#fiddlewave

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Josef Szalai, hungarian Romani fiddler/violinist performing Czardas. Enjoy a glass of wine with the wonderful singer as you watch this video. Cheers🥂

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Ashley MacIsaac with the Chieftains, 1997, Japan

The odd thing about youtube fiddling culture, is that the videos and modern fiddlers are very wavey. Today, as some types of fiddling are being lost to the ages, this blog presents old fiddling videos from the 90s and early 2000s and maybe some old-time fiddling too. Of course, fiddlewave is not real a real “wave” of music, just a catchy name. So, to truly show you the premise of this blog we will begin with one of the most iconic fiddlers of all time, Ashley MacIsaac.

In this video, Ashley is playing a set of standard Cape Breton (in Nova Scotia) style fiddling songs, notably Tullochgorum. 

Ashley MacIsaac fuses multiple genres of music with the traditional Cape Breton fiddle, especially grunge and rock music. He is most well known for his album hi how are you today? for its excellent blend of traditional fiddle and rock music.

Many consider MacIsaac to truly represent Canadian music. As you watch this old VHS video, take note of his wacky camouflage t shirt, his playfulness on stage, and his focus on his performance as the Chieftains watch him with respect. Though it is important to note MacIsaac’s Cape Breton-ness, his gayness shows through too. That’s not really a stereotype, I am just stating a fact... Ashley MacIsaac, a gay Cape Bretoner, represents Canadian music.

I wonder what is the influence gay culture has had on MacIsaac’s music. As a gay fiddler myself, I wonder if in 50 years, gay fiddle music will start to take form. As many people focus on preserving traditional fiddling, which is extremely important, I also wonder how fiddling music will evolve.

So, I suppose that’s what fiddlewave is. On this blog, I will try to show modern fiddling music while also fitting this video’s vintage aesthetic. Hopefully, as I post more and more videos, we can also see how the music genre will evolve. This is certainly the best video to begin with!

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Just learned Arcand-saw Traveler today. 

This version of Arkansas Traveler is named after John Arcand, who remembers his ancestors playing the song this way. This is a “crooked” tune... unconventional rhythms and styles of fiddle in here, keeping with the métis, native and french canadian traditions.

 The fiddler here, I believe is April Verch.

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Martha Campbell

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This is a beautiful video of John Arcand, an accomplished métis fiddler. 

The métis style fiddle is a tradition that is being kept by those like Arcand. In its own way, métis fiddle has an oral history. It cannot really be taught by writings, though now métis fiddle is being documented well as recording technology has become more accessible and advanced.

The style of fiddle is well known for the “Red River Jig”, which mixes aboriginal rhythms inside of fiddling. In fact, the tunes of métis style fiddle all mix aboriginal rhythms and dance into the fiddle music. Thus, the style of fiddling is unique because it takes its character from different nations of people in Canada, european settlers, and native american nations of the west.