performed extensively in schools and communities around Scotland promoting Scottish traditional dance.  He has also taught and performed in Sweden, Canada, USA, Russia, and New Zealand. Mats has a vast knowledge of all aspects of the Scottish Traditional Dance scene, but specialises in step dancing and the old social dances such as the Scotch reels and quadrilles.  He has worked both with traditional and contemporary artists in Scotland, including the dynamic performance group Dannsa, and as part of CeilidhMakers with traditional Scots singer Christine Kydd.    

Mats graduated the Master of Arts degree with first class honours in Ethnochoreology at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, Ireland, and currently works there as a lecturer.

http://www.matsmelin.com/

The Orkney Traditional Music Project

The Orkney Traditional Music Project was formed in 1998 to renew the art of accordion playing and to foster fiddle playing, with an emphasis on Orkney music.  From the beginning, the weekly classes and annual summer school were extremely popular, and the project now boasts over 200 students of all ages, but mainly young people.  Over the years, the group has been blessed by the involvement of parents and grandparents - especially the ones who can still play!  The group is always looking for performances opportunities, from community concerts, to high-profile vents like NAFCo.  Funding to attend this event has come through the Scottish Arts Council, Orkney Islands Council and Orkney Enterprise.

Sara Reith

Sara has been a tutor with the Scottish Culture and Traditions Association since 1999-ish. She has been playing music since a child - first the whistle and then the fiddle since the mid 1990s. She plays fiddle and whistle in the band Banish Misfortune. She also plays with Paddyrasta and is involved as a tutor in various Aberdeen arts projects.

www.myspace.com/paddyrasta

Karen Steven

In 1986 Karen toured Cape Breton Island with the Caithness Junior Fiddlers and was immediately drawn to Cape Breton style fiddle and step-dance. The following summer she began attending Alasdair Fraser’s annual summer school on Skye and in 1988, 1990 and 1994 received scholarships to attend Alasdair’s Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddle School in Calfiornia. It was during these courses that she developed her unique sound, influenced by the styles of Buddy MacMaster, Mairead Ní Mhaonaigh and Jerry Holland as well as Alasdair.  Karen’s biggest love is the old Highland and pipe repertoires and the driving energy in the bowing of the Cape Breton Style. She has been involved in teaching and performing both fiddle and dance around Scotland, Ireland, Scandinavia, the USA and Canada, has released a number of CDs, and has performed at a many of the leading festivals in the UK and North America.

www.karensteven.com

Swingin Fiddles

Swingin’ Fiddles are a young group from Shetland that formed in 2003, consisting of Astryd Jamieson, Maggie Adamson and Laura Lockyer.  They have been lucky enough to have travelled extensively with their music, playing at several festivals including Celtic Connections, Gig N’ The Bann (Ireland), the Blend (Stirling), the 2005 Folk Alliance (Montreal, Canada), festivals in Norway and Iceland, as well as taking part in the Shetland Fiddle and Accordion Festival, among others. The mix of tunes they enjoy playing may be due to the wide range of music they have heard and the musicians they have met along the way. They all enjoy sessions, and enjoy playing at local community and charity events at home in Shetland.

Sandy Tweddle

Sandy has been a tutor with the Scottish Culture and Traditions Association since 2004.  He started with the fiddle at the age of 8 and has played classical and traditional music. As a student, he busked around Aberdeen in the early 1990s, and started his involvement in ceilidh bands in 1994.  He teaches privately and also has full-time non-music job.

Lori Watson

Leading light of the new generation of Borders fiddle players, Lori grew up steeped in the fiddle music of the Scottish Borders. Her work on Borders fiddle playing with key players such as Tom Hughes, Bob Hobkirk, Wattie Robson and Jimmy Nagle has been a driving force in the current resurgence of Borders music. Lori has also been thrilling audiences with her interpretation of fiddle tunes and songs of James Hogg (the Ettrick Shepherd), performing on Hogg’s own fiddle obtained from museum retirement for the occasions. 

