Donegal fiddle tradition
Encyclopedia
The Donegal fiddle tradition is a type of Irish traditional music
, based on a two-hundred year-old tradition (or possibly set of coexisting traditions) of playing the fiddle in County Donegal
, Ireland
. Donegal is a partly Irish
-speaking highland-county in northwestern Ireland and one of the three counties of the northern Irish province of Ulster
that are part of the Republic of Ireland
.
The tradition has several distinguishing traits, most of which involves styles of bowing
and the ornamentation
of the music, as well as the rhythm
. Another characteristic of the style is the rapid pace at which it tends to proceed. Modern players, such as the fiddle group Altan, continue to be popular due to a variety of reasons.
Donegal styles has its roots in ancient Irish music styles, although the accent on the Donegal fiddle tradition is also somewhat related to the Scots tradition. Like some Scottish fiddlers (who, like Donegal fiddlers, tend to use a short bow and play in a straight-ahead fashion), some Donegal fiddlers worked at imitating the sound of the bagpipes
. Workers from Donegal would bring their music to Scotland and also bring back Scottish tunes with them such music of J. Scott Skinner and Mackenzie Murdoch.
The historical connection between the west coast of Donegal and Scotland
is an ancient one which was furthered by immigration
from Donegal to Scotland in the 19th century (the regions share common names of dances), as can be heard in the volume of strathspeys, schottische
s, marches
, and Donegal's own strong piping tradition, has influenced and been influenced by music, and by the sounds, ornaments, and repertoire of the Píob Mhór, the traditional bagpipes of Ireland and Scotland. There are other differences between the Donegal style and the rest of Ireland. Instruments such as the tin whistle, flute, concertina and accordion were very rare in Donegal until modern times. Traditionally the píob mór and the fiddle were the only instruments used and the use of pipe or fiddle music was common in old wedding customs. Migrant workers carried their music to Scotland and also brought back a number of tunes of Scottish origin. The Donegal fiddlers may well have been the route by which Scottish tunes such as Lucy Campbell, Tarbolton Lodge (Tarbolton) and The Flagon (The Flogging Reel), that entered the Irish repertoire. These players prided themselves on their technical abilities, which included playing in higher positions (fairly uncommon among traditional Irish fiddlers), and sought out material which would demonstrate their skills.
The Donegal style of fiddling is a label often applied to music from this area, though one also might plausibly identify several different, but related, styles within the county. To the extent to which there is one common style in the county, it is characterized by a rapid pace; a tendency to be more un-swung in the playing of the fast dance tune types (reel
and jig
s); short (non-slurred
), aggressive bowing, sparse ornamentation, the use of bowed triplets
more often than trills
as ornaments, the use of double stop
s and droning; and the occurrence of "playing the octave", with one player playing the melody and the other playing the melody an octave lower. None of these characteristics is universal, and there is some disagreement as to the extent to which there is a common style at all. In general, however, the style is rather aggressive.
Another feature of Donegal fiddling that makes it distinctive among Irish musical traditions is the variety of rare tune types that are played. Highlands, a type of tune in 4/4 time with some similarities to Scottish strathspeys
, which are also played in Donegal, are one of the most commonly played types of tune in the county. Other tune types common solely in the county include barndances, also called "Germans," and mazurka
s.
There are a number of different strands to the history of fiddle playing in County Donegal. Perhaps the best-known and, in the last half of the twentieth century, the most influential has been that of the Doherty family. Hugh Doherty is the first known musician of this family. Born in 1790, he headed an unbroken tradition of fiddlers and pipers in the Doherty family until the death, in 1980, of perhaps the best-known Donegal fiddler, John Doherty
. John, a travelling tinsmith, was known for his extremely precise and fast finger- and bow-work and vast repertoire, and is considered to be one of the greatest Irish fiddlers ever recorded. John's older brother, Mickey, was also recorded and, though Mickey was another of the great Irish fiddlers, his reputation has been overshadowed by John's.
There is no single Donegal style but several distinctive styles. These styles traditionally come from the geographical isolated regions of Donegal including Inishowen
, eastern Donegal, The Rosses
and Gweedore
, Croaghs, Teelin
, Kilcar
, Glencolmcille
, Ballyshannon
and Bundoran
. Even with improved communications and transport, these regions still have recognisably different ways of fiddle playing. Notable deceased players of the older Donegal styles include Neillidh ("Neilly") Boyle, Francie Byrne, Con Cassidy, and Frank Cassidy. Currently living Donegal fiddlers, include James Byrne
, Vincent Campbell, John Gallagher, Paddy Glackin
, Danny O'Donnell, and Tommy Peoples
.
, Paul O'Shaughnessy
, Dinny McLaughlin, and Ciarán Tourish, are generally admired within Donegal. Liz Doherty is the youngest member of this tradition. Her album Last Orders appeared in 1999.
