A name you have certainly seen and heard if you have any interest in the prolific and beguiling cross section between Ireland’s traditional music and experimental sound design, the idiosyncratic, virtuosic fiddle player Ultan O’Brien has put together a beautiful collection of fiddle tunes, some original compositions and some older than our Republic. He has been busy, working with everyone and playing everywhere across the island, honing a unique approach to his instrument and craft that will cement him among the names this generation is remembered for.
Ultan writes, records, performs and tours traditional and contemporary Irish music as a soloist and with a number of groups/ bands including Irish/Finnish folk group Slow Moving Clouds, Irish folk band Skipper’s Alley, Scottish/Irish/Manx collaboration Aon Teanga:Un Çhengey, Irish/Persian collaboration Tulca, and duos with Nic Gareiss (dance), Garth Knox (viola d’amore), and Paul Roe (clarinet).
Born in Germany and raised in Ireland, he began learning the fiddle at a young age from a variety of musicians in county Clare. He has since studied contemporary and classical music for violin in Dublin’s Conservatory of Music and in the Kodály Institute in Kecskemét, Hungary and completed an M.Phil in composition in Trinity College, Dublin.
‘Dancing the Line’, his new album released through Nyaah Records, is an astounding listen. Listen to it, and be proud of where you are in the world. There are still things being written that we may hear a century from now.
I got a copy of ‘Dancing the Line’, and it’s phenomenal. I’m delighted to speak with you, I’ve seen your name quite a bit, playing with my favourite musicians, like Méabh McKenna and Crash Ensemble. The record blew me away. The idea of a dancer as a percussionist, genius.
Nic [Garreis] is my favourite percussionist, actually. I don’t know if he’s always okay with that term. Nic’s style of percussive dance is so visually attractive, and, I mean, once it’s recorded, you know, you obviously hone in purely on its sonic beauty. He’s amazing. He places sand on the plywood board as well giving the gritty sound I love, dragging his feet along the board like a bow across the fiddle.
I have never heard it before, on a record, as a highlighted instrument.
I do think it leads to a nice way of digging into the tunes and I do know a few fiddlers who enjoy whipping out the viola. For a brief time, we had a viola session in Dublin. We met once in a blue moon. I’m actually working with Méabh McKenna at the moment
I felt Méabh was the best person to help me play this music live. We’re doing some gigs together soon enough to launch the record Nic Gareiss is joining us, which is a treat. Nic brings my tune playing to life, I feel. I’m really looking forward to getting it out into the world.
What can you tell me about the record? How did you get involved with Nyahh?
I actually met Willie a good few years ago, when working on projects in Leitrim. I was there for about two years. I knew Willie’s music before and was already a fan of what he was doing with Nyahh records. I met him first at an event with dancer Edwina Guckian, who actually features on the album. There’s a strong community of doers up there in Leitrim.
The record is my attempt to record the traditional music I grew up with and to leave room to explore the sonic possibilities of the alto-fiddle through compositions that could sit in a similar sound world to the traditional music.
What can you tell me about the recording? You worked with Rian Trench.
He actually came down here to Clare. I’m in Miltown Malbay now. There’s a studio here, a really nice one that Martin O’Malley runs. I really wanted Rian in on the project because, basically, I think he’s amazing. He’d be interested in this kind of music too, and he’s also outside of the tradition, so I thought he’d be a valuable pair of ears to have. I just thought he’d be ideal for this.. I expected that we would do it up at his place in Wicklow, but he was up for a bit of an adventure to Clare.
How did you end up doing cross tuned fiddle through pedals?
It sounds odd, maybe, but it was quite a natural progression. I started playing fiddle when I was seven, just learning from different musicians around Clare, really. Dennis Liddy was a school teacher I had, and he gave me the first fiddle I had. I was with him for years as a student. I was with a good few other teachers as well, Joan Hanrahan for example. I started looking for a deeper sound, one that could get me closer to the sound world I had in my head. I was listening to recordings from people like Nell Galvin, and trying to emanate that sound as authentically as possible.
With the lower growl and resonance of the alto fiddle and having it de-tuned so there’s more kind of, you know, sympathetic vibrations going on, and quite simply, a growl. And so it’s all coming from attempts to get deeper into the music and closer to it. Even down to the tonality and textures and harmonies you can get out of the double stops and tunings, it just seemed to really suit the music for me.
It’s amazing to see the work coming out of the community, yourself, Méabh, Róis, Seamas Hyland, it’s solid gold all the time.
It does feel quite strong, doesn’t it? I’m very inspired by people I’m lucky to work with in this scene— the likes of Neil Ó Lochlainn, John Francis Flynn, Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, Méabh McKenna and yeah, countless others.
Words: Adam Nelson
Photographs: Alex Foster
Dancing The Line is out now on Nyaah Records.
