GREENE — Fiddlers Owen Kennedy, 13, and Josh White, 16, will be performing at 7 p.m. Friday, July 27, at the Sawyer Memorial.
Owen Kennedy and Josh White are two up-and-coming musicians whose lively arrangements take their listeners from Quebec and the Canadian Maritimes over the sea to Eastern Europe, Ireland and Scotland, and back home to Maine. The boys have played together as part of the Maine Folque Co-op since 2015, when the group performed for the American Folk Festival in Bangor. Both young men are fiddlers, but their medleys go beyond two-fiddle harmonies; between them, Josh and Owen play banjo, guitar, mandolin, bodhran and their feet.
Owen Kennedy began playing the violin at 4 years old as a Pineland Suzuki School student, learning music by ear; his first violin was a box with ruler stuck in it, “played” with a wooden dowel rod. He continues to study classical violin — on a full-sized instrument, no more cardboard — and is a member of several chamber and orchestral groups. However, his first love is fiddling, which he began at the age of 7, performing with Ellen Gawler and the Pineland Fiddlers. Owen particularly enjoys fast arrangements and adding his own flourishes and rhythm harmonies.
Musician Josh White has been fiddling around Maine for the past eight years. In a journey to spread happiness through music, Josh finds himself playing in many different venues — from the Maine Fiddle Camp stage to local schools, restaurants, parks and open mic nights around the Lewiston-Auburn area. The 16-year-old is currently a junior at Edward Little High School.
Shows will be at the Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Memorial, 371 Sawyer Road. Free admission. FMI: call 207-946-5311, visit sawyer-foundation.com or www.facebook.com/sawyer.foundation1937.
Owen Kennedy and Josh White (Submitted photo)
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