Fiddle Group tour of West Cork - Easter 09

Eight of the Oxford Fiddle Group travelled to West Cork Ireland over Easter for a 5 date tour which started on the Thursday before Good Friday at the Fastnet Bar, Goleen.

The Fastnet Bar, Goleen

The following morning found the Fiddle Group busking at Bantry Market. This was unfortunately cut short by a shower so we all retired to the excellent Organico Vegetarian Cafe for lunch.

Bantry market

All the bars and restaurants are closed on Good Friday so the Fiddle Group had a rather unusual evening booking. Luke Brosen, a fisherman and boat builder at Ahakista has converted part of his boathouse to an area where locals socialise on a Friday evening. The Oxford Fiddle Group turned up to a big party at the Boathouse with food, drink and spectacular back drops, both inside and outside the Boathouse.

The view outside the boathouse on our arrival

The entrance to the Boathouse, full of people waiting to hear the Oxford Fiddle Group

Performing in the Boathouse, Ahakista with a mast and mainsail behind us

Tom revealed a secret - his 1959 D/D# melodeon (called an accordion in Ireland) which he'd rebuilt and worked out how to play. This was his debut performance!

An appreciative audience at the Boatyard

More at the Boatyard

On Easter Saturday we played at Casey's Hotel, Baltimore.

We were joined by local musician Michael Collins on his accordion who seemed to know nearly all our repertoire! He plays a D/D# and told Tom he's the only one Michael had met who also plays a D/D# accordion. Perhaps there's someone else out there who does ??

The days were spent making music in the house, going for walks by the sea and in the hills, and wonderful banquets in the house provided by Lynn.

Returning to the house after a brisk walk to the Lobster Pot Bar in Goleen

On Easter Sunday and Monday, The Oxford Fiddle Group played at Fitzpatrick's, Kilcrohane as part of the 'Ceoil on the Coast' Music Festival.

Fitzpatrick's Bar during the Music Festival



Easter Sunday at Fitzpatrick's

Oxford Fiddle Group in Grenoble, France

I've just returned from a musical trip to Grenoble, France with the Oxford Fiddle Group. We were there as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the twinning of Grenoble and Oxford. Our hosts were the " Rigodons et Traditions" - Musique traditionnelles du Dauphine
They made sure we had a wonderful time full music, friendship, food, wine and other activities!

I apologise for so many photos but so much was packed into our stay.
On our arrival on Friday evening, we spent an excellent evening at the home of Christian and Joce Vignon from Rigodons. An unbelievable meal was followed by music and dance.

Friday evening

Saturday, warm and fine was spent playing to crowds at Place de Metz and Rue Poulet in Grenoble.

Place de Metz The Place de Metz performance appeared in the local Sunday paper

Rue Felix PouletRue Felix Poulet performing with Rigodons & Traditions

A big audience at Rue Felix Poulet

All ages getting involved!

Saturday evening was spent with a different group of Grenoble folk musicians. An excellent meal laid on by the rather quaint 'Stop Croc' was followed by a lengthy session. Oddly, George Woodcock, an English man living in Grenoble who organised the session, brought along his son's half size double bass which I used instead of my bass guitar.

The session at the Stop Croc

Some things never change even though the bass is a bit small!

Sunday was a glorious day. We performed in Rue Lafayette and then in Place St Claire

Rue Lafayette

Sunday evening saw us driving out of Grenoble to perform with Rigodons et Traditions at St Jean de Moirans Centre Socio-Culturel. It goes without saying that every performance, indoors or outdoors, daytime or evening had plenty of food and drink to accompany it.

St Jean de Moirans Centre Socio-Culturel

On Monday we were taken up into the Alps for a tour which finished in the Chartreuse cellars for extended tasting! It was at this point that my camera battery died so the only photo taken on Monday was the one below on the tour.

Our final performance was on Monday evening at the Maison des Clubs, Sassenage. The evening started with an Oxford Fiddle Group 45 minute concert and was followed by food, drink and then 'Soiree Folk' avec des amis du Folk de la region grenobloise. It meant lots of people (who had listened to the concert) dancing to music by Oxford Fiddle Group, Rigodons and other local musicians. This was an excellent end to an outstading 4 days.

Oxford Fiddle Group Concert

It's been a busy year for the Oxford Fiddle Group. There have been many bookings and listed below are some that were particularly special.

In October 2007, we played in concerts and a barn dance in Bonn, Germany. The first photo above shows us performing at an open air concert in the city centre. I'm playing my Dean 5 string acoustic/electric bass guitar.

In April 2008 we performed on the main stage at the Oxford Folk Festival. This took place in the Oxford Town Hall and the second photo shows the performance. I'm playing my double bass.

We are playing at our second concert in six months at the Jacqueline Du Pre Building, St Hilda's College, Oxford OX1 4DY on 1st June 2008 starting at 8pm.

Tickets are £10 (£8 concessions) and are available from Tickets Oxford, The Oxford Playhouse, Beaumont Street, OXFORD, OX1 2LW or
online: www.ticketsoxford.com • email: ticketsoxford@oxfordplayhouse.com • phone: 01865 305305

We are working on our second CD which should be available from early Autumn 2008.

The Oxford Fiddle Group meets every Tuesday 8-10.30pm in Headington Quarry Village Hall, Oxford to play folk tunes from the British Isles, Europe and the USA. About 20 fiddles plus accompaniament from guitar, double bass, concertina and celtic harp make up the group.

More details can be found on the Oxford Fiddle Group website: http://www.oxfordfiddle.co.uk/

Haddenham Hoofers in Antwerp

The Haddenham Hoofers (Appalachian Step Dance Group) travelled to Antwerp on the weekend of May 9-11 May to take part in a folk dance festival. I played banjo for the dancing which included very hot open air performances in the square in Antwerp on Saturday and concert performances on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.

Other groups performing were Les Joyeux Vendéens from France and De Kegelaar, the host group from Belgium.

Haddenham Hoofers meet every Thursday evening in St Mary's Church Hall, Haddenham, Buckinhamshire to rehearse Appalachian Step Dancing to live music. They perform mainly in the Summer months locally at festivals, fetes and other events. They also perform at National Folk Festivals. In 2008, performances include: The Straw Bear Festival of Dance, Whittlesea, Sidmouth Folk Festival and Towersey Village Festival.

For more information: https://sites.google.com/site/haddenhamhoofers/