Traditional Fiddle Music of the Scottish Borders
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Spiral Bound Players Edition £15.00:
Spine Bound Library Edition £18.00:
Click here for a PDF of the Book Introduction.
The recordings were made by Peter Shepheard who first remembers hearing Tom Hughes play the fiddle in June 1978 at the Newcastleton Traditional Music Festival.Ê Tom was sitting playing fiddle at a bench in the cobbled back yard of The Grapes Hotel in the village square.Ê In different quarters of the small courtyard several other sessions were going strong.Ê At TomÕs table were a couple of other fiddlers, at times playing together, at times taking turns.Ê Pete had for a long time been interested in different styles of fiddle playing and TomÕs style immediately impressed him as being distinct from the usual Scottish styles and yet at the same time both Scottish and clearly traditional.ÊTomÕs playing included liberal use of ringing open strings and double stopping (or Òdouble string workÓ as he called it), both being widespread characteristics of older, but now rare styles Ð but still found in Scandinavian fiddle style, in older Shetland fiddle styles and in American ÔOld TimeÕ fiddle music. Over the years a new younger generation of fiddle players have taken an interest in the old Borders style as played by Tom. TomÕs grandson Jimmy Nagle of Jedburgh learned some of TomÕs tunes and style and, in the 1980s, taught members of the Small Hall Band.Ê Border fiddle player Lori Watson was a member of the band and she became an enthusiast for TomÕs tunes and style. The original recordings. some of which were issued as an LP in 1981, have now been revisited, around 60 have have been transcribed for the book and the new CD includes some 50 tunes played by Tom, some played solo and some played along with other border musicians Ð Wattie Robson, Bob Hobkirk and Tom Scott on fiddles, Jack Carruthers on tin whistle and joined on some tracks by Brian Miller or Sid Cairns on guitar. The collection includes well known tunes such as Flouers O Edinburgh and East Neuk O Fife and old tunes such as Lady Mary Ramsay and Farewell to Whisky Ð but often in distinctive variants. TomÕs repertoire also includes many unusual tunes and some that are unique to to his family repertoire Ð many hornpipes, some old waltzes and some slow airs including several that have now become a classic of the Borders repertoire Ð TamÕs Old Love Song, Faudenside Polka and Auld Graden Kirn.
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