Bregolas
"Sliabh Luachra is a state of mind" (c) Timmy 'The Brit' McCarthy
Well, nothing special to tell about me. I'm past cellist, present whistler and a beginner fiddler:) Irish fiddle is in my heart and though I haven't been learning the Music for too long it became the vital part of my life. Apart from playing, listening and trying to understand different Irish fiddle styles (Sliabh Luachra & West Clare being on top of all!) my musical life involves taking part in organizing local sessions of Irish Traditional Music in Moscow. So whenever you happen to be in Moscow, contact me and drop in:) For everything else let the quotes speak for myself. These're the quotes of and about the people I admire - some of them just for fun, some more are the essence of my own views, including something important about perception of the Music.
"When I think back, I used to listen to the old fiddle players. I always felt that they had something very special, the rhythm in their playing. While whistle players would have listened to whistle players, I listened to all instruments." (c) Mary Bergin
"I probably consciously worked on my triplets in the sense that they never seemed to work properly. So they developed from trying to bow them properly but not succeeding." (c) Tommy Peoples
"It's one of these tunes that were so popular that nobody played them for years." (c) Kevin Burke
"And he said that he would come back and he'd marry her and take great care of her and everything. You'll find that in a lot of songs too. It's called.. The Great Celtic Lie." (c) Andy M. Stewart
"I would consciously pinpoint that as something that I’d love to do, which is play very slowly but with lovely lift." (c) Caoimhin O Raghallaigh
"Sometimes you get this special reaction, relationship amongst musicians. A good session is where musicians listen to one another and it becomes an entity in itself and it has its own life... That's a nice pose, a great pose." (c) Matt Molloy
"I like to sit down in a chair and play some music. I suspect the rest of the band likes that too. I can tell by the look of their faces they like it, when they're just sitting there with no obstruction just playing something." (c) Derek Bell
"It's just amazing to hear that music is in the trees, it's in the houses, in the people... The music belongs in the various districts... You can smell it, it's where, you know!" (c) Paddy Moloney
"It’s pretty much a lifetime study; you listen to it and you get a certain level of appreciation for it, you come back a month later and you hear a whole new side of things, and you come back a year later and you realize you haven’t heard it at all. It’s music of infinite depth." (c) Caoimhin O Raghallaigh
"I’d say for me music has been… Well, firstly, I’ve neglected everything else, like studying and stuff like that, but I wouldn’t change it either... It’s been like a raft, or a lifebuoy, in good times and bad, particularly in bad. It’s more often been a friend than a foe to me. It can be nonsensical at times, but it’s deep in my heart anyhow. I’ve loved it more than I’ve struggled with it." (c) Tommy Peoples
"One fear I would always have, even in my class situation, is that the emphasis is on technicality, whereas for me, the whole thing is the feeling and heart and soul, that's what the older musicians had - something special, an internal rhythm, that nya! or sway, you find yourself moving your shoulders. I don't think you can teach that, it comes with feeling, and mixing with people that have it, and it's important to impart that right from the cradle - even from an enjoyment and social point of view, the sharing of the playing." (c) Mary Bergin
"It is an introspective art... A lonely, introspective art." (c) Tony MacMahon
Happy to meet, play and chat with practically any traditional musician who appears around here:) It's a great pleasure to have guests from Ireland and America at our sessions and it's always interesting to share the experience:)
Tunes in Bregolas's tunebook: 707