The fiddle music of Scotland, with its roots in eighteenth-century dance music, has been in continuous transmission for centuries.
Bennachie, the debut album of Glenfiddichfiddle champion and University of Aberdeen Music graduate, Nicola Auchnie, payshomage to the 'Golden Age' of the 1700s while at the same demonstrating howalive the tradition remains, with well-known tunes by the masterfiddler-composers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries included alongsidethose more recently composed by our modern-day masters. In addition, the albumfeatures a Music Hall number performed solo by pianist, Maureen Rutherford,Scots songs by Burns and others, sung by baritone, Paul Tierney, and an exoticHungarian dance for fiddle and piano, making for a refreshingly diverseprogramme of traditional and folk-inspired music. The very title of the albumlocates it in North-East Scotland, the crucible of an indefatigable fiddlestyle made popular worldwide around the turn of the twentieth century by JamesScott Skinner, with later proponents including Hector MacAndrew, Bill Hardie,Douglas Lawrence, and Paul Anderson, whose 'Farewell to St Kilda' is includedon the album. Nicola's powerful and fluent interpretations, ably and tastefullysupported by Mo on the ivories, demonstrate her deep understanding of therepertoire and style, exhibited also by the self-penned tunes chosen toconclude the album. Copies are currently on sale at Morgan’s Music (Inverurie)and Scotch Corner (Turriff), or from Nicola directly via email (nicola@ceilidhmor.com).