A BBC Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2002 and 2003 Finalist, Lori has performed extensively throughout Britain and Europe, and has broadcast on radio, television and the internet throughout Europe and in the USA.
Lori is studying for a PhD at the RSAMD in Glasgow where she completed an honours degree in Scottish Music.
www.loriwatson.co.uk

Claire White

Claire is a Shetlander , born and bred.  She learned the fiddle with Dr Tom Anderson in Shetland from the age of seven, and played as a member of Shetland Young Heritage in Europe, New Zealand and Canada. She has tutored in summer schools in Stirling, Cambridge and in the USA.  She now teaches Shetland fiddle for Scottish Culture and Traditions Association of Aberdeen.

Karin Eriksson

Karin is a fiddler from Gothenburg, Sweden, specialising in folk music from the Swedish west-coast. She works both as a solo and group musician, holding concerts, workshops and working with dancers. In 2004, Karin released her first CD with the clarinettist Kjell Leidhammar, featuring folk music from the Swedish county of Halland.  Since 1998, she has also been Riksspelman (National Master Player) on folk tunes from the same county. Having completed a PhD in musicology, Karin currently works at the Musicology Department, University of Gothenburg.

Ingegerd Sigfridsson and Mats Nilsson

Ingegerd Sigfridsson and Mats Nilsson have been dancing together since 1990.  They usually perform as a small group with up to three musicians, and have also participated in much larger performances in Sweden, Peru, Japan and elsewhere.   Their repertoire consists of traditional folk dances of Sweden, the most common of which is the Scandinavian Polska, mixed with dances like Engelska and Menuett.  The dance sets are often given names like “The Baltic Sea” and “The Atlantic Ocean,” and have their cultural connections in the 19th century, coming from Sweden, the British Isles, Poland, Germany and France.  

After their outstanding contribution at NAFCo in 2001, we are excited that Mats and Ingegerd are joining us again in 2006.  They are exceptional dancers, and inspirational to watch, executing even the most complicated of dances with effortlessness and grace.

Göran Premberg

A fiddler from Gothenburg, Sweden, Göran was awarded Riksspelman (National Master Player) in 1977 for his ‘Excellent way of playing traditional tunes from Västergötland’.  He was educated as a violin-teacher at Royal Academy of Stockholm 1983, and has been teaching fiddle since 1984.  In 1988 he was awarded the City of Gothenburg’s Culture scholarship for his work with traditional music in the cultural life of the city.
Göran has spent the last fifteen years exploring the traditional music of Orust in the county of Bohuslän, fifty miles north of Gothenburg.  He released a solo CD of this music in 2002, which was followed this year by a new recording with the trio Orust. 

NAFCo 2001 resulted in many connections for Göran, including a number of festivals in England, a two-week tour of the Highlands and the West Swedish archipelago in a duo with Gill Redmond, a cellist from Ringwood, England, and an astonishing discovery of similarities between fiddle-styles in Bohuslän and northeast of England.

Pernilla Stendahl

Pernilla Stendahl comes from the county of Bohuslän on the west coast of Sweden.  She was inspired to take up folk music at the age of eight and has been playing the nyckelharpa (keyed fiddle) since 1986. Pernilla graduated from Malmoe Music academy in 1997 and has been working as a music teacher ever since.

She currently performs both as a solo musician, holding concerts, workshops and working with dancers, as well as playing with groups, for example in PlankTon.

Natalie Haas

Vibrant young cellist Natalie Haas is already a seasoned performer, recording artist, and teacher. She has joined master Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser for festival and concert appearances in Spain, France, the US, and Scotland, including NAFCo 2001.  ‘Natalie Haas unleashes textures and deep, powerful rhythms that drive fiddle tunes,’ says Alasdair, ‘She has such a great sense of exploration and excitement for the music; it's a joy to play with her!’  Their new duo release, Fire & Grace, was awarded the Best Album of the Year in the Scots Trad Music Awards 2004.
        
