Hanneke Cassel

Effervescent and engaging, Boston-based fiddler Hanneke Cassel’s fiddle music fuses influences from the Isle of Skye and Cape Breton with Americana grooves and musical innovations. She has performed and traveled across North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. Hanneke’s music is a blend of the contemporary and traditional, described by the Boston Globe as “exuberant and rhythmic, somehow wild and innocent, delivered with captivating melodic clarity and an irresistible playfulness.”

Cassel’s latest album Infinite Brightness lyrically and poignantly captures a brightness that shines with sorrow-tinted joy. Written on the heels of a global pandemic and in memory of friends who’ve died in recent years, the nine compositions on this album exude Cassel’s trademark energetic playing while carrying the gravitas of loss, grief, and a sense of hope that endures. Co-produced with bandmate Keith Murphy, who plays guitar and harmonium on the album, Infinite Brightness also features Jenna Moynihan, who contributes five-string fiddle, Tristan Clarridge on cello, and guitarist Yann Falquet (heard on “Dmitri’s Dream” and “Last Alleluia”).

The Hanneke Cassel Band features Tristan Clarridge on cello/vocals and Keith Murphy on guitar/vocals. Multi-instrumentalist, 5 -time Grand National Fiddle Champion, and pioneering cellist, Tristan Clarridge creatively synthesizes traditional folk influences with rhythmic vocabulary from jazz, rock and pop music, and is leading a revolution among adventurous young cellists throughout the USA and beyond. He has toured the world with bluegrass/nu-folk sensation Crooked Still and Darol Anger’s Republic of Strings, as well as Mike Marshall, Bruce Molsky and Cape Breton fiddle phenomenon Natalie MacMaster. Newfoundland-born guitarist Keith Murphy is a rhythmic powerhouse on guitar and a traditional singer of rare finesse. A native of Newfoundland, he has lived in New England for many years where he has been an influential presence in the traditional music scene through his work with many respected bands, as a tune writer and as director of the Northern Roots Festival in Brattleboro, VT. He has three solo recordings of traditional songs, the most recent being Land of Fish and Seals (2018).

Together, the Hanneke Cassel Band creates a cutting-edge acoustic sound that retains the integrity and spirit of the Scottish tradition.