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Fiddle
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Grier, Stephen, 1824-1894

  • IE ITMA P00004
  • Person
  • 1824-1894
Piper, fiddle player and collector. A native of Abbeylara, Granard, Co. Longford, he lived at Bohey, Gortletteragh, Co. Leitrim. His collection of over 1,000 tunes was compiled in 1883; sixty-four of these appear in Ceol Rince na hÉireann 4. Grier’s work was passed on to his protégé William Mulvey, who, with his son Edward and Michael McGuinness of Bornacoola, appears in a picture of pipers at the 1912 Dublin Feis Cheoil. A notable feature of Grier’s collection is the wide variety of tune types and range of modes. The prominence of dance music and the absence of a bass clef both indicate a musician of the ‘folk’ tradition. The work includes c. 300 reels, 200 jigs, fifty hornpipes and forty slip jigs. Other dance pieces include eighty waltzes and some 160 tunes in other rhythms – primarily quicksteps and polkas. There are more than forty marches, seventy and more instrumental pieces. As yet unpublished, it was brought to public attention by Fr John Quinn, parish priest of Gortletteragh, Co. Leitrim who is also responsible for highlighting the unpublished manuscripts of Alex Sutherland. [CITM]

Ó Raghallaigh, Caoimhín

  • IE ITMA P00063
  • Person

Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh (born August 28, 1979) is a fiddler, born in Dublin, Ireland, who attended Trinity College Dublin, becoming a Scholar in Theoretical Physics (1999) and earning a First Class BA degree (as the top student of his class) in 2001. He is known for developing a drone-based fiddle style heavily influenced by the uilleann pipes and the music of Sliabh Luachra. Ó Raghallaigh spent several summers working part- and full-time in the Irish Traditional Music Archives in Dublin, opening up a wealth of old recordings which influenced his repertoire and style. Together with uilleann piper Mick O'Brien, he recorded Kitty Lie Over, named No.1 Traditional Album of 2003 by Earle Hitchner in the Irish Echo. He performs regularly with West Kerry accordion player Brendan Begley, and has collaborated many times with sean-nós singer Iarla Ó Lionáird. He has also performed with Icelandic group Amiina, Sam Amidon, The Waterboys among others. He is a member of two contemporary traditional music groups: The Gloaming (with Martin Hayes, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Dennis Cahill and Thomas Bartlett) and This Is How We Fly (with Petter Berndalen, Nic Gareiss and Seán Mac Erlaine). He has also worked in theatre, having been commissioned by the Abbey Theatre to write music, and works regularly with Gare St Lazare Players. He contributed music to the 2015 movie Brooklyn (film), a set of reels recorded especially for the purpose with Mayo accordion player Fiachna Ó Mongáin.

As well as playing on violin and Hardanger fiddle, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh plays an instrument made by Norwegian luthier Salve Hakedal, a fiddle with five bowed strings and five sympathetic strings, a cross between a Hardanger fiddle and a five string violin or viola d'amore which he calls a Hardanger d'Amore. (first made for American Hardanger fiddle player Dan Trueman, and commissioned by Caoimhín with the head and tailpiece of Salve Hakedal's Viola d’Amore model). Ó Raghallaigh uses crosstunings or scordatura (common in Norwegian and old-time American fiddling), and uses baroque and transitional bows made by Michel Jamonneau. Ó Raghallaigh also used to play a Viola Pellegrina Pomposa by American luthier David Rivinus, a highly asymmetrical five-string viola. Caoimhín also plays tin whistle, flute and uilleann pipes, having been taught whistle and flute by Co. Clare flute-player Michael Tubridy of The Chieftains and Ceoltóirí Chualann.

In 2011 he premiered The Valley of the Lunatics, a work written for him by Dave Flynn, at the Masters of Tradition Festival in Bantry. Part of this piece is used in the soundtrack to the film The Enigma of Frank Ryan

McLaughlin, Dermot

  • IE ITMA P00075
  • Person
Dermot McLaughlin is a fiddle player, promoter and producer. Both his parents were interested and active in music and culture: his father played harmonica, accordion, whistle and fiddle, his mother played piano. He played classical piano initially, taking part in the school orchestra and céilí band, and he and his brother Joe were taught fiddle by Tony Blace – once a member of David Curry’s band. Dermot began playing traditional music in the early 1970s, with maternal relations Denis Heaney and Paddy McMahon, Dolly McCafferty as influences, but his main inspiration has been the music of Donegal, particularly the fiddle playing of John Doherty. He has also studied the repertoire and style of such as Con Cassidy, James Byrne, Francie Dearg O’Beirne and Mickey Golly. He has recorded on Fiddlesticks, and on James Byrne’s solo album. From 1986 until 1998 he was traditional music officer, then music officer, with the Arts Council in Dublin, and was involved in the setting up of Cairdeas na bhFidiléirí and the ITMA. In 2003 he moved to promoting music with Temple Bar Cultural Trust. He has produced music for Claddagh, initiated the Temple Bar Trad Festival in Dublin, and scripted and presented The Raw Bar series for RTÉ 1 television. He is the chair of the Dublin International Dance Festival and of the ITMA.
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