A recent graduate of the Juilliard School in New York City, Natalie discovered the cello at age nine. In addition to having extensive classical music training, she is accomplished in a broad array of fiddle genres. Her musical journey found purpose when she fell in love with Celtic music at the Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School at age 11. Inspired and encouraged by director Fraser, she began to investigate the cello's potential for rhythmic accompaniment to fiddle tunes.

Natalie also performs with Mark O'Connor as a member of his Appalachia Waltz Trio, as well as playing with her sister Brittany, Irish band the Spondoolix, and singer/songwriter Fionn O’Lochlainn. She teaches privately, in a workshop setting, and at various fiddle camps.

www.nataliehaas.com

Alan Jabbour

Alan Jabbour is a Floridian by birth and a violinist by early training. The folk revival drew him into studying folklore and folk music as a graduate student at Duke University in the 1960s.  During that period he documented and apprenticed with many oldtime fiddlers in the Upper South, especially Henry Reed of Glen Lyn, Virginia, whose repertory of oldtime tunes has become legendary.  Alan’s albums as the fiddler for the Hollow Rock String Band became benchmarks of the oldtime music revival from the 1960s on, and the documentary albums and Library of Congress websites he has produced and edited have likewise become benchmarks.  Recently, he retired from the Federal government and is devoting more time to oldtime music again.  He has several new releases since his retirement – his newest CD is a fiddle-banjo collaboration with Ken Perlman, Southern Summits – and he appears regularly in concerts, festivals, camps, and workshops.

www.alanjabbour.com

Ken Perlman

Ken Perlman is internationally known as a pioneer of the five-string banjo picking technique called melodic clawhammer, a technically demanding approach that transforms clawhammer into a playing style suitable for soloing. He is considered one of the top clawhammer players in the world, known in particular for his skillful adaptations of Scottish and Canadian tunes to the style. An acclaimed teacher of folk music instrumental skills, he has written some of the most widely respected five-string banjo instruction books of modern times, and he has been on staff at prestigious teaching festivals around the world. His latest recordings are Northern Banjo, and a collaboration with fiddler Alan Jabbour entitled Southern Summits.

Also an active folklorist, Ken has spent over a decade collecting tunes and oral histories from traditional fiddle players on Prince Edward Island in eastern Canada. Two outgrowths of his research are a tune book called The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island and a two-CD anthology of field recordings called The Prince Edward Island Style of Fiddling. In 1997 and 1998, each of these works received awards from the Prince Edward Island Heritage Foundation for helping to ‘preserve, interpret, and disseminate our province's fiddling heritage’.

www.kenperlman.com

Old Time (tbc) Bio to come

Celtic Air

High energy and youthful enthusiasm describe this American band made up of wonderful performers from the Southern Appalachian Mountain region of Virginia and Tennessee.   The band has performed extensively throughout the Southeastern United States for festivals, Highland Games, and concert series.  Celtic Air has been featured on “From The Top” on Public Radio International and was founded by former United States Scottish Fiddling Champion Jane MacMorran.
Celtic Air promises a high energy, polished performance of Celtic music with a unique “New World feel”.

Siân Phillips

Siân is a fifth generation fiddle player with roots back to the chapel fiddlers of the Swansea Valleys. Her early forays in Eisteddfods, barn dances and folk dance accompaniment resulted in a wealth of knowledge and understanding of this traditional music and its interpretation, despite her earliest influences being Pink Floyd and Stefan Grappelli.

Her professional career has seen her perform at festivals, concerts, workshops and seminars throughout the UK, Europe and the USA. She currently plays with Celtish. Having featured in numerous television and radio folk programmes over the past twenty years, Siân is regarded as one of the foremost exponents of her craft in Wales, and never fails to entrance her audiences.

www.sianfiddle.co.uk

 

 

Patrick Rimes

Patrick is the twice Junior winner, of the Welsh Celtic Fiddle Competition in Pembrokeshire. After his first competition success, fifteen year old Patrick from Bethesda North Wales, was then invited and wowed audiences at the 2005 Festival Interceltique in Lorient.