One of the best mandolin / mandola players in Europe is a guy called Patrick Vaillant. I lit a concert of his (with Ricardo Tesi, melodeon) recently and I was mega-impressed, especially with his chording speed on the mandolin.

He's French, from the area around Nice, and also sings in the Languedoc language.

Check out his recordings with Riccardo Tesi (e.g. Un ballo liscio)

Cheers

Rick.