It's been some time since been out & about but if I were to hang my hat on one it'd have to be Saemus Connolly (who was called the Clare fiddler). Some say that Saemus is just a technical wizard & maybe that's what got him the Fiddler Of Doney (sp?) award or maybe it's why as a kid he won the All Ireland in the Junior & Senior during the same year & then maybe it's why he won the senior for the next 9 yrs but I don't think so, he really shines when he's in his own element, like playing at a party with Frankie Gavin & Paddy Cronin or Aly Bain or at a session with Johnny Cunningham or Alsdair Fraser & he starts up on a slow air & all the eyes in the room start to get droopy & the other fiddles slowly fade into a hush & you hear yourself somewhere other than where you were moments ago & maybe you open up one eye slightly & you sneak a peek at the others in the room & realize that they were all where you just left them & you close up that one eye again & rejoin the rest of the dreamy listeners & wham it's over, the bungie cord just snapped & all you know is that you've been to someplace where only a magical musical moment can take you. No, I wasn't in an opium den but I can't think of any one elses' fiddling that would bring me as close. Barry