Fidil & Solo Cissokho

y Jim Gilchrist
Published on Saturday 28 January 2012 00:00

THIS year’s Celtic Connections has seen a number of sometimes improbable-seeming cross-cultural collaborations, of which these were notably engaging examples, not least in terms of ecstatic audience response.

Opening the evening was flautist Michael McGoldrick and his quintet, joined by the young Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara, armed with an electric guitar and a huge smile.

They may only have met for rehearsals that day, but it all meshed surprisingly well, McGoldrick’s flute preluding a song with haunting lament phrases, or threading its way over Diawara’s rolling, West African guitar style while she sang with the persuasive lilt of birdsong. James Mackintosh, meanwhile, laid down a steady beat while Gerry O’Connor’s banjo appeared to revert with ease to its African roots.

Similarly personable was the powerful-voiced kora player Solo Cissokho, in the company of the inventive young Irish fiddle trio Fidil, who assured us, by way of introduction: “We’re from County Donegal and he’s from County Senegal.” The splendidly turbaned Cissokho, from a griot minstrel dynasty, looked delightedly at home as he plucked cascades of notes from his harp-lute.

There were some full tilt Donegal reels, but the show-stopper was Solo’s solo, one might say, as he built up phrases, using a seemingly unfeasible number of fingers, into a hypnotic rhythm, then sang over it and produced dazzling bursts of improvisation.

Rating: **** - The Scotsman Newspaper

The warmth and bright colors of Africa swept through snowy Glasgow in a gust of beautiful music, delighting a standing-room-only crowd at the lovely St Andrews in the Square. This Celtic Connections experiment with mingling musicians from different traditions was a magnificent success.

Combine the Pride of Manchester’s Michael McGoldrick, Capercaillie’s (and Celtic Connections’s artistic director) Donald Shaw on keyboards, Irishmen Gerry O’Connor on banjo and Tony Byrne on guitar, and Scotsman James Mackintosh on percussion and you have an instant powerhouse Celtic band, which opened their set with a set of driving reels and gave the crowd an excellent selection of trad and near-trad tunes. And then, just when you settled into that groove, enter Fatoumata Diawara, a Malian musician currently living in France, and enjoy one of those Celtic Connection twists that makes you sit up and experience music with a new delight.

She changed the game, crowding the traditional sounds closer to R&B, teasing the audience with her brilliant smiles and knowing chuckles that punctuated the chorus of “Sowa.” The band rose to meet her music’s challenges. Who knew that O’Connor’s banjo could put out that kind of African/rock melody? McGoldrick’s whistles twined beautifully into her vocals, and Shaw’s keyboards added a kind of African undercurrent. But it was Diawara, smiling happiness at everyone, who captured the audience’s imagination. They hung on her every note and gave her their hearts.

It can’t be easy coming on after such a fiery and crowd-pleasing set, but the trio of wisecracking ace fiddlers from Ireland, Fidil, were more than ready for the challenge. Between jokes, they tore through a tune or three, showing off their innovative stylings, complete with string-plucking, violin-drumming, and full-on bowing. That was lovely, but the audience needed more African sunshine, and dressed in warm yellows and rust, Senegalese kora master and griot singer Solo Cissokho obliged.

At the start of the set, the lads of Fidil promised us music “from County Senegal and from County Donegal.” They hadn’t let on that the mix was going to be so much fun. As they pointed out, Solo taught them songs about “the woman,” and in exchange, they taught him tunes about sheep. No matter the subject, each tune and song was a joy to experience. Solo’s kora, a gourd-based stringed instrument, inserted a sense of mischief and fun into every plucked note; and his obvious joy pervaded the room. Most of the audience spent this set dancing in their seats, except when a few couldn’t stand it any longer and danced in front of the stage, including Diawara. To give us all a rest, Solo took a few moments to explain how one masters the kora in “seven paragraphs,” showing how a simple instrument can create complex tunes. They tried to end the set with “Glory Reel,” but the crowd refused to let them go that quickly, jumping to ther feet to demand an encore, wanting to hang onto the warmth of Solo’s smile and the fun that Fidil brought.

