Fiddle experts tune up for day of celebrating music

World Fiddle Day is to be celebrated by a host of string and bow experts in one of the country’s renowned traditional music strongholds at the weekend.

The Castleisland and Scartaglin areas of Kerry will see a large gathering of fiddle players and their followers, with local Sliabh Luachra exponents forming the majority.

World Fiddle Day is celebrated annually on the Saturday closest to May 19 when players of the fiddle family of instruments — violins, violas, cellos, double basses, hardangers, viola da gambas, et al — display their virtuosity.

The Irish version of the event is firmly rooted in Donegal and the man behind it there is Caoimhín MacAodha.

The programme kicks off in Browne’s Bar, Castleisland, this Friday.

Featuring musicians such as Con Moynihan, Mick Culloty, and Tom O’Connell, there will also be a special role for the music teacher Nicky McAuliffe in Saturday’s centrepiece at Lyons’s Bar in Scartaglin at 4.30pm.

McAuliffe, a fiddler who has taught music in Sliabh Luachra for more than 40 years, will give a talk on the 1969 recording of the Denis Murphy/Julia Clifford classic, ‘The Star Above The Garter’.

Joanna Moynihan’s artistic reproduction of The Star LP cover will be unveiled in Lyons’s Bar.

The Scartaglin Heritage Centre will also host events to complement the style of the programme in the local pubs.