The Floating Bow
I came rather late to the appreciation of the breadth and depth of fiddle music, my earlier education having deftly side-stepped the subject. What most impressed me was that, unlike many cultural groups I had hitherto encountered, the players I met were totally un-elitist and welcomed and even encouraged my interest. Although I was a latecomer I was never made to feel like a gatecrasher.
Long may this open-mindedness continue. I first heard Donegal music with Brian O'Donnell, the Northern Chairman of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, and got to know John Doherty through him. I subsequently met Mickey Browne in 1967 and became acquainted with his house in Glenconwell between Ardara and Glenties where these recordings of John Doherty were made over a six year period from 1968-74, on an Akai X-1800SD, reel-to-reel stereo recorder. John's playing on this CD represents only some of the best from these many hours of recordings. However, it must be borne in mind that John would never 'give up all his gold' - he always had something left up his sleeve. In the summer of 1966 I accompanied Brian O'Donnell to Donegal to record fiddle music. During the trip we stayed with Brian's sister. John Doherty's family used to visit his home at Shalway near Killybegs when Brian was a boy. All did not go well on the trip: the car that we had hired kept overheating and the players were elusive, particularly John Doherty who appeared to have 'gone to ground'. We were successful in recording Hughie Gillespie who, of course, had partnered Michael Coleman on radio programmes in the United States in the 1930s, and had shared his house with him'. The recordings were made on Brian's monumental Ferrograph, which owed much to an era when the British still made things to last. When we had finished and were driving away, Brian tapped the box which contained the tape and said, 'We'll put this away for a few years so that it matures like a good wine.' I was impressed by this approach but surprised at his oenological expertise as I had never known Brian to deviate from what Andy Crockart of Ulster Television had christened 'The Kit:' a bottle of Guinness and a half one.
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