–Catherine Keegan

Artists’ websites:
Cissokho Solo www.leopardmannen.no/s/system.cissokho.asp
Fidil fidilmusic.com
Fatoumata Diawara www.myspace.com/fatoumatadiawara

Michael McGoldrick www.prideofmanchester.com/music/michaelmcgoldrick.htm
Gerry O’Connor www.gerryoconnor.com/”>www.gerryoconnor.com/
Tony Byrne
James Mackintosh www.shoogle.com/biogs.htm - www.oakandthorn.wordpress.com

CD CHOICE : The Old Wheel of Fortune Fidil Music ****

No fiddles were hurt in the making of this album, although many were picked, plucked, strummed and bowed in manners most unlikely. Donegal trio Aidan O’Donnell, Ciarán Ó Maonaigh and Damien McGeehan are back with a vengeance and verve that many fiddlers would kill for.

Who knew that the fiddle could be such a throaty and percussive force, as it is on Fidil’s cocky alternative take on The Rocky Road to Dublin? Or that it could handle the bass lines in The March of the Mín Na Toiteán Bull with such a rich mix of earthiness and joie de vivre?

Fidil have grown up since their groundbreaking debut, 3, in 2009. Then, they didn’t spare on flair or panache, and they were no slouches in the technical department either. The mark of the two intervening years since their debut can be found in the pacing and thoughtfulness of the tune choices and pairings.

The title track hints at the trio’s newfound affinity for plumbing the emotional depths of a tune without plunging into full-blown melodrama. Their choice of the Scottish air Herr Roloff’s Farewell is redolent of the pensive playing of Sligo fiddler Seamus McGuire on his 1995 album, The Wishing Tree , and comes replete with the most delicate closing pizzicato, as if the trio are tiptoeing away from the tune, lest it spot them leaving and insist on another turn around the room.

Donegal’s rich repertoire is writ large across Fidil’s canvas, and the influence of the iconic Ardara fiddler John Doherty is palpable both in the tune choices and the unapologetic shape of their fiddle lines, particularly on the pair of hornpipes, The Low Level and The Star . But it’s Fidil’s ability to trade pinprick-precise unison playing with careening, criss- crossing melody lines that knocks sparks off the floor on The Old Wheel of Fortune .

Fresh and inventive, Fidil realise their ambitions with a boldness that’d put a pep in the step of the most resistant listener. See fidilmusic.com - Irish times

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=395123750517508&set=a.187599644603254.50938.100000596588124&type=1&theater - Songlines

Irish Times ‘CD of the Week’, 27 November 2009I Times

SIOBHÁN LONG
This week's CD choice reviewed
FIDIL
3Claddagh Records *****
The arc of the bow and the delicate musicality of the four fiddle strings are celebrated with a rare mix of virtuosity and sheer joie de vivre on 3. Ciarán Ó Maonaigh and Aidan O’Donnell already sizzled on their 2008 duo debut, Fidil . Now, just 18 months later, they’ve morphed their debut CD title to herald the arrival of a fiddling trio, with fellow Donegal player Damien McGeehan joining their ranks.
Fiddle trios are a rare sighting in the traditional music firmament, and Fidil have carved a niche. Their sound soars with a confidence born of an intense love affair with their Donegal inheritance. The highlands set, The Laddie With the Pladdie , epitomises the rootedness of Fidil’s music, its accent clearly defining the shape of the tunes. Yet the interplay of the three fiddlers’ personalities propels it into the present, where they can make it their own, as they might turn a piece of long-cherished wood on a lathe.
However, this is no straight-up collection for traditional music lovers. Fidil’s reading of the descriptive piece, The Hunt of the Hound and the Hare , could be a masterclass in the avant-garde, with its bold and sassy excavation of the excitement and terror of the hunt, animated by an indelible curiosity about the experience of both hunter and hunted. Even a well-worn reel such as The Pigeon at the Gate is invigorated by the pirouetting interplay of the three fiddles.
Here is a place where strings are plucked and caressed, tickled and swept into fresh air by three exceptional and ambitious musicians who still cosset the music of their home place with unyielding affection. 3 is a masterclass in the marriage of tradition and musical exploration, and a milestone in traditional music. - Irish Times

