Scottish Fiddlers To Fiddle Around At CWU

April 15, 2005

Contact: Leslie Webb (509-963-1685/fax 509-963-3561/e-mail: webble@cwu.edu)

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - While the bagpipe may be the instrument most associated with Scotland, the fiddle joins it among three national instruments of the country. The fiddle may have come to Scotland with the crusaders, around the 12th century, which led to a long history of fiddle music there.

That history and tradition is being kept alive today in the U.S. by a number of groups, including the San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers. They will play at Central Washington University on Monday, April 25, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

The free, public performance will be held in the Barge Hall courtyard, but will be moved into McConnell Auditorium in case of inclement weather.

Alasdair Fraser, who the San Francisco Examiner called "the Michael Jordan of Scottish fiddling," leads the now 80-member group. A national fiddling champion of Scotland, Fraser has also played on several film soundtracks, including the movie "Titanic."

He formed the fiddlers in 1986 to further Scottish traditional music through allowing people who enjoy playing it to get together. As the group has grown in numbers and experience, they have shared their music at concerts, fiddle rallies and festivals across the country, drawing from a repertoire that includes the entire range of Scottish fiddle music.

For more information about the CWU performance, or for persons of disability to arrange for reasonable accommodation, call (509) 963-1685, or (for the hearing impaired) TDD (509) 963-2143.