Stella Rodrigues

I am a trad fiddle player, originally from The Netherlands. My musical narrative starts at the age of seven, when I started playing the classical violin. At fourteen I encountered folk music and since that time I have been involved in many bands and projects playing anything from Irish traditional music and baroque music to Dutch, Breton, Eastern European, Scandinavian and Javanese gamelan music. In my nineteenth year I made the fatal mistake to spend a summer in Ireland, and another one the year after, and another the year after that, after which I didn’t leave. I had lost myself in the wealth of the musical culture of this country and became addicted to the people, the way of life, the craic! Now, nine years on, I have finished a Degree in music and a Masters in Ethnomusicology at University College Cork, where I now teach Javanese Gamelan. Irish music has become my staple diet, and I very much enjoy playing and teaching it. It was the reason I moved to Ireland, and the reason I stayed! Bands I have played in include We-nun Henk (a Dutch folk band), Radostan (an Eastern European band), My Left Shoe (an Irish band based in Holland) and theater productions such as Corcadorca’s “The Mercant of Venice” with music composed by Mel Mercier and Linda Buckley. Right now I am focusing my attention on one band: Lazik (www.myspace.com/lazikmuzik) and Heartstrings String Quartet (www.myspace.com/heartstringscork). Besides playing in bands, I am regularly seen and heard in sessions around Cork.