📷 Sheila Sapkota by Louis DeCarlo

A rambling reflection on a success story which continues to move forward.

I am a community musician and now, in my sixth decade of life, look back on the various musical meanderings I have encountered along the way. I have been so lucky to meet some amazing musicians and facilitators on my pathway through a life spent in Edinburgh, Selkirk, Orkney and Nepal. I started Riddell Fiddles (a music group based in the Scottish Borders) just over 22 years ago with the aim that ‘everyone who wants to be’ is involved in learning, playing and performing traditional music whatever the barriers along the way. Previous to that I taught at the traditional music school at Selkirk High. At that time, in 2003, it was really just as “a wee fun group” at a time when there were no other comparable facilities in the area for learning to play traditional music. Twenty two years on Riddell Fiddles (named after an area near Selkirk) has introduced hundreds of people from all backgrounds, generations and ability levels to traditional fiddling and the sheer delight of making music together. The group has toured at home and internationally (even made it to Cape Breton twice and Barbados as well as to our twin town’s festival in Bavaria a few times). Our website www.riddellfiddles.scot is a known traditional music resource the world over.

📷 Riddell Fiddles in Barbados, 2017

I attribute Riddell Fiddles’ success to “the power of the community group”. The right people just seemed to be there at the right time. Assisted by music notator, arranger, composer and guitarist Donald Knox, the late and much missed double bassist Tony Manning, Borders fiddle tutor Louise Douglas, percussionist David Scott and group administrator Karen Hendry we spread our own particular brand of musical mayhem all over the world. It has taken up a lot of time and become a large part of my working life, my social life and my mission to teach young people who might otherwise not access fiddle lessons. The rewards, however, have been great. Some of Donald’s tunes are played all over the world with Mothers of St Ann’s a particular favourite – written when we asked him for an easy tune which we could all play whilst attending a course at St Ann’s Gaelic College in Cape Breton, Canada in 2006.

There has been lots of support over the years from various locally based musicians, such as Amy Geddes, Shona Mooney, Catriona Macdonald, Ian Lowthian and Iain Fraser, whilst visiting fiddlers including Jenna Reid, Gordon Gunn, Bruce MacGregor and Bruce Molsky, the late Jerry Holland etc. have all ‘popped in’.

I myself didn’t discover Scottish fiddle music until I was in my teens, having been classically trained on the viola, and as much as I  appreciated that instrument’s tone, I wish I had been involved with traditional music earlier. I think that’s where my drive to teach fiddle comes from. If there had been all the fiddle groups and things like the Scots Music Group and their Youth Engagement Project or the Fèis Rois events when I was a child, it would have been quite amazing. I am so thankful at the opportunity I had to have free viola lessons at school from the age of eight (in those days you were ‘selected’ and had a wee music test). Thank goodness I had a good day that day. Thank you to Mr Samuel my viola teacher who wangled it, all those years ago, so that we got a lesson every single day. I wish I could have told him how much I appreciated his tuition and what uses I have put my musical tuition to. I regard myself as a mediocre player with a good ear and a penchant for slow airs. I often feel that many of the performances I get are due to my ‘banter’ at the microphone and my slow and simple dance instructions (the words assimilated into my brain after years of playing with the late Peebles accordionist and dance caller James Paterson).

Music needs to be for all and although the Scottish Borders has slightly better music provision for young people than some areas, I do worry at the patchy, haphazard provision throughout Scotland. So many councils are cutting music lessons as an easy option. I feel my mission is to work with the community centres and schools and run free groups and provide instruments. The Scots dialect is widely spoken in our area and it’s continuation and use in our rhythms and songs is so important.

📷 A young musician from Riddell Fiddles

To increase my competence at running the group I, rather ambitiously, embarked on a music degree with the University of Highlands and Islands in 2014 at the elderly age of 54!) and with the support of the UHI staff and especially Anna Wendy Stevenson, achieved a BA Honours in Music as well as learning so many skills and making so many musical friends and contacts of all ages. I also learned about sound recording – an invaluable skill when working with community groups. I got so enthusiastic about my studies that I also did the MA in Music and Environment with UHI and rediscovered a musical ancestor (Honoria Galwey) and her Donegal pathway along the way. This led to many trips to the Inishowen Peninsula with the group.

