Jim McKillop

Ulster

Jim McKillop was born in Cushendall in the Glens of Antrim. From an early age he was very keen to start playing music and began on accordion, then later on guitar and banjo. He joined the merchant navy as a marine engineer which took him all over the world. At 26 years old he began to take an interest in the fiddle. Four years later, and without any formal tuition, he won the senior titles in Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann, Fiddler of Aileach and Fiddler of Oriel.

Jim, being the perfectionist he is so well known wanted to explore the technical requirements for tone, timbre and to maximise the full musical capacity of his instrument. He travelled to Italy and invested much time in learning about the standards of excellence in classical music performance, which is so well demonstrated in his numerous virtuoso performances over many decades.

Jim is largely responsible for elevating the technical brilliance of the fiddle into the traditional music setting. His legacy as a gatekeeper and stalwart over the years is without doubt. Jim famously in the late 70s played a solo outdoor session at the Listowel fleadh (without a break) for 14 hours. That was some session!

There is no one who has attended a fleadh cheoil over almost half a century who has not witnessed the great man standing on the street, playing for hours on end and giving so much pleasure to so many listeners, aspiring musicians and lovers of great traditional Irish fiddle playing.

Welcome back to Monaghan Jim as Ulster’s first ever recipient of “The Elders of Fiddling”.