The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #161219   Message #3939490
Posted By: GUEST,CupOfTea, no cookies
25-Jul-18 - 05:56 PM
Thread Name: Origins of 'Willafjord'
Subject: RE: Origins of 'Willafjord'
and an itchy trigger finger,apparently,

I'm with Dave - I first heard it following Spootiskerry in an Irish ceili session, and seen it published paired that way a couple times. It's notated in Tom Anderson's book "Haand me doon da fiddle" (1971) with bowing marks that are entirely wasted on this concertina player. The notes on that tune alone are in such thick Shetland vernacular, I can't try to reproduce, but in the introduction, he mentions how "Shetland tunes" have long been influenced by tunes migrating from elsewhere, and that Scandanavia is as likely a source as any. That it shows up in Anderson's book makes me think that if it wasn't born there, Willafijord is a Shetland tune now! I've always thought it sounded like it ought to be played on steel drums. Hammer dulcimer comes close, and Cathy Barton does a bang-up job of it. If my memory is more coherent than my typing, it's on Dave & Cathy's "Carp fishing in Missouri" album.

Joanne in Cleveland