Vying for the title of Fiddler of Dooney
Sligo Town Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann merges traditional music and W.B. Yeats annually with the Fiddler of Dooney Competition.
This year marks the 30 th anniversary of the revived fiddle competition.
On Saturday and Sunday October 27 th & 28th, thirty of the nation’s best fiddle players will compete in two age categories for over €2,500 worth of prizes at The Methodist Church for the honour of the title, The Fiddler of Dooney.
The competition is again being organised by The Sligo Town Branch of Comhaltas with Sligo County Council as main sponsors and associative support from Sligo Live.
The 2017 holder of the title, Caoimhe Kearins, a native of Ballinabole, Collooney recently won the Senior Fiddle Competition at Fleadh Cheil na h-Éireann in Drogheda.
Following the success of Jason Mc Guinness in 2016 Caoimhe was the third Sligo person to win the title since Manus McGuire in 1970.
Competitions start at 11 am on Saturday (under 16’s) and at 2pm on Sunday (Senior).
With the publication of the poem the ‘ The Fiddler of Dooney’ as part of ‘ The Wind Among The Reeds’ in 1899 W. B. Yeats introduced Sligo fiddle playing into the realms of poetry.
As far back as 1965 Sligo people introduced poetry into the realms of fiddle playing when they inaugurated The Fiddler of Dooney fiddle competition.
In 1988 the Joe O Dowd (now Sligo Town) Branch, with sponsorship from the late Jimmy Higgins (Silver Swan Hotel), commissioned the late Easkey born sculptor Fred Conlon to produce a piece that would depict the Fiddler of Dooney.
Fred produced a magnificent 14” high bronze on a black marble base. The piece can be viewed at The Comhaltas Meitheal Office in Ceolaras Coleman in Gurteen.
Manus McGuire, one of Sligo’s most outstanding fiddlers with an enviable international reputation for his Sligo inspired playing style will give a Recital and CD Launch at 4.30 p.m. on Sunday 28th also at The Methodist Church. The recital will be accompanied by the launch of his new fiddle album ‘ The Copperplate Sessions’ recorded earlier this year in Scotland with guests from Scotland, Shetland, Orkney, Canada and the U.S.