Fiddle Tunes by Hildaland

A contemporary collage of Scottish and American traditional music, Hildaland is a duo that approaches geographic borders as markers of exploration rather than boundaries to be wary of. Fiddle player Louise Bichan, originally from Orkney, Scotland, and mandolinist Ethan Setiawan, originally from Goshen, Indiana, have taken their duo from traditional Scottish roots through to progressive bluegrass and jazz, with instrumental tunes inspired largely by places and the journeys between them, both physical and musical. Their new EP, Fiddle Tunes, finds them focused on the many possibilities of context for the international language of fiddle tunes. “For me, this project has been an opportunity to get more into Scottish music,” explains Setiawan, “While we're working on playing these tunes in idiomatic ways, we’re also stretching them further than true trad bands would, with solos and more exploratory harmonic language on my part. This is work that I really like, taking traditional material and seeing what we can do within its structures.” While the pair currently call New England home, they maintain a strong connection to the music scene in Glasgow. “We have been lucky to be able to travel back to Scotland fairly often in the past couple of years and plan to continue doing so. We often find ourselves in the Glasgow pubs playing Scottish, Irish, Scandinavian, and even old-time with friends old and new,” says Bichan. Fiddle Tunes finds the duo exploring new territory within a more tightly framed identity. In defining their goal within traditional music and refining the scope of their musical territory, Hildaland has honed in on a specific, innovative, and beautiful voice as a band.

A contemporary collage of Scottish and American traditional music, Hildaland is a duo that approaches geographic borders as markers of exploration rather than boundaries to be wary of.

hildaland.com
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