They fell in love on St. Patrick's Day. The bride was "piped" down the aisle two-and-a-half years later. And today, Michele Malanowicz McCandless, AS '86, and her husband, Brian, are still making music together. They've just released their first international folk music CD.

The couple has been performing for more than 15 years as Trikkiwikkit (pronounced "tricky-wicket") at folk festivals, historical reenactments and street fairs on the East Coast and as far west as New Orleans.

Michele, a former member of UD's Marching Band, plays their music on authentic (and often antique) instruments, including the hurdy-gurdy, clarinet, penny whistle, guitar, bodhran, spoons, bowed psaltery and dumbek. Brian performs on bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, accordion, bouzouki and guitar.

The tune names on their 16-track CD, Dancing on Sunday, are in English, French and Gaelic, reflecting the initial inspiration for the melodies that are based on the couple's travels and experiences. "The album is a compilation and arrangement of a diverse selection of original tunes that draw on western European folk dances, as well as elements taken from our Celtic and German ancestors," Michele explains.

Right up front among the multitude of instruments on the album is the hurdy-gurdy, an ancient European instrument gaining popularity in international folk music. The sound resembles bagpipes, with melody and drone sounds created by the continuous bowing action of a polished wheel against taut gut strings.

The 200-year-old hurdy-gurdy featured was discovered two years ago by the McCandlesses in a shop in Philadelphia. Brian, who has crafted nearly two dozen bagpipes and woodwind instruments, restored the ancient Colson instrument to playing condition, and Michele, who plays it in concert, says it "gives off the old authentic sound. Antiquity is still around."

In their other lives, Michele runs a resum´e service, Career Pro of Delaware, and Brian is a researcher at UD's Institute of Energy Conversion. "I'm fortunate in that I'm able to exhibit my creativity and passion in both my vocation and avocation," Michele says. In fact, when she was a featured speaker at the Professional Association of Resum´e Writers' conference, Michele accompanied herself on the penny whistle.

Together, the couple created the North American Association of Lowland and Border Pipers, writing and publishing seven full-length journals that explore the world of bagpiping for their members in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

When they first met, Michele and Brian were playing the music of Neil Young and other folk/rock musicians. Shortly thereafter, Brian's father taught him an old Celtic tune on a mandolin.

"Brian played it for me and I picked it up on a recorder," Michele says. "I realized then that it needed to be played on a pennywhistle, which sounded great. So, I taught myself the percussion instruments-the spoons and bodhran-and moved on to all sorts of other Celtic instruments.

"When we first started playing British Isles' folk music in the mid-'80s, our music was considered old-fashioned. Now, we see a turn-around, with people appreciating the talents of real musicians playing authentic instruments. We're no longer an anomaly." * -Terry Conway