The fiddle in Wales

The fiddle

Wales has a long tradition of fiddle playing and its music was popular with the great Romany familes of Wales.

Three people who were renowned for playing both harp and fiddles were Cornelius, David and Adolphus Wood.

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BBC Radio Wales, The Traditional Music of Wales

Unlike the harp there is no unbroken tradition of fiddle playing in Wales, but because the players wrote down their tunes the repertoire has been preserved.

We don't know how the fiddle actually sounded so have no idea of styles. Many manuscripts from 18th and 19th centuries contain tunes which appear very similar in style to contemporary classical or popular music.


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