The road to Baltimore next week will be full of fiddlers - and not just Irish ones. Folk music convert Gilles Apap talks to Siobhán Long
Tipping the edge of Sherkin Island, the last stop in the winding road from Skibbereen, Baltimore is defined as much by its own geography as it is by its marine history. Visitors to Baltimore rarely land in this seafaring village by chance. All roads lead there, but the only way onward is by boat - or by breaststroke.
This writer enjoyed a wind-propelled week of cycling from Cork city to Baltimore many summers ago. My tour de West Cork might not have scaled alpine peaks, but having endured the interminable climb of the Cork airport road, navigated the hairpin bends of Glandore and Union Hall, and found a bed in the impetuously named Leap, I lurched into the welcoming arms of Baltimore as if it was Ellis Island itself: grateful to have survived the journey and determined to make the most of this last outpost where music could be found lurking in the corner of the Algiers Inn or tiptoeing around the back of Rolf's most hospitable of hostels.
The 15th annual Baltimore Fiddle Fair kicks off next week (on May 10th) with the intention of ensnaring the old hand and the unsuspecting punter alike with its idiosyncratic charms. Although it does admit a penchant for the four-stringed instrument of choice of Kevin Burke, Cathal Hayden and Nollaig Casey, Baltimore's tastes are nothing if not catholic, so expect much in the line of boxes, guitars, bouzoukis and songs floating from Baltimore's magnificent Glebe amphitheatre and Castle Dun na Sead.
Backrooms and snugs might accommodate many of the festival's sessions, but festival creator Declan McCarthy is adamant that this is an event that'll infiltrate every nook and cranny of Baltimore's rich hinterland.
"I suppose our whole reason for starting this festival," he explains, "was because we got fed up of having to travel to Cork to hear any good live music. The fiddle is my favourite instrument, so I suppose that dictated the festival title."
With Bruce Molsky, Liam Ó Maonlaoí, Máirtín O'Connor and Malian musicians Afel Bocoum and Alkibar among this year's line-up, it's clear that the festival's boundaries are as open to the ebb and flow of the music as Baltimore's coastline is to tidal patterns.
ALGERIAN FIDDLER GILLES APAP is one of Baltimore's most exciting finds this year. An accomplished classical musician, Apap was on speaking terms with a classical repertoire that stretched from Mozart to Menuhin before he made a belated acquaintance with the subtle pleasures of folk music. A chance encounter with Kevin Burke, the Bothy Band's electrifying fiddler, played a key role in broadening Apap's appetite to accommodate Irish traditional music as well as old-time American, Romanian and other eastern European folk styles. This was the ideal antidote to what Apap saw as the "mind-fungal disease of the music conservatory". Not a man in awe of the European classical music tradition then?
"I had to learn a lot for myself," Apap declares with a flourish, recounting his student days in the music conservatory. "And I was just surrounded by people with supposed knowledge, who were getting paid to tell you the same thing every week. I don't regret it of course, but I found that I had to do things on my own to really find the music that I love."
A long-time acolyte of Yehudi Menuhin, Apap was imbibing the master's music from as far back as the womb.
"My mother used to play this gentleman's music," he says, "and the sound of his violin was the very first sound that ever entered my ears. Somehow, I just loved the sound of his violin playing a Beethoven concerto. His playing was such a thrill, and a huge gift to me. He played with legendary musicians like Ravi Shankar and Stephane Grappelli, although he couldn't really improvise as they could. It was his generosity of spirit that inspired me to seek him out and play with him, and to pursue a life of playing music, learning so much of it from other people."
Apap makes no secret of the debt he owes to Kevin Burke, one of his mentors.
"Kevin was one of my gods 20 years ago," he says. "And he introduced me to Irish fiddle music. After that, I got interested in American old-time music, and gradually I tried to learn more and more by travelling and playing it whenever I could. But I wanted to keep classical music in my fingers too. A lot of musicians play folk music, and they think that they can't play both, but there's so much beauty playing certain classical work, that there are no words to describe that feeling.
"I love the freedom, too, of being able to play these beautiful traditional tunes, and I don't see why the two can't go hand in hand. Music is just a gift now."
Apap insists on travelling with just one instrument, regardless of whether he's booked for a classical or a folk performance, because, as he says, "one fiddle is enough when you're on the road all the time and you've got to travel light". He has few reservations about finding himself in the midst of a fiddling mecca in Baltimore, surrounded by musicians who've been immersed in the tradition from the cradle. In fact, it's exactly this immersion that Apap craves.
"Although I've visited Ireland and I've played in a pub once, I've never played a concert for an Irish audience," he says. "I'm curious as to what Irish people will think of what I'm doing with the fiddle. It's like entering your secret little world of music! I don't claim to have a huge repertoire, but I have about 200 Irish tunes, and I'm on a mission to learn as much tunes as I can.
"For me, what's important is learning the tunes and living the life!"
The Baltimore Fiddle Fair runs from May 10 to 13: www.fiddlefair.com