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Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid

The Trows of Truggles Water

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The Trows of Truggles Water

The group, Fiddlers' Bid, explained that this is a tune inspired by Fiddlers' Bid's annual holiday, which took them to the wilds of the Westside of Shetland, to a place called Truggles Water. The band set up camp in the pouring rain and the night was upon them. Well into the night, scuffling, snorting and grunting was heard outside the tent. The band sat tight waiting for the dawn, as the noises were undoubtedly those of the Trows of Truggles Water.

Trows are mythical little people who inhabit the hills of Shetland. They are magical and mischievous by nature, and are particularly fond of fiddle music. There are many tunes in the Shetland tradition attributed to them, usually heard by a fiddler returning over the hills in darkness.

In her book The Fiddle in Scottish Culture (2007), Katherine Campbell has a whole chapter about the trows and their tunes.

The Trows of Truggle Water, played by Fiddlers' Bid From Hamnataing (CD), CDTRAX167 (April 1998), Greentrax Recordings.

Listen closely and you will hear some very strange small sounds around the music!