Well now, Fiddle Friends, welcome to Old Man Fiddler's Unofficial Guide to World Fiddle Day, where I git t' teach you good folks a thing or four about this very special day fer alla us fiddle-lovin' Humans. Launched aroun' 15 years ago in Dublin, Ireland by one Caoimhin Mac Aoidh from County Donegal, and now enjoying a new degree o' success in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, World Fiddle Day is an all-day, all-night, all-inclusive global cellybration about bowed stringed instruments, them what loves t' play 'em, and them what loves to make music with 'em! (Hee-hee-hee!)
Now, this here Guide'll help explain the meanin' o' World Fiddle Day, and why it's so durned himportant t' alla us fiddle-lovers! The day always takes place on the third Saturday each May, particularly, th' Saturday what's closest t' the anniversary o' th' passin' o' that cellybrated fiddle-maker par excellence, Antonio Stradivari (1644-December 18th, 1737) --- though most fiddlers just like t' call him Tony! (Heh-heh!) Now, when ya talk about bowed stringed instruments, that means violins, violas, cellos, double basses [sometimes known as bull fiddles!], rebecs, erhus --- in short, if you can play it with a bow, it's what's World Fiddle Day is all about! It don't matter, the size, shape, or genre --- what matters is how YOU cellybrate the day! Have a workshop or seminar, gather a few o' yer fellow fiddlers together, you can even dress up in anything ya wants and play the fiddle anyway ye likes!
So what can ye expect out o' World Fiddle Day? yer prob'ly askin'. Well, that's the whole thrill of the occasion: YOU cellybrates th' day any way ye wants! Bring a few fiddlers together, raise a ruckus, share a style o' fiddlin': bluegrass, country, Cajun, Cape Breton, Scottish, Shetland, classical, orchestral, chamber, carnatic --- if it involves playing a bowed string instrument, that's what World Fiddle Day is all about.
Now, those of ye Fiddle Friends up Canada way, World Fiddle Day is also National Fiddle Day. Has been that since 2015, and there's bound to be a whole mess of fiddle-related happenin's all over Canada!
The primary purpose of World Fiddle Day, as Caolmhin Mac Aoidh will tell ye, is to honor the spirit of the violin in general and all the composers and musicians what have made it so wonderful --- not just Stradivari, but also Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach, James Scott Skinner, Tommy Peoples, Niccolo Paganini, Luigi Boccherini, Franz Schubert, Joseph Joachim, Franz Joseph Haydn --- well, them folks is just some of the classical bunch! Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States, often played the fiddle; Albert Einstein loved the fiddle, too, havin' played the durn thing since he was a boy .... well, I could go on and on, but, as I always like to say: "Less talkin', more fiddlin'!"
So now that ye knows all ye need to know about World Fiddle Day, ye might wanna visit the Facebook version of the day, at http://www.facebook.com/World-Fiddle-Day-291291290978885/ , or even Canada's version, World Fiddle Day/National Fiddle Day in Toronto, at http://www.worldfiddledaytoronto.ca. Now when ye visits either or both o' these websites, they'll have photos, videos, information, and ideas about how you can put together yer own fiddle jam session any way ya wants! (Ptui!) As always, y'all come!