The fiddle, and traditional music in general, remained popular in Donegal not only because of the international coverage of certain artists but because of local pride in the music. Traditional music Seisiúns
are still common place both in pubs and in houses. The Donegal fiddle music has been influenced by recorded music
, but this is claimed to have had a positive impact on the tradition. Modern Donegal fiddle music is often played in concerts and recorded on albums.
Folk music of Ireland
The folk music of Ireland is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres in Ireland.-History:...
, based on a two-hundred year-old tradition (or possibly set of coexisting traditions) of playing the fiddle in County Donegal
County Donegal
County Donegal is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal. Donegal County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. Donegal is a partly Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
-speaking highland-county in northwestern Ireland and one of the three counties of the northern Irish province of Ulster
Ulster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
that are part of the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
.
The tradition has several distinguishing traits, most of which involves styles of bowing
Bow (music)
In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones....
and the ornamentation
Ornament (music)
In music, ornaments or embellishments are musical flourishes that are not necessary to carry the overall line of the melody , but serve instead to decorate or "ornament" that line. Many ornaments are performed as "fast notes" around a central note...
of the music, as well as the rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
. Another characteristic of the style is the rapid pace at which it tends to proceed. Modern players, such as the fiddle group Altan, continue to be popular due to a variety of reasons.
History
Bagpipes
Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...
. Workers from Donegal would bring their music to Scotland and also bring back Scottish tunes with them such music of J. Scott Skinner and Mackenzie Murdoch.
The historical connection between the west coast of Donegal and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
is an ancient one which was furthered by immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
from Donegal to Scotland in the 19th century (the regions share common names of dances), as can be heard in the volume of strathspeys, schottische
Schottische
The schottische is a partnered country dance, that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina , Finland , France, Italy, Norway , Portugal and Brazil , Spain ...
s, marches
March (music)
A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner's Götterdämmerung to the brisk military marches of John...
, and Donegal's own strong piping tradition, has influenced and been influenced by music, and by the sounds, ornaments, and repertoire of the Píob Mhór, the traditional bagpipes of Ireland and Scotland. There are other differences between the Donegal style and the rest of Ireland. Instruments such as the tin whistle, flute, concertina and accordion were very rare in Donegal until modern times. Traditionally the píob mór and the fiddle were the only instruments used and the use of pipe or fiddle music was common in old wedding customs. Migrant workers carried their music to Scotland and also brought back a number of tunes of Scottish origin. The Donegal fiddlers may well have been the route by which Scottish tunes such as Lucy Campbell, Tarbolton Lodge (Tarbolton) and The Flagon (The Flogging Reel), that entered the Irish repertoire. These players prided themselves on their technical abilities, which included playing in higher positions (fairly uncommon among traditional Irish fiddlers), and sought out material which would demonstrate their skills.
Description of style
Reel (dance)
The reel is a folk dance type as well as the accompanying dance tune type. In Scottish country dancing, the reel is one of the four traditional dances, the others being the jig, the strathspey and the waltz, and is also the name of a dance figure ....
and jig
Jig
The Jig is a form of lively folk dance, as well as the accompanying dance tune, originating in England in the 16th century and today most associated with Irish dance music and Scottish country dance music...
s); short (non-slurred
Slur (music)
A slur is a symbol in Western musical notation indicating that the notes it embraces are to be played without separation. This implies legato articulation, and in music for bowed string instruments, it also indicates the notes should be played in one bow; and in music for wind instruments, that the...
), aggressive bowing, sparse ornamentation, the use of bowed triplets
Tuplet
In music a tuplet is "any rhythm that involves dividing the beat into a different number of equal subdivisions from that usually permitted by the...
more often than trills
Trill consonant
In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. Standard Spanish <rr> as in perro is an alveolar trill, while in Parisian French it is almost always uvular....
as ornaments, the use of double stop
Double stop
A double stop, in music terminology, is the act of playing two notes simultaneously on a melodic percussion instrument or stringed instrument...
s and droning; and the occurrence of "playing the octave", with one player playing the melody and the other playing the melody an octave lower. None of these characteristics is universal, and there is some disagreement as to the extent to which there is a common style at all. In general, however, the style is rather aggressive.
Another feature of Donegal fiddling that makes it distinctive among Irish musical traditions is the variety of rare tune types that are played. Highlands, a type of tune in 4/4 time with some similarities to Scottish strathspeys
Strathspey (dance)
A strathspey is a type of dance tune in 4/4 time. It is similar to a hornpipe but slower and more stately, and contains many dot-cut 'snaps'. A so-called Scotch snap is a short note before a dotted note, which in traditional playing is generally exaggerated rhythmically for musical expression...
, which are also played in Donegal, are one of the most commonly played types of tune in the county. Other tune types common solely in the county include barndances, also called "Germans," and mazurka
Mazurka
The mazurka is a Polish folk dance in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, and with accent on the third or second beat.-History:The folk origins of the mazurek are two other Polish musical forms—the slow machine...
s.
