Angus Grant on Dan R

Aonghas Grant, also known as the Left-handed Fiddler of Lochaber, has been playing fiddle since he was thirteen years old. His career spans over sixty years and he is still active as a teacher, soloist, composer and session participant, playing a wide range of fiddle music. Aonghas is a Gaelic speaker and particularly noted for his 'West Highland Style' of fiddling, influenced by both Gaelic and piping. In this audio extract, originally recorded for 'Moray Firth People' in the late 1990s, Aonghas talks to Andy Ross about 'Dan R' (Dan Rory MacDonald), (1911 - 1976), the great Cape Breton fiddle player and composer.<br /> <br /> Interviewer: You mentioned to me when we were talking about this programme, Dan R.<br /> <br /> Dan R. MacDonald, the great Cape Breton fiddler. I admired his playing and he composed a tremendous amount of tunes; he composed tunes for nearly all his friends, and great jigs and strathspeys. He was over here during the war and met up with Murdoch Henderson, up in Aberdeen, who was greatly impressed with his playing. And he was a great character. And they still - all the Cape Breton fiddlers still plays his stuff and there's a couple of - his nephew, John Cameron - has put a couple of collections out and I think there's more to come. I've got one of his books - the Heather Hill Collection. Great tunes in it. <br /> <br /> Interviewer: And had you met him? Did you ever meet him?<br /> <br /> I never met Dan, no, Dan R - I was very sorry - or Angus Chisholm or Scotty Fitzgerald, they were all gone. But back in September I was over in the States doing one or two concerts in New Hampshire and I played one night a concert with John Campbell from Cape Breton - a great Cape Breton fiddler who knew all these boys