Artist Profiles: Gerry “fiddle” O’Connor

Gerry “fiddle” O’Connor

Gerry was a founding member of highly regarded 4-member group Skylark, and with them recorded four albums for the Claddagh Records label. He then went on to form his own very distinctive band La Lugh, which featured the acclaimed singer/composer Eithne Nf Uallachain. La Lugh have toured extensively throughout Europe and collaborated with Anuna and Cooney and Begley at the major Breton Festival de Cornuaille, Quimper. They have recorded four albums.

Independently, Gerry has participated in projects with such prominent musicians as Donal Lunny, Breton guitarist Gilles ie Bigot, Irish flute /alto sax player Gerry O’Donnell and Italian pianist Antonio Breschi as well as a number of solo performances. The “West Wind” project, involving twelve prominent Breton and Irish musicians was one of the creative highlights of L’lmaginaire lrlandais in France in ’96. in July.

In addition to being a fiddle player of considerable ability with a bow hand admired by many, Gerry is also a trained violin maker and an experienced and enthusiastic fiddle teacher who has given master classes to students of Traditional Music in over 16 countries on three Continents. With Desi Wilkinson he has developed an entertaining and informative schools Concert / Lesson program “About Traditional Music”, based around the fiddle and flute, and he is presently designing a course to facilitate the introduction of Traditional music by second level music teachers to their music students.

Discography:

Journeyman (Lughnasa Music, 2002)
In Concert, with Gilles le Bigot (Lughnasa Music, 2005)
White Raven: The Place where Life Began (2006)
Jig Away the Donkey (Lughnasa Music, 2011)
Merry Merry Time of Year, 2011 (The Irish Rovers, 2011)
Oirialla (Lughnasa Music, 2011)
Merry Merry Time of Year (The Irish Rovers, 2011)
Companach (2018)

With Lá Lugh:

Cosa gan Bhróga (Gael Linn, 1987)
Lá Lugh (Claddagh Records, 1991)
Brighid’s Kiss (Lughnasa Music, 1996)
Senex Puer (Sony Music, 1998)
Bilingua (Gael Linn, 2014)

With Skylark:

Skylark (Claddagh Records, 1987)
All of It (Claddagh Records, 1989)
Light and Shade (Claddagh Records, 1992)
Raining Bicycles (Claddagh Records, 1996)

Author: Angel Romero

Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.

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