Thanks to Margaret Robertson (another UHI contact) of Hjaltibonhoga there was an invitation to play in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo which was taken up by four members of Riddell Fiddles with subsequent tours by myself with the Hjaltibonhoga Community Group. What an honour! Yes – I can now march and play the fiddle and have this skill ingrained into all my young learners.

Young players from Riddell Fiddles were amongst those involved in the Cranston Fiddle project – a Lottery-Funded multimedia show built around my fiddle, which once belonged to William Cranston, who was badly injured during the First World War – the same conflict which killed four of his brothers. Other multimedia ventures include our ‘Battle of Philiphaugh’ presentations with shadow puppets, poetry and music in 2018.

📷 Riddell Fiddles heading to a gig

This year (December 2025) seems a suitable time to reflect – I have stepped back from the main group whilst maintaining focus on the younger groups and starter groups of learners including musicians who are learning disabled and whose access to music often faces barriers. The adult group of Riddell Fiddles is now fully fledged and have launched themselves as ‘Tweed Fiddles’ (much easier to spell). My final concerts with them at Fèis Rois, Ullapool in May and at Melrose were a success – thank you to Fiona Dalgetty and Christian Gamauf for being so supportive.

Apart from focussing Riddell Fiddles on the youth projects, a new production entitled The Meteoric Rise of the Little Egret is being put together. This project combines my lifelong interest in ornithology with my musical interests as yet another multimedia production (helped by photographs and film from the local branch of the Scottish Ornithology Club) is launched – celebrating the success of that iconic white heron-like bird with the yellow feet. . It’s colonisation of the UK and our River Tweed catchment area is wonderful to see – whilst illustrating the sobering fact that their presence here in such numbers is due to their traditional Mediterranean haunts just being far too hot (climate change). With new music and a select band of musicians we plan to perform in places as iconic as the 12th century chapter house at Dryburgh Abbey and Abbotsford house during Easter 2026. Thanks to Destination Tweed and the Lottery Heritage Fund for funding this.

I would also like to thank the Traditional Music Forum and Dave Francis for always being there for us, for including us, for all their advice over the years and for making us feel part of something big. It was so heartening to see the rapturous applause he received at the recent Trad Music Awards. He has been our voice in the traditional music scene.

The Trad Awards and Simon Thoumire have also so helped both myself and the group’s profile – with the Trad Awards Nominations and Awards over the years as well as my induction into the ‘Hall of Fame’ for Services to the Community in 2015 – such an honour. One of Riddell Fiddles’ proudest moments was winning the Community Project of the Year in 2021 for the work we were doing in Bannerfield and Burnfoot Housing Estates in Selkirk and Hawick respectively. I do wish I had prepared for winning though as my televised speech was rather unprepared. This weekend (Saturday 6th December) we play at the Xmas fair in Selkirk with the Hawick young folk coming through to support the Selkirk group. I just so enjoy these gigs and the support from the community. My worry for the future is that a lot of these musical opportunities are disappearing and young people in these rural areas are struggling to achieve access to long term teaching and traditional music. I take a lot of pleasure in watching my niece Sally Simpson’s career in music as well as that of Catriona Macdonald’s pupil Eryn Rae from the Scottish Borders. Both of these players thread their musical ways in a difficult and unpredictable industry.

Another mission in my ‘partial’ retirement is to sort out the website which urgently needs a facelift. This treasure trove, used all over the world, needs to be updated and proofed for the future – for all to continue using.

With a lot of community performances and some bigger gigs over the festive season I do reflect that the local Christmas fair with the young learners gives me every bit of satisfaction as the well paid ‘posh hotel’ gig. Long may it continue.

Thank you to my pupils, the musicians and teachers along the way and to my borders friends who have and continue to be part of our musical journey.

Sheila Sapkota, founder, organiser & teacher, Riddell Fiddles