Longtime Vancouver busker 'heartbroken' over lost violin

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After an extended night time of fiddling on St. Patrick’s Day, Sean Whittle nodded off on the SkyTrain. When he awakened the violin was gone.

Revealed Mar 23, 2024  •  Final up to date 45 minutes in the past  •  3 minute learn

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It was within the wee hours following St. Patrick’s Day when longtime Vancouver busker Shawn Whittle fell asleep on the SkyTrain trip residence along with his pal’s most prized possession, a French violin from the early 1900s.

However when Whittle, 32, who had fiddled late into the night time for crowds downtown, was awoken by an announcement that the prepare was arriving at King George Station, he seen the violin, his pockets and telephone had been gone.

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“I’m heartbroken,” he advised Postmedia. “I had the fiddle case tucked below my ft sitting alone on a just about empty prepare, and my pockets and telephone had been in several internal pockets of my vest.”

Within the week since, Whittle has been scrambling to find the instrument, which he says is irreplaceable.

“The factor that makes this all the more severe is that this isn’t even my fiddle — a pricey pal loaned it to me to play for some time as I’m saving as much as get my essential participant fastened up.”

The self-taught musician has been following within the footsteps of his pal, who’s a violinist in Winnipeg. The violinist would deliver her previous violins, circumstances and bows and additional money she comprised of busking to a luthier she knew so she may commerce up.

“He’d improve her to one thing higher till ultimately she obtained this positively stunning violin that was made between 1916 and 1918. It has the richest low finish I’ve ever heard in a fiddle and is simply completely beautiful to play,” stated Whittle.

The violin was saved in a tattered leather-based case with a crimson inside. It has a Fom Kun-style shoulder relaxation as an alternative of a chin relaxation, and one among two bows has a lacking pearl inlay on one aspect of the frog. Its case additionally accommodates a round block of rosin glued to a bit of white cloth and a rubber bridge mute.

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On the night time of the violin’s disappearance, Whittle had determined to work late, hoping to make sufficient money from passersby to cowl his hire by taking part in Celtic-style fiddle tunes, most of which had been improvised on the spot.

Whittle has been busking for greater than 15 years, since he was a teen, beginning with soup cans performed like a washboard alongside makeshift percussion devices equivalent to buckets and pots.

“I finally obtained into violin to problem myself musically, and it’s the primary tuned instrument I realized to play. This violin has been to over 13 international locations with (my pal) and I can’t abdomen that I’m the top of its journey.

“I’ve known as just about all the pawn outlets within the Decrease Mainland, in addition to music outlets and luthiers that I may discover on the lookout for it,” Whittle stated.

He additionally reported the theft to Vancouver police. If discovered, the violin will be returned anonymously to police by contacting the VPD non-emergency line, 604-717-3321, and citing incident quantity 2024-915953.

“I’ve a small reward I can supply — no questions requested,” Whittle stated. “In case you purchased it from somebody on the market downtown, I’ll cowl that value as effectively.”

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sgrochowski@postmedia.com

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