Melodies and Irish fire: Fidil and Edel Fox

Fire on fire is one way you could describe Donegal fiddle style. Aidan O Donnell, Cíarán Ó Maonaigh, and Damien Mc Geehan, who make up the group Fidil, build that flame higher on Fidil 3.

“The only instruments used in this recording were fiddles,” they write in the liner notes, and that’s enough. Each man has deep background in the music of the west of Ireland and has experience playing in professional settings across the world as well. They bring these things together in sets including jigs and reels, highlands, a march, an air, a hornpipe, and a waltz. The fire burns bright, whether it’s flaming on high speed tunes such as the Hudi’s set or warming as with the waltz Alec McConnell’s.


Edel Fox brings a fiery grace to her music as well. Her chosen instrument is the concertina. Like the men of Fidil up north in Donegal, Fox soaked up music from the people around her whilst growing up in West Clare. The tunes on her album Chords Beryls include music she’s learnt from musicians who are pipers, flute players, fiddlers, and composers on the harp, and to which she’s put her own stamp and arrangement. Though she says not a word on the album, you can clearly hear the voice of an artist who knows and loves melody and story. Especially worth noting are The Knotted Chord Set and The Joyous Waltz.








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