Dancing encouraged to the fiddles
By Pam Jung, pamj@theunion.com
» More from Pam Jung
12:01 a.m. PT Apr 24, 2008
Scottish fiddle master Alasdair Fraser brings his 100-strong San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers to Grass Valley Saturday. From the boisterous to the exquisite, the music consists of jigs, reels, airs, songs and dances played by more than 60 fiddlers, accompanied by piano, drums, cellos, guitars and harps.
In 22 years the group has grown to more than 200 members of all ages from across Northern California.
"There's a new wave of young people that have picked up on the music and decided to include it in their lives," said Fraser. He commends 18-year-old Cameron Scott for winning bagpipe competitions - "a rare thing for an American high school student. He brings a certain air of magnificence to the sound."
On the other end of the age spectrum, local fiddler Cindy Crockett, 57, picked up the fiddle a couple of years ago and has been commuting to the Bay Area for rehearsals.
"Now, two years later, I find myself not in the audience, but on the stage, playing this extraordinary music," she said. The fiddle is her first musical instrument.
Though he is a local, living in Nevada City, Fraser is known as one of the finest interpreters of Scotland's music in the world. He performs throughout the world with the all-star group "Highland Heath and Hollar," and he also teaches, directing the Sierra Fiddle Camp and Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School. Fraser's music also can be heard on movie soundtracks, such as "Titanic" and "Treasure Planet."
See a listing of his 11 CDs at www.alasdairfraser.com, and for a short video, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuHxeU-_p_c.
KNOW & GO
WHAT: Alasdair Fraser & The San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers
WHEN: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: The Grass Valley Veterans Memorial Building, 255 South Auburn St.
ADMISSION: Tickets, which are $20 for adults and $10 for children 12 and under, may be purchased at Yabobo in Nevada City; Briar Patch and The Book Seller in Grass Valley; at Cherry Records in Auburn; and online at www.sfscottishfiddlers.org or by phone at (800) 838-3006.
INFORMATION: www.sfscottishfiddlers.org or call Peter Wilson at (530) 477-0708
