So I go through phases where I become obsessed with a new artist and listen non-stop to everything they've recorded. Youtube has made that even easier because you can find live videos too.
So I've been in a Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh phase for probably a year. His fiddling is beautiful, both in the traditional Irish stuff he's done and the newer genre-bending stuff he does, too. So today I've learned two tunes from his playing. The first is a jig called Kitty Lie Over which is the title track to an album Caoimhín did with Mick O'Brien a few years ago. The second is a reel called Miss Longford they did in a live performance last year, which you can catch on youtube.
If it sounds strangely echoey and boomy, it's because of the cool tuning. In order to play in the key of Bb easier, it's common to change the tuning of the fiddle. For these tunes I've tuned the strings to Eb, Bb, F, and C, down a major third from standard GDAE tuning. It's also common to change it to F, C, G, and D, down a whole step from standard tuning.
Order Kitty Lie Over here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/raghallaighobrien
For the live performance they did of the reel, go here: http://youtu.be/8Yi3ulpjgJY (I don't know if it's the recording, but this is in B, not B flat, so if you want to tune your fiddle to play along, tune to EBF#C#)
You sound like Caoimhín! Just lovely.
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