Alex Reidinger: Fiddle, Harp, Concertina, and Harp accompaniment - With Vincent Fogarty: Bouzouki
Influences
Grainne Hambly, Brian Conway, Oisin Mac Diarmada, Rose Flanagan, Tim Collins, Mícheál O Raghallaigh, Edel Fox, Ernestine Healy, Patrick Orceau, Gráinne Hambly, Michael Rooney, Billy Jackson, Michelle Mulcahy, Jeff Thomas, Damien Stenson, and Aisha Moughrabi (my first fiddle teacher!).
“Alex is one of my favorite young musicians and is, without a doubt, one of the finest musicians of her generation. In her talented hands, the music is safeguarded and will be nurtured for the foreseeable future.”
-Brian Conway ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Alex Reidinger began the fiddle at an early age and later took up the harp and concertina. Drawing on the influences of Michael Coleman and Andy McGann, Alex plays in the traditional Sligo fiddling style, which she learned from Brian Conway and Rose Flanagan of NY. Grainne Hambly of Co. Mayo taught Alex the harp and concertina and her influence can be heard across all instruments. Alex is continuing the new movement to bring the harp out of the parlor rooms and into the sessions playing driving jigs and reels alongside the fiddles, accordions, and banjos.
Alex has competed successfully, collecting medals in many competitions throughout the eastern U.S. and holds an All-Ireland title on the harp.
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“This CD is fantastic. What I like is that Alex’s music is of a consistent high standard right across all instruments. I admire her for what she has done in light of the fact that she doesn’t have access to the multitude of musicians that we have here (in Ireland). She obviously listens well and assimilates what she hears.”
-Tim Collins
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“Spend a passing moment on Youtube, Myspace, Facebook, or I-tunes and you can be influenced by the playing of virtually anyone in the world. I really admire Alex in that despite the overwhelming array of choices and influences brought upon today’s young budding musicians by such marvelous technology, she has managed to find very solid, deep-rooted traditional influences upon which to base her playing. Just to hear her play, one would not expect Alex to be but a teenager. Add to that her gift as an accompanist and one gets an entirely new perspective. You meet someone who has reached the highest standard in several areas of Irish music already. I have spent the past ten years in the US and I rarely enjoy our music more than when I hear it played well by young Americans who have barely visited Ireland. Even at that, there are still some surprises. Alex Reidinger is certainly one who surprised me. She is a multi-instrumentalist in the true sense, with a keen sense of harmony and rhythm. Well capable of displaying all her talents on this recording, Alex is someone from whom we’ll hear much more in years to come. There is a serene gentility throughout this entire album, yet an accomplished assertiveness keeps it all together. An astute listener, her music is full of style, life, expectation and surprise. Not alone is she a model musician for any young people interested in Irish Traditional music, but a model of humility in how she handles her accomplishments. She appreciates her gifts and is more than willing to share them with other musicians. That, I think, is why I admire her most.”
-John Daly
Director, Irish American Heritage Center, Chicago
January 2008
Dude! You pretty much are! I'm sooo happy for ya! Nope, didn't get interviewed...I was performing with my ensemble at school, sooo...I was like more important than anyone else...I did get to start a tune though...me, one of the other fiddle players, and some purcusion...it sounded totally awesome! I'm gonna go listen to ya now..lol..have a nice day!!!!!!!!!!
Hey Alex! I'm glad you liked the workshop! It was a nice bunch of people I thought. The name of that Slip Jig is The Humours of Ballymanus. Handy aul tune alright. Did you get your concertina fixed after? Will you be at the Catskills?
That's soo totally way cool! I saw another video of you as well with Billy, you were playing concertina...which reminds me, I just had my first unofficial concertina lesson on sunday...ok...it was like a five minute "this-is-how-concertina-works" thing...but I got to play around with it...I SOOOO WANT TO LEARN THAT ONE!!!! Anyway, are you competing in Ireland again this year? oooo and guess what!? I was sooo on the radio last week...totally rocked...and...even better....I didn't pass out! Hope you have a good day!
Hope you're doing well. You going to the Catskills this year (do I need to ask)? I was just listening to the tracks from your CD and you sound so good.
I'm flying home May 14th so I'm around for the whole summer before leaving for the West Coast. Let me know what you're up to, I'd love to catch a tune with you.
Hi Alex! WOW, your CD sounds excellent!!!!! I'm so impressed! It looks great too! You are so very talented!!!!! I'm so honored to be thanked!!! And so very proud!!!! Good luck with the competitions! Love, Aisha
I love your music, it's so clean and fresh and soothing. Thanks for stopping by my page, and I sure am glad that I stopped by yours. I hope to hear you in person some time!
Alex, You are truly blessed with talent!. Fiddler's always go to the top of my friend's list. Add the Harp & Concertina..I'm certainly jealous!. Thanks for the friendship!. R. Pickett
Thanks for adding Rambles. NET to your friends' list!
Hey, if you would like your music to be considered for a feature on our site, be sure to send a couple of review CDs our way. (You can find the mailing address on our page.) We love to share new music with our readers!
yeah, I am enjoying the cello a lot even though I got this kinda awful student model. Having a nice banjo hasn't really helped the banjo playing though!!!! HAHA!
Hello my dear! How have you been? Anything cool happen lately? I forgot...did you say you were going to Swannanoa this year? I've been playing soooooooo much lately, I have this huge red mark on my neck...looks like a hicky...very bad! oooo did you see who I met?!
I'm not sure...Margaret Bennett's opening a scottish folklore center in Scotland, and she wants interns, so if that gets up and running this summer I'm not going to the gathering...but if I do go....I don't know yet...I really liked Gerry's class (he was the advenced Irish fiddle...very good...he can step dance and play the fiddle at the same time...which is way totally cool...lol) oh, and Ivan Goff is teaching...he's really good...if I played pipes I'd totally take his class...or, that might be because he was in Eileen Ivers' band....anyway, have a good day!
(I agree with that chap in your blurb - fine choice of instruments/fine musician...but how about some English music on the Anglo concertina..?)
After you've finished here, you may like to hear this poem sung on myspace -
2 of 230, walkaboutsverse.741.com: WALKABOUT WITH MY PEN
Once drove an old sedan, up north, From a place in Sydney to Cairns; Then to Kuranda I went forth, By train, to look without set plans.
I browsed through the trendy market, With fresh fruits of tropical kind; Walked to the creek through lush thicket - Nature’s hand giving peace of mind.
I dined in a scenic cafe; Then, outside, as I wrote for yen, Some passing Kooris called-out: “Hey, You go walkabout with your pen.”
Request or question, I don’t know - Assured voices, elderly men. That’s now several years ago, And I’ve seen the world - with my pen.