Fidil is bowing with no backing
Damien McGeehan joins the lineup
By Earle Hitchner
letters@irishecho.com

November 18, 2009 What could be better than two unaccompanied fiddlers? If you ask Gaoth Dobhair's Ciaran O Maonaigh, the 2003 TG4 young musician of the year, and Dunkineely's Aidan O'Donnell, they'd point to Damien McGeehan as a third.

He is now a member of Fidil, formed by O Maonaigh and O'Donnell, who in 2008 released their first duet album, "Fidil," and were quickly recognized as one of the most compelling, if counterintuitive, duos to emerge recently in Irish traditional music.

"The only instruments used in the making of this recording were fiddles," states a liner note in their new CD, "Fidil 3." The absence of guitar or piano backing for Fidil flies in the face of tradition within tradition. Even Sligo fiddling virtuoso Michael Coleman had a guitar or piano -- not always optimally -- on his recordings.

Yet these three fiddlers are evidently fearless, relying only on their talent and wits to keep their music from getting stuck in unison or lockstep playing. Their arrangements are imaginatively conceived and deftly executed, with the fiddles alternating between lower and higher register bowing, sawing, droning, and tangy slices of pizzicato. They have mastered their instruments completely, giving them the confidence to harmonize in intriguing ways.

Their approach to the descriptive piece "The Hunt of the Hound and the Hare" is not unusual. The Chieftains did something similar on "The Foxhunt" from their 1969 album "The Chieftains 2," and that descriptive piece, more often called "The Fox Chase," has been an uilleann pipes showcase since at least the early 19th century. Fidil conjures the various stages of the hunt with atmospheric vividness, including a squeal, simulated with dissonant bowstrokes, signaling the hare has finally met its fate. (Animal rights advocates would understandably cringe.) The bleat of Paddy Moloney's uilleann pipes and the Chieftains' larger instrumental mix are here supplanted by three fiddles. It's not a matter of less is more; it's a matter of doing more with less.

Fidil took their cue for the descriptive piece from Donegal fiddler Mickey Doherty (1891-1967), who recorded it as "The Hounds After the Hare" for the Irish Folklore Commission in January 1949 in the Blue Stack Mountains. Virtually all of "Fidil 3," in fact, draws tunes and inspiration from such revered Donegal fiddlers as John Doherty (Mickey's brother), Vincent Campbell, Con Cassidy, and James Byrne, as well as such younger masters as Tommy Peoples and Derry-born but Donegal-steeped Dermot McLaughlin.

The skill, precision, and Scottish-tinged snap of the Donegal fiddling style permeate "Fidil 3." Some of the tunes will be familiar to fans of Altan, who previously recorded "Hudi Gallagher's March," "Dinkie Dorrian's," and "Old Cuffe Street" on the albums "The Red Crow," "Horse with a Heart," and "Altan," respectively. But Fidil's brio and freshness forestall any slide into sameness. Their medleys of "Wellington's Advance / Hudi Gallagher's March," "John Doherty's / The Tullaghan Lassies / Old Cuffe Street," and "The Royal Artillery Band / Staten Island / Dinkie Dorrian's" are shining examples of how new vigor can be brought to venerable melodies. Even hoary session reels such as "Farewell to Erin" and "Pigeon on the Gate" are injected with Fidil finesse.

