2 PM 22 January 2012

 Join us for a fiddle workshop with the one and only Patrick Ourceau, master of the Irish Fiddle.   The workshop will be held from 2 pm to 5:30 pm  then we will break for dinner. Patrick will then play a 1 hour Concert for patrons of the Pub.  We could have quite a good session from 8 pm.  Workshop cost is $30.  Please register in advance.  Concert is free. Reservations are recommended since seating is limited.



“…Soulful, stylish fiddling.”

Sally K. Sommers Smith -Irish Music Magazine

“Ourceau’s belly-deep tone bespeaks of a musician with a gloriously original voice”

Siobhan Long -The Irish Times

“He is a really marvelous fiddler, wonderful. He has such a deep knowledge of the music ... He really is
extraordinary, how he deals with the sensitivity he has with the heart of a great tune”

Paddy O’Brien

Patrick Ourceau was born in France, where he discovered and started to play Irish music. In 1989 he
emigrated to NYC and since 2005 has been living in Toronto.

Mostly self taught, Patrick’s style was influenced early on by the discovery of the music of the legendary
fiddle players Paddy Canny, Bobby Casey and Paddy Fahey. Since the mid eighties, Patrick has been
regularly visiting Ireland and especially county Clare. Over the years, he has during those trips, been able
to play with and learn from Paddy Canny, as well as from many other local musicians including flute and
fiddle player Peter O’Loughlin.

During the many years he lived in New York, Patrick often played with such great musicians as fiddle
players Andy McGann and Paddy Reynolds among many others, but was particularly influenced by the
style, repertoire and knowledge of Woodford, Co. Galway flute player Jack Coen.
 

Patrick is a member since 2003 of the trio Chulrua. Since the Mid Nineties, Patrick has toured all over
North America and Europe in a variety of duets, trios and bands, Most notably with Ennis, Co. Clare
concertina player Gearoid O’hAllmhurain; Tulla, Co. Clare accordion player Andrew Mac Namara and
with the legendary Tulla Ceili band, on the band’s last American tour.

Patrick has been featured on a host of recordings, including the 2007 Chulrua release The Singing Kettle,
on Shanachie Records; Live at Mona's in 2004 with Guitarist Eamon O'Leary; on flute player Cathal
McConnell's Long Expectant comes at Last, on Compass Records; on accordion player John Whelan’s
Celtic Roots, on Narada Records; more Recently on Steve Johnson's Lowlands, released in 2009 and on
theTG4’CD and DVD release Geantrai, a compilation celebrating the first ten years of the popular
traditional Irish music television program.

Patrick is in great demand as a teacher and regularly teaches both privately and at various festivals and
summer schools across North America, Ireland and mainland Europe. He has been part, since 1999, of
the teaching staff at Irish Arts Week in East Durham, New York and at Celtic College in Goderich, Canada.
He has been regularly teaching the past several years at Augusta’s Irish Week in Elkins, West Virginia; at
the East Coast Tionol in East Durham, New York; at the Chris Langan Weekend in Toronto, Canada and at
Europadanse week in Vannes, France. Patrick taught several years atFriday Harbor Irish Music Camp in
San Juan Island, Washington, and has also taught at the Alaska Fiddle Camp in Chugiak, Alaska; at the St.
Louis Tionol in St. Louis, Missouri; at O’Flaherty’s Retreat in Dallas,Texas; at the Armagh Piper’s Club in
County Armagh, Northern Ireland; and at the Fleadh Nua in Ennis, County Clare, Ireland.
In Toronto, Patrick is teaching privately many pupils of all ages interested in Irish Music and in learning
the fiddle. He is currently involved in an Irish music after school program at St. Paul school, in
downtown Toronto that was inspired by the need of the children of that part of town for enriched
extracurricular opportunities, and by the historical connection of the school to Toronto’s Irish ancestry.

In 1999, Shane Cook managed to do what no other Canadian has done - win the prestigious U.S. National Fiddle Championship. Shane is a master of an array of fiddle styles and is one of Canada’s most highly awarded old-time fiddlers.

April 22, 2010

Celt Fest Cuba unites, inspires island musicians

“People were getting lost in the trance of the Irish music. We were bringing some of that cloud of our dream time here. And we in turn were getting lost by some of the music that was here.” Irish singer and bodhran player Liam Ó Maonlaí.    MORE

 

Click here to see who you missed

  Metering out Dam Pub Drams to Andrea Beaton while Ward McDonald looks on. 

 

                                                          A Session with Ward McDonald from PEI
see the PEI fiddle camp here



Report by Radio Havana

Anne's question at the session as to whether a four handed reel is for four people or for two people each with two hands raises some interesting questions when one comes to a tune like Beatrice Hills Three Handed Reel. Is this a reel for three one handed amputees? Or one non amputee and one amputee?

Unfortunately, for my speculation, Ella Mary Leather, in the Lolk Lore of Herefordshire tells us how these were danced, as collected at the beginning of the twentieth century. What I find interesting is that the dance, performed to 'any hornpipe, in common time, will do for this dance, or for the Six-Handed Reel. consists of a series of heys (figure eights) mixed with step dance. I have felt for some time that the music of Southern England is often based on step dance.

Three Handed Reel

Bryan