Fiddles to both feed your feet and your emotions.

Release date : 15th August 2025

Label : Self-Released

Format : CD / digital

TO MAKE YOU DANCE AND WEEP

The Scots like their fiddles, of that you can be sure, and there is a long and grand tradition of such music. A single fiddle can make you dance, make you weep and make you proud. But double them up, treble them up and more, and the sound strangely alters and can become, however many of them there are, so much greater than the sum of individual parts. Shetland and the Northern Isles are the spiritual home of fiddle ensembles, so much so that it is said that there are more fiddles per head of population, in Lerwick, than anyone else in the world. But, over on the other side of the mainland, the myriad isles of the Inner and Outer Hebrides have also a fair bit of history, too, with strings and bows.

This is where the Hebridean Fiddle Project come in, a trio, each from differing islands, coming together to explore and examine how the tradition has evolved; for there is no one Hebridean fiddle music, as each community has built its own, the nuances of style all varying across the region. However, this is no history lesson or dull archive, the aim of Shona Morrison (Skye), Clare Frances MacNeil (Barra) and Jamie MacDonald (Tiree) being to entertain. Teud, after all, is the Gaelic for party. (That’s actually a lie, it means string, but, with this music, it might as well…..) This EP is their recorded debut.

A MAGNIFICENT HUP

The set opens with Puirt-chruinn, a medley of, originally, pipe led jigs. This has a glorious sweeping pattern, familiar in style from the rather more overgarnished Scots Fiddle Orchestra. But, with three fiddles rather than three dozen, the individual nuances of play get allowed far greater scrutiny, as the harmonies and descants writhe about each other. A magnificent hup to get things going, there is an immediate sense of ownership about the trio’s handling of the constituent parts.

Òran Manitoba sees MacDonald, a one time member of Eabhal, take to the cittern, to accompany the remaining two fiddles. A song, it is sung by MacNeil, who, in addition to her instrument skill, is also a Royal National Mòd Trad Gold Medalist and the first individual to complete a masters in Gaelic Song at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. But don’t let that apparent seal of orthodoxy and authenticity put you off, her voice is a sparkling burn, trickling down the glen and is just lovely. Not that you can tell, it is actually a lament, even if the central fiddle duet carries some distinct yearning, it relating to the Tiree clearances. With her bandmates chiming in for the final chorus, it is an unexpected pleasure, in what I expected to be all instrumental.

WET-EYED GAELS

Gaelic Waltzes do what it says on the tin, as three melodies, one from each their parent islands, segue seamlessly together. Always gloriously maudlin to my ear, the combination of bowed and pizzicato supplies all the guide and rhythm your feet might need, even if a quiet sway is all that is managed. I can imagine a room ful of wet-eyed Gaels, wistfully recalling both their own rose-tinted pasts and those historical grievances begat on their ancestral kin.

Wondering why EPs have to be so short, the final track is Puirt Nam Fidhlear. If “puirt” translates as tunes, can you guess what “fidhlear” might be? a further song, it affects a plaintive mood as the separately sourced verses come together, under the expert curatorship of the three fiddles, anchored by the strum of the cittern. In that Hebridean famously can capture all seasons, not so much in one day, but in one hour, so this final collection captures all available moods, in barely under four minutes.

FILE UNDER COMFY SHOES

This is an admirable piece of work, to be filed under living history and enjoyed as a good time listen. Keep a hanky for your eyes, and comfy shoes. Hup, indeed. The EP was produced by Tidelines’ Ross Wilson, and, to maintain integrity, was recorded on the Isle of Lewis.

Here’s an abbreviated Puirt Nam Fidhlear, filmed by BBC Alba last year:

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