Athabaskan fiddle | |
---|---|
Stylistic origins | Waltzes, Jigs, Two steps, Square Dances |
Cultural origins | Alaskan Athabaskans |
Typical instruments | Old time fiddle, guitar |
Regional scenes | |
Upriver, Downriver | |
Other topics | |
Scottish folk music, Irish folk music, French-Canadian music |
Athabaskan fiddle (or fiddle music, fiddling) is the old-time fiddle style that the Alaskan Athabaskans of the Interior Alaska have developed to play the fiddle (violin), solo and in folk ensembles. Fiddles were introduced in this area by Scottish, Irish, French Canadian, and Métis fur traders of the Hudson's Bay Company in the mid-19th century. Athabaskan fiddling is a variant of fiddling of the American southlands. Athabaskan fiddle music is most popular genre in Alaska and northwest Canada and featuring Gwich'in Bill Stevens (b. 1933, he is an Athabaskan fiddling legend and recipient the Alaska Governor's 2002 Award for the Native Arts) and Trimble Gilbert (b. 1934, also Traditional Chief of Arctic Village).[1][2][3]
The authoritative study of Alaskan Athabaskan fiddle music is The Crooked Stovepipe: Athapaskan Fiddle Music and Square Dancing in Northeast Alaska and Northwest Canada (1993),[1] by Athabaskanist and ethnomusicologist Craig Mishler (now an independent scholar and formerly affiliate research professor at the Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks.[2]