Anne Lederman

To call Anne Lederman a Celtic fiddler would do her a great disservice. She's practically the living epitome of The Red Violin - an ethnomusicologist and important resource for the history of the violin and its uses. Recording since 1983, Lederman's projects have been culturally diverse: from Metis fiddling and a stint with the Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band to playing with Cameroon's Njack Backo. It is no surprise then that with Fiddlesong we find Lederman composing, interpreting and generally cross-pollinating a multicultural violin extravaganza. Taking listeners from the Canadian back woods ("Tamarack'er Down") to African coming of age ceremonies ("African Suite") and everything in between, Lederman brings African drummers along for the ride and manages to expand the already vast violin repertoire. Fiddlesong is interspersed with decidedly unfiddle songs, ones where Lederman puts down the cat guts and takes to singing. These less inspired excursions (e.g. "Cactus and Cranky Cats") often seem out of place on an album whose main focus is the violin. At least with one song, "The Fiddler's Alphabet," the subject of the lyric itself is actually the fiddle.