Fiddlebox
Fiddlebox have their own website here and a facebook page here. This page is my personal take on Fiddlebox.
Fiddlebox is for me a very successful duo comprising of myself (the Box) and my friend and musical partner Helen Adam (the Fiddle). We have a huge repertoire, work hard and make a great sound, and as a result get lots of work by word of mouth. One of the reasons we get so much work is our ability to play different roles for a wide variety of circumstances.
We have a new CD as of April 2015 – “Eastern Honeymoon”
There’s my blog about the launch here.
There’s a track to listen to in my shop.
You can listen to some tracks on the Fiddlebox Soundcloud.
And of course buy it from the Fiddlebox shop!
This is a recent video clip of us playing.
Art Music for Arts Centres
We play our own music in Arts Centres, Folk Clubs and Music Venues and at Festivals. Loosely speaking Helen writes her own tunes and does amazing arrangements of existing ones, often flavoured with her love of Klezmer music, while I write songs, often influenced by my love of rock music. All that gets passed through the Fiddlebox filter which is quite celtic and we end up with our unique sound. A kind of Welsh folk klezmer rock.
Here is a video made by 40 Watt Films of Fiddlebox at Fishguard Folk Festival in 2012 playing the Welsh tunes Coleg y Prifysgol Abertawe and Nyth Y Cwcw.
Walkabout for Festivals and Events
Because we can be mobile and acoustic we do a lot of walkabout work at Food Fairs, Special Events, Family Fun Days and all kinds of other indoor or outdoor shows. We play all kinds of jolly music, dress up, interact with event goers and generally spread a bit of happiness. We are old hands at this and event organisers book us again and again because we don’t need looking after! We arrive on time, we are smart, polite and fun, we find the most effective places to play and we play for long stints – none of this half hour sets rubbish!
Here is a video by Colin Riddle of Fiddlebox on walkabout at the National Botanic Garden of Wales. We are in the “Glass Box” by the shop which has a terrific loud sound due to the hard surfaces. We are playing a Klezmer Freulich.
Ceilidh, Barn Dance and Twmpath
Helen and I both call for dancers – while playing! It took a bit of practice I can tell you but it’s well worth it because we are a very competitive ceilidh/Barn dance/twmpath band. With our excellent PA we make a BIG dancey sound and our friendly calling style gets everyone involved from total novices upwards. Lots of this type of band have chosen to work tightly in one genre, say Welsh twmpath or American square dance. Having enjoyed playing for so many of these bands over the years we decided to do the opposite and cross all the boundaries. If you come to one of our dances you could be doing a East European Circle Dance one minute and an American Ye Haa! the next not to mention that dance Helen brought back from the Seychelles. Of course we also call a good number of Welsh and Scottish favourites.
Weddings and Parties
OK, we won’t normally turn up to your party as Darth Vader and Catwoman but we like a bit of fun as much as anyone (Helens Catwoman outfit was originally used at her own wedding!) At weddings we might end up being anything from “The string quartet” providing “nice posh music” for dinner guests to a rip roaring folk dance session – it just depends what the customer wants.
We Also Make CDs
Our latest CD “On the East Wind” represents a bold attempt to redefine the boundaries of Welsh traditional music through the prism of other traditions. Several of the pieces are in a new musical style, we call ‘Klezreig’ – a synthesis of Cymreig and Klezmer that is proving highly popular with audiences everywhere.
Here’s a quote from Helen : “We are taking a fresh and loving look at Welsh traditional music which is robust enough to stand on its own alongside other, better known folk traditions.” And one from me: “We recorded it in a Welsh chapel using its natural ambience in order to get the acoustic sound you can expect when you come to see us.”