The Baltimore Fiddle Fair - A Brief History
by Declan McCarthy
he Baltimore Fiddle Fair is a truly unique music festival. It has taken place every May from 1992 until 2004 at McCarthy's
The Beacon and Bay
Bar in the beautiful seaside village of Baltimore in West Cork, Ireland. What makes this event so special is that it consistently features a world-class line-up, worthy of a large venue in any major city, yet it takes place on a tiny stage in a very intimate setting in a small village on the extreme south-west tip of Ireland.
Back in 1992 we heard that Nigel Kennedy was visiting West Cork and we thought it would be great if we could get him to come and play at our bar. In order to make it more appealing to him, we came up with the concept of a "fiddle festival" featuring different groups each night. Nigel never made it, but the Fiddle Fair was born and over the years it has evolved to become one of the most eagerly-awaited traditional music festivals of the year in Ireland.
In the early years the festival took place over two weekends, featuring mainly local musicians. Gradually, as word spread
via audiences and performers alike and after Guinness became involved as our main sponsor in 1998, we were able to bring artists from further afield.
The Fiddle Fair features a world-class line-up, worthy of a large venue in any major city 
In recent years we've seen it become more eclectic, featuring bands playing Bluegrass, Cajun, Classical, Scottish, Russian Gypsy, Breton, Shetland and even Rock music as well as traditional music from every corner of Ireland. We've had fiddlers from as young as 10 years old to legends such as Sean Maguire. As long as there is a fiddle in there somewhere.
Past performers include; Altan, Lunasa, Tim O' Brien & The Crossing, Liz Carroll, Matin Hayes & Denis Cahill, 4 Men & A Dog Ciaran Tourish & Paul Brady, Harem Scarem, Dermot McGlaughlin, The Foghorn String Band, The West Ocean String Quartet, Sharon Shannon & The Woodchoppers, Sean Maguire, Liz & Yvonne Kane, Steve Wickham, and many more.
Pub session photo by Dave Driscoll
click to enlarge
McCarthy's Bar was sold in June 2004 so that chapter of the Fiddle Fair is now over. However, due to encouragement from so many people we feel that the festival should continue and so "Chapter 2" is beginning on Saturday May 14 2005 at the Baltimore Harbour Hotel. As always when changes occur there's a sense of trepidation; will it work? Will it be as good, etc. All we can do is have a go and see what happens and hopefully, between yourselves, the musicians and ourselves, we can help the Baltimore Fiddle Fair to continue to be one of the best music festivals in the world.
I hope to see you in May.
Declan McCarthy