Further elevating the appeal of "Fidil 3" are comparably lustrous selections of highlands (halfway in tempo between a strathspey and a reel), a pairing of "McConnell's" barndance with "Francie Mooney's German," "Francie Dearg's" hornpipe, and two James Scott Skinner tunes, "Hector the Hero" and "The Postman's Knock."

The only track not equal to the full accomplishment of the rest of the album is "Alec McConnell's Waltz." It's competently played, but the extra measure of grace and glide in the waltzes performed by, say, fiddlers Manus and Seamus McGuire is lacking here.

"Fidil 3" is a superior effort from a trio of undeniable range, vision, and chops. Ciaran O Maonaigh, Aidan O'Donnell, and Damien McGeehan are recalibrating how the sound of the fiddle is received and perceived in Irish traditional music, and are charting new territory for the instrument in the process. This is expansion through reduction, compelling the listener to ponder a rich, rewarding sonic palette produced by three fiddles and nothing else. Enchantment inevitably follows.

To acquire "Fidil 3," a self-issued CD, visit www.fidilmusic.com.
- Irish Echo, 18th November 2009

Irish Music Magazine, November 2009, Sean Laffey



Aidan O'Donnell, Ciaran O'Maonaigh, Damien McGeehan are three young lads playing like a trio of old fells, and I can think of no higher accolade than that to describe the effect these musicians conjure up from just three fiddles.



This is solid traditional music, earthy and authentic, lively and loaded with history. You’ve probably never heard anything like it, (unless you’ve already picked up their debut album or listened to one of the older generation play a tune in the quite time between tune mayhem in a late night session). To describe the sound might put many folks off, because terms such as smooth, easy listening, complex crossover combinations, well they don’t apply here. No, this is extremely difficult to capture in words, it’s the real thing, three fiddles sounding like fiddles, there’s no aural airbrushing from some engineer with a trigger finger on pro-tools, this is as raw bar as you can get. No pals on boxes or banjos to round out the sound, because the lads realise there is enough musical latitude from a humble fiddle to create a complex sound without recourse to the standard band formula, as long as you keep it clean and simple and of course they do just that.


But.
The caveat is of course this is clever impeccably played music. It is well researched too, the liner notes alone will tell you that, with source musicians named and CDs cross referenced and it’s all in a perfectly legible typeface.



The tunes themselves have the stamp of Donegal running through their very souls, and what deceptively simple and tuneful melodies are chosen by the trio, Pigeon on the Gate his here of course, but this is a pedigree bird for sure. Another feature very seldom heard in traditional music is the pizzicato, the opening track, the modal Hudí’s Jigs for example has two fiddles leading the tune with a percussive undertow plucked on another one. Then track 7, The Low Highland which is paired with Farewell to Erin, you’ll recognise this second part from the Bothy Band back catalogue perhaps , but what a sound it is here, the old Teelin tune the Low Highland is plucked before the second reel blazes in. Track 11 the Postman’s Knock , is under a minute and a half but is a real virtuoso test piece, almost classical in its execution, the lads bring it off with a big smile and a
final flourish., the story about the tune in the booklet is fascinating too, I won’ spoil it by telling you it here, you could dine out for a week on it! Talking of smiles set 5 The Laddie with the Pladdie which ends up with Kafoozalum will have your toes tapping.


This is unashamedly a fiddle payer’s album and will be eagerly snapped up by devotees of the folk violin whether on not they are students of the Donegal style. For the rest of us, this is a reminder of how magnificent the fiddle can be, especially when these instruments are in the hands of such young masters. Let me say that track 13 does what all traditional music should do, it makes the listener listen, I defy anyone not to stop what they are doing when the lads start up with Francie Mooney’s Barndance.


