Fiddling with Irish culture

Rose Rodgers lifted the bow to her fiddle, half-closed her eyes and stared off into space, somewhere beyond the crowd gathered before her. She played a four-minute set beautifully, giving the old art of fiddling a fresh feel.

One of the last to perform at the 6th Annual Fiddle Competition Sunday in the courtyard of Muldoon’s Dublin Pub and Celtic Bar in Newport Beach, 17-year-old Rose gave the crowd a show that exhibited a wide range of emotions. Her first performance for the competition jumped around in pace but was fun and made people want to get up and jig. Her second piece was much more mellow, dedicated to her brother who just returned from serving in Iraq.

Rose jumped between several paces but stuck, for the most part, to Irish and Scottish fiddle techniques. At one time a classical violin player, Rose began exploring the fiddle with a little inspiration from her mom.

“She told me to listen to some country, Irish, Scottish and folk music, all sorts of stuff,” Rose said. “I love hearing the old Denmark styles, but I really love playing the Scottish and Irish stuff.”

What Rose loves most about playing has little to do with musical styles.

It’s the way the music makes you feel, “how when you start to play everything in your life just fades and you’re just in the moment.”

For the last two years, Rose, a junior at Cornelia Connelly School in Anaheim, has come just shy of taking first place. She earned third place this year and second in 2006.

Winning the title for the last three years, Fountain Valley resident Ricky Ludlow has become a Muldoon’s favorite. Ricky’s ease while playing gives this 17-year-old the air of a seasoned orchestral veteran. Second place went to Brandon Edgar, 23, of Redondo Beach.

Sure four of the seven contestants were legally minors but none were lacking talent that afternoon.

The talent absolutely impressed the staff at Muldoon’s, who are always on the lookout for culturally representative affairs.

“They’re very classy here about bringing in events that are more than just who gets to the bottom of the mug first,” Muldoon’s manager Sheri Iler said. “There’s other things to the Irish culture than drinking.”

A cash prize was awarded to the top three winners, $300 for first place, $200 for second and $100 for third, quite a winning for players all alive less than a quarter of a century.

KELLY STRODL may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at [email protected].