Our March concert with Téada and the upcoming May concert with Kevin Burke feature Sligo style fiddling. So what is that?

Sligo style is bouncy, full of lift, bold triplets, cascading triplet runs, ornamented rolls, and cuts. The style became famous thanks to fiddler Michael Coleman. Keep your ears open for the following the next time you hear a Sligo fiddler:

• The Cut. Where two notes of the same pitch lie together in a tune, they will often be interrupted by a single grace note called a cut.
• The Double Cut. Two grace notes are used instead of one.
• The Long Roll. Particularly important in jig playing, this turns three quavers, either separate or slurred, into 5 notes.
• Short Roll is exactly like the long roll, except that the five notes are squeezed.
• The Slide. Instead of hitting the note squarely, the Irish fiddler will approach the note from below, sliding swiftly and smoothly up to the correct pitch.

Among today’s leading players in this style is Kevin Burke, an alumnus of the Bothy Band, and acclaimed for his work with Open House, Patrick Street and Celtic Fiddle Festival. Other influential Sligo fiddlers include John Carty and Paddy Ryan.

Many thanks to the excellent website “Fiddling Around the World” for their detailed explanations of various types of Irish Fiddling and ornamentation.