Another timeless album and a truly essential addition to your collection. - Irish Music Magazine, November 2009, Sean Laffey

Fidil
3 (Independent)
Take three fiddlers who play in the Scottish-flavoured Donegal style,
give them three fiddles and nothing else, and what have you got?
Fidil’s new album, 3, that’s what!
Ciaran O Maonaigh, Aidan O’Donnell and Damien McGeehan seize the
challenge of making music with no other accompanying instruments with
relish. It takes courage and vision to defy expectations and do
something as bold and daring, and they have the ability to carry it
off.
Fans of Altan will recognize some of the tunes, such as Hudi
Gallagher’s March and Dinkie Dorrian’s, but here they are given a
quite different treatment. All three players have mastered the
techniques and tricks of the fiddling trade: alternating bowing
styles, plucking pizzicato, soaring and sawing, all to great effect.
It’s a far cry from those dreadful “mystical Celtic” ethereal, waffley
records.
This is all blood and guts and spitting fire. Hugely entertaining.
– By Tim Readman - Penguin Eggs Magazine,

Fidil

“We are going to a concert”, says my other half, “It’s a band with
three fiddlers in it.”
“Great”, I reply, “And what else?”
“Just three fiddles, that’s all”, he says.

I would be lying if I said I was looking forward to it! Now, I am as
fond of the fiddle as the next trad music fan, but the prospect of a
whole evening with just three fiddles, and no accompaniment, or no
songs to break it up a bit, was not one I relished. But along I went,
thinking that if it was all too boring, there was at least the bar
downstairs that I could prop up. Two and a bit hours later, and I can
honestly say that I had no notion of going near the bar, I did not
want to miss a minute of what for me was a revelation. I didn’t think
three fiddles could sound like that, and I certainly wasn’t looking
for any singers or guitar players. I was converted!

“Fidil” are three young men from Donegal, who met through the local
music scene and have gone on to create a sound that for me is quite
unique, using their fiddles to play both melody and accompaniment.
With a clever use of rhythm, riffs, counterpoint and harmony, they
weave their way through some well known tunes, along with some less
well known ones, with great skill, obvious passion, and more than a
hint of pizzazz!

Aidan O’Donnell is from Dunkineely in Co Donegal. There are many
great musicians from in and around there, and Aidan grew up immersed
in the tradition. He is a relation of the famous Campbell’s from
Glenties, who are renowned for their wealth of tunes and their
traditional Donegal style of fiddling. He also credits accordion
player and world champion giggler, Martin Wilson, as one of his
biggest influences. With an ‘Oireachtas na Geailge’ fiddle title and
an album with Mayo flute player Kieran Munnelly already under his
belt, Aidan has also recently won the TG4 Young Musician of the Year
Award.

Ciaran O Maonaigh hails from the Gaoth Dobhair gaeltacht in Co
Donegal. He is part of the well known Maonaigh family that have
produced a succession of fine musicians. Having been taught by
Francie Mooney, and influenced by many others, Ciaran has become one
of the finest fiddlers on the scene. He is a 3 time Oireachtas fiddle
champion, and has released a solo album, “Ceol a’Ghleanna (Music of
the Glen). When he is not playing, Ciaran is busy working with Irish
TV stations such as RTE and TG4 making music documentaries.

Damien McGeehan is from Ardara in South West Donegal, and has been
playing the fiddle since the age of seven. He also was heavily
influenced by the musicians around him, with fiddlers such as Paddy
O’Rourke encouraging him to explore traditional music. Damien has
studied at the RSAMD in Glasgow, and also at the Irish World Academy
of Music in Limerick, where Niall Keegan said that, “the excitement
and energy of his playing is only matched by his precision,
sensitivity and musicality.”

“Fidil” started off as a two-piece, with Aidan and Ciaran releasing an
album of the same name in 2008. This was well received, and the band
soon expanded with the addition of Damien, after a supposed one-off
collaboration for the Donegal Bluestacks Festival. His expertise on
the fiddle brought a whole new range of sounds and techniques to the
band, giving them scope to delve further into the possibilities that
three fiddles create. They have recently released another CD, “3”,
which is causing quite a stir in the Irish music world. It is the
first traditional music album ever to have been given a five star
review in the Irish Times, and that is no mean feat! In 2008, they
were also awarded the Young Musicwide Award by Music Network. This is
a professional development scheme that assists some young musicians in
Ireland at the beginning of their professional career, giving them
performance opportunities and support with PR, publicity and recording
for a three year period. As a result of this (and just because they
are flaming good) the band have been touring extensively, and gaining
a reputation as one of the most unique and entertaining acts around.

