Comhaltas Archive

John Doherty: An
admirer of Scott Skinner
P6draig 6 Baoighill
Doherty the travelling
fiddler from Fintown, Co.
Donegal, told me about James
ft0hn
Scott Skinner as we sat beside a turf
fire in a quiet country tavern over
thirty years ago. He was relating to me
some of his favourite fiddlers and he
was soon to take a trip in fancy across
the Irish Sea and praise the music of
the Scottish 'Strathspey King'. Many
years later, I learned more of this
famous fiddler and composer when
attending the Scottish Mod in Skinners
home town of Aberdeen.
After the Famine (1845-1847)
emigrati on to Scotland increased and
John Doherty would have access to
records of the ta lented Scottish fiddler
brought home by emigrants. It wou ld
seem th at he listened careful ly to th ese
recordings and in his ea rly years
emulated Skinner's sty le of playing.
John himself became an excell ent
fidd ler of Scottish Strathspeys and
Highlands. As well, fisherman from
Donega l visited the Scottish fishing
ports and their close connection w ith
the Highlands familiarised them with
the musi c of that area. Donegal
fisherman brought home Shetland ree ls
from Lerwick and exchanged their own
tun es with Scottish musicians. George
Stark the blind fiddl er from Dundee
visited the isl ands and Donega l people
learn ed many of his reels w hich they in
turn brought back to the homeland .
In his book 'Between the Ji gs and the
Reels - The Donega l Fiddle Trad ition'
(1984), the author Caoimhin M ac
Aoidh a noted fiddler from
Ballyshannon had this to say:
' Donegal has internali sed little of the
fidd le styl es of the remainder of Ireland,
being more naturally exposed through
traditional migrant labour routes to our
nea rest neighbours in Scotland' .
In another book 'Th e Northern Fiddler'
by Al ien Feldman/Eamon 6 Doherty
(1979), they had this to say of the
Scottish connection:
'Th e presence of Highlands, Strathspeys
and Pipe Marches implies strong
Scottish influ ence on Doherty's music.
Indeed, this Scottish element ca n be
found in the playing of most Donega l
players, w hich is the resu lt of very
strong and ancient ties with the Scottish
Highland s and islands, w hich was
reinforced in the late nineteenth and
twentieth centuries by th e practice of
immigratory labour, in wh ich Donega l
men would work as agri cultural
workers in Scotland espec ially for the
potato harvest'.
According to John, his great grandfather
Hugh Doherty from the Dungloe area
was the fi rst to play the Uilleann Pipes
and one wou ld feel that this has
assoc iati on w ith the Highl ands.
Th e authors hav in g discussed th e
influence of the Scottish Pipes and
Highlands on the Donega l musi ca l
tradition go on to describe Scott
Skinner's influence .
'The third catego ry consists of tunes
derived from those of the later
composers of Scottish fidd le music,
particularly Scott Skinner w hose
recorded mu sic had a strong influence
on the Donega l Fiddlers of John's
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