Histories and Herstories Composers Part 9

Fiona Driver

I first met fiddle player Fiona Driver when she and husband Trevor Hunter, (one of Shetland’s most respected fiddlers) came to Nordic Viola’s concert with Gemma McGregor in Kirkwall,  Orkney and subsequent after-party. Fiona and Trevor are two of the most open-minded musicians I know, enjoying traditional, classical and contemporary music and generously passing on their love of music to the younger generation.

The morning after the concert I got to appreciate Fiona’s playing first hand as we had a session with Gemma playing through reams of Orkney tunes. And so I got to learn a little more about the most famous Orkney tune-writers as well as learning about fiddle style by playing alongside Fiona.

Fiona is a fine tune-writer in her own right. I always think the mark of a good melody is one that’ll stand on its own with no accompaniment and possibly also one that’ll transfer across instruments. Both of these things struck me immediately when I heard Fiona play “Suilven,” named after the iconic mountain in NW Scotland, accompanied  by a lone F# pedal point.

“Wild November”, which we play in our “Histories and Herstories” programme, is another such tune. Written after a wild November storm, Fiona herself said that this tune just flowed out in one go.  Distinctive and energetic, by turns slow and languid and driving and dancelike it seems to ooze the enjoyment and total absorption in her music-making that’s so apparent in Fiona’s performing. You can hear Fiona performing with Nordic Viola here:

Fiona also put together a CD “Orkney at Dawn” which grew out of her degree project with UHI. This CD is a beautiful record of Orkney’s extraordinarily diverse birdlife and is also incredibly soothing to listen to.