Annotation:Wullafjord
WILLAFJORD. AKA - "Willa Fjord," “Wullafjord.” Shetland, Shetland Reel. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Cooke): AB (Flett & Flett): AABB (Anderson & Swing, Hardie, Lerwick, Martin & Hughes, Sweet). “Willafjord,” or “Wullafjord,” is known by fiddlers throughout the Shetland Islands. The tune originally came from Greenland, imported to Shetland at the end of the 19th century and disseminated in the age of arctic whaling expeditions. It is sometimes described as having originated as a ‘whaling reel’.
In my own experience as a fieldworker in the sub-arctic region of Canada, my playing of the Shetland tune ‘Wullafjord’ (also discussed in depth later in this article) to Cree fiddle players in the town of Moose Factory, northern Ontario, immediately gave rise to the response that the tune sounded like an Inuit melody. After some research into the James Bay repertoire, I also came across the tune ‘Log Cabin’, written by fiddler James Stewart of Chisasibi, which bears notable similarities to ‘Wullafjord’ in terms of phrasing and structure[1].
- ↑ F. Wilkins, "Da Merry Boys O Greenland: Explorations into the Musical Dialogue of Shetland’s Nautical Past", Folk Music Journal, vol. 11 , no. 2, 2017.