Ron Gonella
Steeped in Craft and Lore
Ron Gonella, one of Scotland’s leading fiddle players, was born in Dundee into a gifted and artistic Italian family which hailed from Barga in Tuscany.
Ron’s early interest in Scottish music developed jointly through the local Lochee S&R Society and through the tremendous interest in Scottish Dance Music in and around Dundee in the early fifties.
The qualities of musicianship and mellow, persuasive fiddle tone which are the hallmarks of his playing, were much in evidence even then and over the years his distinctive fiddle playing has come to be associated with the best in Scottish Dance Music, as his many recording with Alastair Hunter, Jim Johnstone, Jim MacLeod, Iain MacPhail, Andrew Rankine and Lindsay Ross will amply testify.
Inevitably, however, as a musician steeped in the craft and lore of the fiddle, Ron is irresistibly drawn to the music of Scotland’s great fiddle masters such as Niel Gow, William Marshall and James Scott Skinner to name only three.
The Gows came from the Vale of Atholl, to which area Ron is doubly connected through his Duncan and Dewar ancestry. His concert performance both here and in the United States and Canada, where he is a frequent and welcome soloist, are therefore a happy blend of music and heritage.
Apart from his countless broadcasts and his long series of recordings of Scottish Fiddle Music, a series crowned by a unique disc of the very fiddles belonging to Niel Gow, William Marshall and James Scott Skinner, Ron’s voice is nowadays as familiar to Scottish audience as is the sound of his fiddle.
His chatty and informative comments on fiddle music regularly enliven the radio and television airwaves and his latest programmes have included his own television series on BBC Scotland called ‘On the Fiddle.’
To give as broad a spread as possible to the Fiddle Music of Scotland, Ron has also published three books of Scottish Fiddle Music containing more than 80 of the tunes (with harmony) recorded by him over his ten solo record albums. Volume 3 contains many of Ron’s own compositions and also a discography.
Box and Fiddle
October 1982
Ron’s early interest in Scottish music developed jointly through the local Lochee S&R Society and through the tremendous interest in Scottish Dance Music in and around Dundee in the early fifties.
The qualities of musicianship and mellow, persuasive fiddle tone which are the hallmarks of his playing, were much in evidence even then and over the years his distinctive fiddle playing has come to be associated with the best in Scottish Dance Music, as his many recording with Alastair Hunter, Jim Johnstone, Jim MacLeod, Iain MacPhail, Andrew Rankine and Lindsay Ross will amply testify.
Inevitably, however, as a musician steeped in the craft and lore of the fiddle, Ron is irresistibly drawn to the music of Scotland’s great fiddle masters such as Niel Gow, William Marshall and James Scott Skinner to name only three.
The Gows came from the Vale of Atholl, to which area Ron is doubly connected through his Duncan and Dewar ancestry. His concert performance both here and in the United States and Canada, where he is a frequent and welcome soloist, are therefore a happy blend of music and heritage.
Apart from his countless broadcasts and his long series of recordings of Scottish Fiddle Music, a series crowned by a unique disc of the very fiddles belonging to Niel Gow, William Marshall and James Scott Skinner, Ron’s voice is nowadays as familiar to Scottish audience as is the sound of his fiddle.
His chatty and informative comments on fiddle music regularly enliven the radio and television airwaves and his latest programmes have included his own television series on BBC Scotland called ‘On the Fiddle.’
To give as broad a spread as possible to the Fiddle Music of Scotland, Ron has also published three books of Scottish Fiddle Music containing more than 80 of the tunes (with harmony) recorded by him over his ten solo record albums. Volume 3 contains many of Ron’s own compositions and also a discography.
Box and Fiddle
October 1982