Music News

Multitude of musical style and genre has been the hallmark of Mark O Connor violin maestro

Started his career with guitar, Mark O Connor americas greatest violin maestro says that rich rural folk tradition is what brought him to make career in music and particularly in violin, he said on his tour to Bangalore

L.Raghunanda
4th Estate
Bangalore


Mark O’ Connor world’s first folk fiddler and innovator who created the modern era of fiddling, Mark absorbed knowledge and influence from the multitude of musical styles and genres he studied.

With more than 200 performance, his orchestral score “ Fiddle Concerto” has become the most performed modern violin concerto and one of the popular one composed for last forty years, while his “Fanfare for the Volunteers” recorded with under baton Steven Mercurio was equally well taken by music lovers worldwide.

Mark O Connor recent recordings ‘Jam Session’ offers dazzling live accoustic recordings where music is a combination of classical, folk, latin, rock, ragtime and gypsy jazz is well received.

“I took to violin just some years ago, but I was musician from student days, at age of twelve I took to music as career, while in younger days I used to teach students on violin and guitar, they have all inherited my style of music’ says Mark O Connor, who won Grammy award in 2001 for his music composed along with Edgar Meyer and Yo Yo Ma for ‘Appalchia Waltz’

"Violin and music played out of it was popular then, but of late, with most of them taking to guitar and rock music this is disheartening, even though I was also guitar musician previously , but the rich folk music prevailing in US made me to take violin playing".

When asked about Indian’s taking to violin and american genre of western classical music, he says “there are lot of Indian who are my students who are being trained in my music school at New American School of String located at Los Angeles.

“Infact they are the obedient student quick to learn, they are part of symphony quartet when we give concert in major cities of US and in other parts of the world.

“There is lot of improvisation happening in western classical music, while Indian classical music having taken to improvisation as known from Indian Violin maestro, Dr. L Subramanian.

Cross pollination is happening, even happening in American too, it is in fact my style which I have looked in improvisation, it is more of combination of Jazz blues and Reggae, similarly I have worked on some of the recent trends in this regard taking banja music, Florida blues, African American music.