The Seán Ó Riada Gold Medal 2010 - Fiddle.
4 May 2010, 10:05 AM GMT
Brú Ború – The Seán Ó Riada Gold Medal 2010 - fiddle. This will be a worldwide competition run during the course of each year. This mirrors a similar competition held on Radio Eirinn in a program called Fleadh Cheoil an Radio which was presented and conceived by the late Sean Ó Riada, Peadar’s father during the early 1960’s. This year, 2010, is the year of the fiddle. Anyone can enter from anywhere in the world. The competition is to award the Sean Ó Riada Gold Medal to the most complete Irish traditional fiddler who has competed. All entrants are free. They must enter via the Internet to the site Cuireadh Chun Ceoil. They will have to forward 5 solo pieces of their playing – unaccompanied. Two pieces will be chosen from each entry if the adjudicators deem the competitor to be of sufficient standard. All entrants will be posted on the website. The adjudicators will chose the final 15 competitors who will then take part in a concert broadcast live on RnaG and worldwide on the Web. This concert will take place in the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork city, Ireland in the month of December. The judging panel at the end of the concert will award the gold medal. Each competitor will play live, two pieces selected by the adjudicators from the five original recordings supplied by the competitors. The final 15 competitors will receive free travel and accommodation. The adjudication panel consists of the internationally well know Irish Fiddle Players, Martin Hayes, Sean Keane and Liam O Connor. The adjudicators will have the final say. RnaG are the official broadcasters. The parameters of the competition. In their search for the gold medalist, the adjudicators will be looking for a musician who has technical proficiency on the instrument, has a musicality in their playing, and a variety in their choice of 5 pieces that illustrate the broad range of rhythms and melody in traditional Gaelic music. They will also be looking for the character found in music from musicians whose life experience and witness grows with age and which invests their music. As Irish music is an art form and requires creative input from the musician, this character is of great importance and should be real rather then faked or imitated from other great musicians. In other words, the adjudicators would rather purchase a recording of, say, ,Johnny Doherty or Denis Murphy, then listen to hundreds of imitations. The adjudicators wish the to hear the musician’s own character in their playing – without exaggeration.. This would suggest that whilst technique is important, age and experience is equally so. One may enter the competition from now until the last day of August. The earlier one enters, the surer one will be of selection for broadcast in the weekly program. We plan to broadcast three competitors each week, choosing two pieces from each. We will commence the competition on 21 of March. We realize that not everyone has internet facilities but hope that local facilities can be used via schools or branches of organizations such as Comhaltas Ceoltóiri Éireann and so on. Our internet site provides the instructions and form and assistance to enter the competition. As we embark on this voyage of discovery and we try to harness new technology to bring the world wide family of traditional gaelic music together, we realize that there will be some moments of anxt and worry but we advise that honesty is the best guide when trying to decide ones contribution. Competition has been part of our heritage whether in sport or the arts. We still enjoy the accounts of great competitions in the time of Fionn Mac Cumhail and Cu Chulainn in the great sagas of our ancestors. But competition is not the raison d’etre of traditional music and we hope that people will not get to ‘carried away’ with this competition but rather partake and enjoy, whether listening in, or playing or arguing over the merits of one style or another, but above all else, enjoying the wonderful gift that is Gaelic traditional music whether you are from Ireland, Scotland or any other part of this world. For further Information see the following websites: www.peadaroriada.ie cuireadhchunceoil.ie
Posted By Brú Ború
