NEREA THE FIDDLER
Off the Beaten Path
Philippe Cousin
The daughter of a man from Quimper and a Spanish woman, Nerea Gourlaouen was born in Los Angeles and grew up on Cape Breton Island in Canada, as well as spending several years in Quimper.
As a young adult, she moved to the United Arab Emirates, where she launched her musical career. In 2018, she moved to the United States before settling in Canada, in Ottawa, Ontario. In recent years, she has adopted the stage name Nerea The Fiddler to perform across four continents. An accomplished musician, as well as a dancer and teacher, she combines traditional fiddle and modern violin, blending them with dance.
Given her origins and the places she has lived, Nerea’s music draws on the Celtic traditions that are very much alive in Cape Breton. It was there that she learnt from various masters the fiddle traditions brought to the island by the Scots who settled there in the 18th century.
Following her debut album ‘Footprints’ in 2007, released when she was 17, Nerea now treats us to an excellent album, ‘Off the Beaten Path’. After a long hiatus from recording, the thirty-something artist sweeps us up in an absolutely exhilarating musical whirlwind.
She opens the album with ‘The Return’, a set of three energetic and powerful tunes. She then continues with ‘Evolution’, another set of three tunes that are both measured and full of vitality. The rest of the album follows suit, with tracks picked up here and there during her travels. We find ‘Crested Hens’, a waltz composed by Gilles Chabenat and made popular by the group Solas. And as Nerea hasn’t forgotten her teenage years in Brittany, she performs a suite of gavottes by Yves Menez.
As well as playing the fiddle, Nerea practises foot dancing, which she showcases on three tracks. She has also composed three tunes for the album. She is accompanied by a number of musicians: Tony Branch on guitar, Ryan MacNeill and Jose Ramon Nuñez on keyboards, and a few others.
Throughout the album, the various instruments do not overwhelm the fluidity of the fiddle, which remains at the forefront. And the arrangements are effective yet understated, allowing the fiddle to take its rightful place on this truly beautiful album.
Autoproduit - www.nereathefiddler.com