Of particular interest to me is their respect of the music of the
great Donegal fiddlers, in particular the travelling tinsmith John
Doherty. John was born in Donegal at the end of last century to a
family steeped in the musical tradition. He became a fiddler of
renown, and a household name, with people considering it a privilege
to offer him hospitality as he travelled the townlands of Donegal.
Today he is revered as one of the most influential performers of Irish
traditional music, a man that without whom, the Donegal fiddling
tradition would probably be very different. The legacy of his music
can be seen in many a modern player’s repertoire, and perhaps none
more so than Fidil.

On the evening I saw Fidil play, the concert was part of the Johnny
Doherty Music and Dancing Festival. This is an annual event held in
Ardara, the town John’s mother came from, and the place of his birth.
The people here are rightly proud to be associated with this great
man, and have organised this festival in his honour, with much music
being played over the weekend in and around the Beehive Bar. Fidil
were the final act of the weekend, and a more fitting tribute there
could not have been. Pat McGill, festival organiser and owner of the
Beehive Bar said, “I could not think of anyone who would be more
appropriate to finish this festival off. Fidil are perfect for the
job.” Their set was adorned with tunes that the boys had learned from
the playing of this great man, and it was clear that the passion and
love of the tradition that John Doherty had, is continued in them.

A highlight of the concert, and indeed of their recent CD, is “The
Hunt Of The Hound And The Hare”. This descriptive piece is one of the
oldest tunes in the Irish tradition, though it is not in the usual
form of a jig, hornpipe or reel, and the boys learned it from the
playing of John Doherty and his brother Mickey. It tells the tale of
the hunt through incredibly descriptive use of music, from the call of
the bugles, the hound getting the scent, and the death of the hare, to
the celebration afterwards. The variation of sound and emotion that
the boys get from three fiddles to tell this story is quite
astounding. The tune passes from player to player, while the others
provide accompaniment using drones, pizzicato, strumming and harmony.
I don’t think I have ever seen the fiddle played like a mandolin
before, but it was here to great effect! The story of the piece is
followed with surprising ease, and was again a revelation for a girl
who usually prefers her stories told in 14 verses of a ballad!

But it would be false to assume that Fidil are merely preserving the
music and traditions that were passed on to them from the great
Donegal fiddlers. They do not see that as their role. Other people
and organisations are collecting and archiving the music to preserve
it for future generations. The boys are keen to take the tunes that
they have inherited, and do their own thing with them, bringing their
own individual style to the music, and they hope that by doing so they
might make it accessible to others who might otherwise never hear it.
They feel that the great fiddle players of the past have given them
the confidence to do this. While John Doherty might be the archetypal
Donegal fiddler, he is just one man, with a style of his own, and
there are many other great Donegal fiddlers who also have their own
particular take on the Donegal fiddle style, all slightly different.
Fidil feel that these individual approaches are all important, and
that by each person developing their own style, the musical tradition
is allowed to be alive and healthy, and that it is strengthened rather
than weakened in the process. So don’t be surprised to find a bass
riff behind a well know traditional tune that completely transforms
the sound, or a melody being accompanied by fiddles that are plucked
and strummed. You really have to hear it to believe it!

See live footage of the band at www.fidilmusic.com
Buy “3” online at www.folkmusic.net/catalog

Photos by Colm Hogan

Fiona Heywood & Jim Byrne
Living Tradition Ireland

email : ireland@folkmusic.net
web : www.livingtradition.co.uk
phone : 00353 (0)7495 37967
mail : Glenconwal, Ardara, Co Donegal, Ireland - The Living Tradition