Fiddle Tunes Faculty Update

We've posted most of the players who will be teaching this summer, on the faculty page:

http://www.centrum.org/fiddle/ft-faculty.html

Here are some particular highlights:

Joseba Tapia is one of the world’s leading diatonic accordion players who performs traditional Basque   dance music from Spain, known as Trikitixa. The rhythms of its key instruments – accordion and tambourine – are identifiable as the music of the Basque country and language. For many years Tapia, who was self taught, formed one half of the Basque accordion and tambourine duo known as Tapia ta Leturia. For Fiddle Tunes this summer, Tapia is bringing his favorite fiddler, Arkaitz Miner, as well as longtime musical partner on percussions, Xabier Berasaluze “Leturia.”

John Carty is an elite Irish fiddler who is equally gifted at banjo, flute and tenor guitar, and is considered one of  Ireland’s most highly regarded traditional musicians. As 2003 winner of TG4 Traditional Musician of the Year, he joined previously acclaimed musical giants as Matt Molloy, Tommy Peoples, Mary Bergin, Máire Ní Chathasiaigh and Paddy Keenan. Born in London, by the age of 16 and already an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, John found himself playing with some of Irish music’s finest musicians and began entertaining the thought of relocating to Ireland. Soon after settling in Boyle, Co Roscommon, his 1994 debut banjo album was released and was followed quickly in 1996 by a first fiddle album which was described as a milestone in recorded fiddle music. 

Laurie Lewis is the real stuff of legend, at least in the quiet corners where American roots music still thrives. One of the preeminent bluegrass and Americana artists of our time, Laurie has been described by  the Sacramento News “as fine a singer as anyone on the acoustic music circuit, anywhere in the world.” Twice named Female Vocalist of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association, Lewis also won a Grammy for “True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe”. Her 30-year career as fiddler, singer and songwriter began in her early 20s when she discovered the Bay Area bluegrass scene with its powerful mix of the region's historic progressivism and ardent devotion to musical tradition. "There weren't a lot of cutting contests; it was all about making music together, a focus on interdependency rather than individual prowess," she said. Renowned on stage for her musical virtuosity and front-porch friendliness, in everything she plays, the point is sharing, not strutting.

James Cheechoo, one of the few remaining traditional James Bay Cree fiddlers from Moose Factory,  Ontario, will share his music at Fiddle Tunes this summer. Mr. Cheechoo is a member of the Moose Cree First Nation, a Native reserve community located in the island settlement of Moose Factory. Dating back to the Hudson Bay Co. in the 1670s, company ships brought Irish and Scots to the island and with them residents from the Orkneys who brought fiddle music. Mr. Cheechoo grew up listening to his father and older brothers play the Orkney based music, began playing at 12 and traded two fox pelts for his first fiddle. As one of the few remaining traditional James Bay Cree fiddlers, Mr. Cheechoo has a repertoire of about 60 traditional songs of the single fiddle tradition. He will be accompanied by his wife Daisy on spoons and his son Lawrence on the native drum.