Book to be launched celebrating link between Arranmore Island and Beaver Island

A book is due to be launched celebrating the link between Arranmore Island and Beaver Island on Lake Michigan in the US.

The book, Islands of Fiddlers / Oileáin na bhFidiléirí, is being launched by Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh on Saturday, April 13 at 3pm on Arranmore Island. 

Islands of Fiddlers / Oileáin na bhFidiléirí is a new book which tells the story of a community of emigrants from the Rosses, Arranmore and Rutland Islands in the 1800s who found themselves on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan. An incredible story of hardship, emigration, resilience and community strength.

Despite settling on a relatively remote island in America, these Donegal emigrants banded together and forged a strong community which got on with building a new life and at the same time preserving and valuing the cultural identity they had brought with them from northwest Donegal. They continued to speak the Irish language and social customs such as singing, playing fiddles and dancing were important elements of their daily social lives which lifted their hearts in often difficult times.

As fiddle playing was a regular element of life in their native Rosses, it’s not surprising that up to fifteen fiddlers could be found amongst the original Irish settlers on Beaver Island.

Patrick Bonner, the youngest son of the island’s leader, Black Jack Bonner, took to fiddle playing with great enthusiasm. He learned the tunes brought from the Rosses from his neighbours and excelled as a fiddle player for both dancing and listening.

Patrick had a long and vigorous life and as a result, his music was recorded by such famous collectors as Alan Lomax and Ivor Walton. Through this good fortune up to 111 recordings exist of his playing. Lomax, who would go on to become probably the greatest collector of traditional music in the twentieth century, met and recorded Patrick on his first collecting field trip noting in his collection diary that he considered Patrick the best fiddler he had encountered up to that point. There were some humorous instances in that collecting.

Patrick’s accent was so strong that Lomax sometimes had difficulty understanding him. When asked for the name of a reel Patrick had just played, Lomax wrote in his diary the title of the tune was “Black Tar on a Stick”. The tune was, in fact, “The Blackthorn Stick”, well known throughout Donegal.

The book examines the strong parallel lives of the Beaver Island fiddlers and they kindred, contemporary fiddlers back in the Rosses such as Neillidh Boyle, the Dynamo from Dungloe, and Danny O’Donnell of Meenbanad.

Islands of Fiddlers / Oileáin na bhFidiléirí is published by Cairdeas na bhFidiléirí with support from The Arts Council. It contains the story of the Beaver Island settlement, its musicians and tunes while containing a transcription of 111 tunes recorded by Patrick Bonner.

The authors are both highly respected fiddlers in their own right. Glenn Hendrix is a Michigan fiddler who has spent a lifetime in the active promotion and development of Michigan fiddling. Caoimhin Mac Aoidh is a founder of Cairdeas na bhFidiléirí and has recently shared in being awarded a TG4 Gradam Award for the work of that organisation.

Caoimhin will be present at the event and it is hoped that through a live link-up with Glenn Hendrix on Beaver Island will also be present for the launch.

Islands of Fiddlers / Oileáin na bhFidiléirí will be launched at a special event in the Community Hall on Arranmore Island on Saturday, April 13 at 3pm. Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh, who co-wrote the Foreword with internationally renowned Chicago fiddler, Liz Carroll will launch the book.