Historical
John Doherty (musician)
John Doherty was an Irish folk fiddler.John Doherty was born in Ardara, County Donegal. He was born in 1900 and came from a famous clan of Irish Travellers who worked as a tinsmiths and horse traders...
. John, a travelling tinsmith, was known for his extremely precise and fast finger- and bow-work and vast repertoire, and is considered to be one of the greatest Irish fiddlers ever recorded. John's older brother, Mickey, was also recorded and, though Mickey was another of the great Irish fiddlers, his reputation has been overshadowed by John's.
There is no single Donegal style but several distinctive styles. These styles traditionally come from the geographical isolated regions of Donegal including Inishowen
Inishowen
Inishowen is a peninsula in County Donegal, part of the Province of Ulster in the north of Ireland. It is also the largest peninsula in all of Ireland. Inishowen is a picturesque location with a rich history...
, eastern Donegal, The Rosses
The Rosses
The Rosses is a geographical and social region in the west of County Donegal, Ireland, centred around the town of Dungloe, which acts as the educational, shopping and civil centre for the area...
and Gweedore
Gweedore
Gweedore is an Irish-speaking district located on the Atlantic coast of County Donegal, part of the Province of Ulster in Ireland. Gweedore stretches some 16 miles from Meenaclady in the north to Crolly in the south and around 9 miles from Dunlewey in the east to Magheraclogher in the west, and...
, Croaghs, Teelin
Teelin
Teileann is a Gaeltacht village in County Donegal, Ireland. It is near Slieve League, at the northwest end of Donegal Bay. Its population is about 250–300....
, Kilcar
Kilcar
Cill Charthaigh is a small Gaeltacht village on the R263 regional road in the south west of County Donegal, Ireland.-The Village:...
, Glencolmcille
Glencolmcille
Gleann Cholm Cille is a coastal town in the southwest Gaeltacht of County Donegal, Ireland...
, Ballyshannon
Ballyshannon
Ballyshannon is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is located where the N3 and N15 cross the River Erne, and claims to be the oldest town in Ireland.-Location:...
and Bundoran
Bundoran
Bundoran is a town in County Donegal, part of the Province of Ulster in the north of Ireland. The town is located on the N15 road near Ballyshannon, 3 hours drive from Dublin and around two and a quarter hours drive from Belfast...
. Even with improved communications and transport, these regions still have recognisably different ways of fiddle playing. Notable deceased players of the older Donegal styles include Neillidh ("Neilly") Boyle, Francie Byrne, Con Cassidy, and Frank Cassidy. Currently living Donegal fiddlers, include James Byrne
James Byrne (musician)
James Byrne was a Donegal sheep herder, farmer and fiddle playing icon. He has been called one of Ireland's leading fiddle players.-Biography:...
, Vincent Campbell, John Gallagher, Paddy Glackin
Paddy Glackin
Paddy Glackin is an Irish fiddler from Clontarf, Dublin. His father Tom Glackin was from Donegal and Paddy's fiddle style reflects his family's Donegal roots. Glackin is considered one of the leading Irish fiddlers in the late 20th/early 21st centuries. He became fiddle champion at the All-Ireland...
, Danny O'Donnell, and Tommy Peoples
Tommy Peoples
Tommy Peoples is an Irish fiddler.He was born near St. Johnston, a village in the Laggan district in the east of County Donegal, part of the Province of Ulster in Ireland. He has been a member of well known traditional Irish music groups, including 1691 and The Bothy Band as well as performing...
.
Modern
Fiddle playing continues to be popular in Donegal. The three fiddlers of the Donegal "supergroup" Altan, Mairéad Ní MhaonaighMairéad Ní Mhaonaigh
Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh is an Irish fiddler and the lead vocalist for the Irish traditional band Altan.-Biography:Ní Mhaonaigh grew up in Gweedore , County Donegal, on the northwest coast of Ireland....
, Paul O'Shaughnessy
Paul O'Shaughnessy
Paul Joseph O'Shaughnessy in Bury, England, is a retired English professional footballer who played as a defender for Bury in the Football League.-External links:...
, Dinny McLaughlin, and Ciarán Tourish, are generally admired within Donegal. Liz Doherty is the youngest member of this tradition. Her album Last Orders appeared in 1999.
The fiddle, and traditional music in general, remained popular in Donegal not only because of the international coverage of certain artists but because of local pride in the music. Traditional music Seisiúns
Irish traditional music session
Irish traditional music sessions are mostly informal gatherings at which people play Irish traditional music. The Irish language word for "session" is seisiún...
are still common place both in pubs and in houses. The Donegal fiddle music has been influenced by recorded music
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
, but this is claimed to have had a positive impact on the tradition. Modern Donegal fiddle music is often played in concerts and recorded on albums.