Celtic + American Fiddle Music This Sunday at Gathering Hall in Banning

Celtic and American fiddle music with guitar, bass and other instruments will be featured Sunday at the Gathering Hall in a concert billed as "fiddling, foot-stomping fun."

The event is the first of a "Fourth Sunday" multi-cultural concert series organized by the Dorothy Ramon Learning Center.

"From foot-stomping hoedowns to poignant airs, laments, and waltzes, Bill Bell & Friends interpret Irish, Scottish, and American melodies," organizers said in an announcement.

Bell, the Banning Public Library District's resident historian, began playing fiddle years ago, and says he was inspired by his grandfather, a Texas farmer and fiddler.

He has worked in music composition, film scoring, and production, including several recording projects, concert organizers said.

Since moving to the San Gorgonio Pass, Bell has concentrated on traditional fiddle music. He is known in some circles as 'Fiddler of the Lincoln Shrine,' in Redlands, where he recorded a live CD of Civil War music called, 'Under the Dome.'

"Bell also includes several original fiddle tunes in his concerts that draw on his family and musical roots," organizers said. "His past concerts in the Pass have been standing room only. Joining Bell will be guitarists Dan Richardson and Paul Burton, cellist Eddie Young, and special guests."

The concert is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. Sunday Feb. 26 in the San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians Gathering Hall, 127 N. San Gorgonio Ave.

The $10 admission will help the nonprofit Dorothy Ramon Learning Center save and share Southern California's Native American cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts, organizers said.

The next concert in the series is planned March 25, featuring Silver Sounds Flute Ensembles, a flute choir. On April 22, Lionheart will perform a 'Concert for the Earth.'

For more information call (951) 849-7736 visit www.dorothyramon.blogspot.com, or email siva@dishmail.net.