Fiddler's Green:

Fiddler's Green was formed in 1990 by the two singers Ralf 'Albi' Albers and Peter Pathos (also the songwriter), who had previously been touring as a two-man-act ('the Irish Duo'). Six men make up the band today, playing a wide variety of instruments; Frank Jooss (drums), Rainer Schulz (bass guitar), Stefan Klug (accordeon and bodhrán), Tobias 'Tobi' Heindl (violin) and Albi and Peter (vocals, guitars, bouzouki). The mandoline, banjo and Irish tinwhistles are also to be heard. The Fiddler's first CD was released in 1992, entitled "Fiddler's Green", containing Irish folk tunes, both live and studio recordings. Another year, another album, "Black Sheep" came in 1993 - and the band grew ever larger, gaining a reputation for playing good live concerts. The members of the band has changed over the years, with Albi, Peter and Rainer as the core-members, but all three violin-players have curiously enough been named Tobias!

The band has released a total of eight studio albums (and one live album), the last one in 2002; "NU Folk". It is an exciting mixture of Irish folk and rock, mixed together with dashes of polkas, reggae, ska - and even classical music is to be heard (Edvard Grieg's In the hall of the mountain-king), as well as a couple of covers (for instance "Johnston Boys", better known to the world as Redneck's "Cotton Eyed Joe", but in reality an old Irish traditional). An unlikely combination, and it is hard to stick a ready-defined label onto this band, but one thing is for sure; it's about having fun. A lot of fun! Live, the band is a joy to see, performing everything from Jigs (for free!) to ballads, to harder numbers and tongue-tying vocal exercises (Mary Mac). A setlist is also nothing but a piece of advice along the road. And a piece of warning: not just once, but three times, has the stage collapsed during a Fiddler's concert... And they have really toured extensively; this summer the band is celebrating their 1000th concert, on the 24th of July at Burg Hoheneck.

But, as the band themselves puts it; shut up and dance! -Joe 2/04
(Thanx to Maija for sending us the info!)

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