Shetland-Music.com

Formed by Dr. Tom Anderson in the late 1950's this legendary group were initially brought together for a very profound reason.

The Forty Fiddlers greet the arrival of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at Lerwick Town Hall - 1960

Tom realised that Shetland's music traditon was dying out and was already all but lost. In an attempt to at least initially preserve what still existed Tom's travelled throughtout Shetland in a quest to search out and meet many, or hopefully all, of the local fiddlers still playing in the Shetland tradition at that time, with a view to recording and archiving them and there material for posterity and future generations.

Having initially done so, he then brought together many of those individuals (many of whom had not even met up until that time) to bring that tradition to actual life again, exhange tunes and ideas and to perform as a live 'unit', most notably for the 1960 Hamefarin (a specially arranged, collective 'return visit' to Shetland for many ex-pats living outside the islands)

During 1960 they also played for the visit of Queen Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Such was their popularity they obtained bookings the length and bredth of Shetland, not to mention a number of important engagements outside the islands into the bargain.

Originally intended as a short lived 'project' the Fiddlers sustained until the late 1970's when Tom decided they had run their course and served their purpose, as he turned his personal attention more to teaching traditional fiddle in schools and creating musicians and groups to ensure the heritage was safe guarded for the future.

However the legacy of the Forty Fiddlers live on to this day via the Shetland Fiddle Society who still meet and perform regularly both in and outwith Shetland to the present day.