Tony DeMarco: A Priceless Tutelage

New York fiddler Tony DeMarco is a master of the Sligo fiddle style.

- Mary Larsen

Born in East Flat bush, Tony followed a circuitous route to Irish music. Although there is music in his genes, his kinship with the fiddle – Irish fiddle in particular – was a case of serendipity. In Tony’s words, “I didn’t look for it – it found me.”

As a young man, Tony learned the intricacies of Sligo-style fiddling from some of the best – Irish immigrants Paddy Reynolds, Andy McGann, and Lad O’Beirne. Years before meeting them, however, a Folkways recording of Sligo fiddler Michael Gorman first acquainted him with the style that he would later make his own.

Tony has been performing and recording for decades, even while balancing his other career as a commodities trader. He first visited Ireland in 1976 and has since judged the prestigious All-Ireland Fleadh and Fiddler of Dooney contests there. Stateside, he has organized his own music festival – the New York Trad Fest – for the past four years.

When not across the U.S. or the Atlantic Ocean, Tony currently divides his time between New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. I met him at the 2016 Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Washington, where he was a popular teacher. He also delighted concert audiences with his flawless technique and his many innovative yet respectful variations on the old tunes.

I understand you picked up the fiddle when you were 17. Did you play anything before that?

Yeah, guitar – electric guitar. We had little garage bands in the neighborhood.

What made you start the fiddle?

Well, it was never a plan. It was never a dream or a hope or a whim – I needed a credit to get out of high school, and they stuck me in the school band, in the violin section. [After transferring to a new high school], they gave me a choice of English, history or music – I took the music and ended up in the string section.