A History of the Society:

During the Twentieth Century, there was continual economic migration from the Northern Isles to the Capital City. Coming from a tightly knit community, it was natural that the islanders would form a sub-culture in the big city. Thus it was that the Edinburgh and District Shetland Association was born in 1928. In 1962 they bought Glendinnings' Ballroom at 11 Pilrig Street (off Leith Walk) to use as their headquarters. This newly-acquired property was re-named The Zetland Hall.

The association had many fiddlers among its membership and Bobby Tulloch, recently arrived from Aberdeen, persuaded Willie Johnson to take up his fiddle again. He was joined by Willie McGuire, Donny Arcus and Andrew Smith to form the first Zetland Fiddlers. The Thursday evening meetings in the lower committee room were very congenial music-making occasions. Later (1969) they started to play for various functions organised by the Association.

Willie Johnson liked all kinds of music, but he was especially fond of pipe marches, a love which he had inherited from his maternal grandmother. She had spent many years "in service", working for a doctor in the north of Scotland. There, she had learned the Highland mouth music. (Mouth music is the song-without-words that poor people used for dance music.) It was thanks to the special bond that grows between children and their grandparents that he acquired his taste for, and his wide knowledge of, pipe marches.

Willie Johnson led the group for the first two decades, and his penchant for pipe marches provided at least half of the tunes. To maintain a balance, he would make up the rest of the music from Shetland pieces. The tunes were played in sets, which became familiar to all. Willie would play a bar or two of introduction that would trigger the playing of a particular set. Sometimes a youngster would be invited to play a solo piece, to encourage their development. The group itself never actually practised, so much as met and played every Thursday. As the group incubated talent, more experienced members would split off to join bands and other groups.

The Zetland Halls were sold in 1983. One of the reasons for the sale was that the new oil industry in Shetland had caused prosperity, reversing the economic migration and reducing the size of the Edinburgh community. The Fiddlers transferred to the West End Hotel - a popular meeting place for Highlanders and Islanders. Many of the native Shetlanders did not make the move, and numbers shrank. The dwindling number of the original fiddlers was cushioned by a growing number of fascinated and enthusiastic Edinburgh folk. For the first time there were more locals than expatriates.

With the onset of Willie's arthritis, the strong leadership waned, to give way to a more democratic leaderless structure. The pipe marches stopped and the repertoire swung round to a reel-and strathspey box-and-fiddle style. The departure of a strong leader is always a risky time for an organisation.

The Tom Anderson "Silver Bow" recordings had a deep effect on the repertoire. Most Shetlanders were self-taught and developed the special style of their fellow islanders, whereas Tom had received formal training. This gave Tom a clean, almost classical approach to music, which made his sets easy to imitate. There is no doubt that Tom improved the quality of Shetland music in his time, but there is still a controversy over his impact on the philosophy and the culture. He visited the Fiddlers on a number of occasions and was typically (for him) critical of what he saw.

The Fiddlers struggled on into the Nineties, their numbers dwindling and the initial electricity giving way to a comfortable atmosphere. The group folded in the mid nineties when Bobby Tulloch returned to Shetland. There then followed a period of dormancy. Although the society itself didn't meet, its spirit lived on in its former members who had dispersed among Edinburgh's folk music community.

On 6^th June 1999 the group was relaunched, partly as a result of encouragement from the Edinburgh and District Shetland Association. The future of the West End Hotel looked uncertain with its sale in December 1999 so it was decided to transfer to the Royal Scots Club, where they thrive to this day.

Nowadays, the music is still mainly Shetland. Music from related sources (Swedish, blue-grass, Irish etc) adds an occasional refreshing variation. Most musicians choose to play most of the time. In contrast to the days of pipe marches, an evening's music now contains a few slower pieces and there are tunes that only one or two know.

The constructive traditions of the original Zetland Fiddlers still remain, such as the encouragement of weaker members and the acceptance of all ranges of age and ability. A committee, whose names may be found on the contact page of this site, now runs the Society.