Irish fiddle

Modern performers include: Liz Carroll (All-Ireland Junior and Senior Fiddle Champion); John Carty; Brian Conway; Matt Cranitch; Desi Donnelly; Martin Fay; Frankie Gavin; Cathal Hayden; Kevin Burke; Martin Hayes; Eileen Ivers (9-time All-Ireland Fiddle Champion); Seán Keane (fiddler); Maurice Lennon; Andy McGann; Sean McGuire; Dónal O'Connor; Brendan Mulvihill; Gerry O'Connor; Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh; Tommy Peoples; Bridget Regan; Marie Reilly; Paul Shaughnessy; Sean Smyth; John Sheahan; Fergal Scahill.

Sligo fiddlers like James Morrison and Michael Coleman did much to popularise Irish music in the United States in the 1920s.

In 1674 Richard Head wrote in reference to Ireland ‘On Sundays: In every field a fiddle, and the girls footing until they foam up’.

Reference to the Irish fiddle can also be found in John Dunton's Teague Land: or A Merry Ramble to the Wild Irish (1698) he says “on Sundays and Holydays, all the people resorted with the piper and fiddler to the village green" Thomas Dineley visited Ireland in 1680 he says in regards to music "with piper, harper, or fidler, revell and dance the night throughout"[1] There's a 17th century reference to children in Cork being taught the Irish fiddle[2] When the fiddle was being mass-produced in Ireland, as opposed to more local makers, starting in Dublin, with the likes of Thomas Perry (luthier), Thomas Molineux (luthier) and John Neal they heavily based their craft on the English violin makers and most were imported into dublin from England[3] An instrument was excavated during the 18th century in Dublin that was dated from the 11th century, it was made of dogwood with an animal carved on its tip, it was believed to have been the oldest bow in the world, however it's unclear what instrument the bow belonged too.

1160)[4] Compared to classical violin, Irish fiddler tend to make little use of vibrato except for slow airs, and even then it is used relatively sparingly.