Voices: Celtic Colours

The lives of Cape Bretoners are shaped by mountain and sea, by their Irish and Scottish heritage, and by their isolation from the rest of Canada, and indeed the rest of the continent. So is their music. Shared in house parties and around kitchen tables over decades, bits of the two cultures influenced each other, and in turn were influenced by the mountains to the ocean landscape that is like and yet not like those two Celtic lands. A tradition based on fiddle music and encompassing fiddle and piano duos, guitar, pipes, step dancing, and singing developed, a tradition that in recent years artists such as Buddy MacMaster, Mary Jane Lamond, Natalie MacMaster, The Men of the Deep, The BarraMacNeils, Tracey Dares, and more recently The Cottars and Kimberley Fraser have taken to stages across the world. Each year in October, the world comes home to Cape Breton with them to celebrate and share old and new tunes played by artists with widely familiar names and those who remain local favorites, artists who are natives of Cape Breton and those who hail from Celtic cultures around the world. The occasion is the Celtic Colours International Festival, which this year will run from 5 to 13 October, with more than four dozen concerts in venues ranging from a convention center to a small church, from a school auditorium to a firehouse turned community center, from the area's largest city, Sydney, to some of its smallest places, including Dingwall and Big Pond. "We were hoping to create an experience, something more than just going to a concert," festival founder Joella Foulds said of what she a festival co founder Max MacDonald had in mind when they started up the project, which is now is now going in to its eleventh year.

 

Two years ago, one the ways they went about this was to have a coast to coast opening celebration, with simultaneous opening night concerts in Port Hawkesbury, at the southern end of the island, and in Sydney, to the north. Though they've returned to a single opening concertthese days, that decision, which was a bit controversial among local ticket buyers at first, proved that there was more than enough star power to illuminate both shows and more than enough happy audience members to delight artists and festival organizers alike. Typical of the level ot talent at Celtic Colours in any year, Runrig lead singer and CB native Bruce Guthro, legendary fiddle player and tune maker Jerry Holland, and Scottish master musician and festival artist in residence Phil Cunningham took the stage in Port Hawkesbury, while local favorite and international Gaelic singing star Mary Jane Lamond kicked things off in Sydney with a traditional Cape Breton milling song, a song holding the the rhythms of work usually done by island women. Tara Rankin sang with Lamond, and Wendy MacIsaac added fiddle on several songs. La Swing du Suete dancers and fiddle legend Buddy MacMaster shared the stage collaborating to celebrate both fiddle and dance traditions of the region. MacIsaac would return as part of a hot group of young tune players, Beolach, who got their start at Celtic Colours in an earlier year. Mairi Rankin joined MacIsaac on fiddle, and as it turned out to be Mairi's birthday, the group kicked off their set by singing to her, and then went to a fast paced group of original and traditional tunes, with Patrick Gillis on guitar, Mac Morin on piano, and Ryan J. MacNeil on whistle and pipes.

Northumbrian small pipes player Kathryn Tickell, in her first visit to the festival, added a high energy set which saw her join with guitarist Ian Stephenson, fiddle player Peter Tickell, and accordion player Julian Sutton to bring out the unique sounds of the small pipes, and then switch to fiddle herself for a hot extended jam to close out her set.

The energy of the Cathie Ryan Band, also first time visitors to the Celtic Colours stage, took things in a bit more contemplative direction at first, as the many colors of Ryan's voice were complimented by the intricate guitar arrangements of Greg Anderson and the fiery fiddle playing of Hanneke Cassel on original and traditional Irish songs, leading to a fast paced tale of a woman who goes to mass religiously every Sunday and then to the pub right after, with Ryan adding her bodhran playing into the mix.

The name of this concert was the Ceilidh at the Big Fiddle, well enough as there is indeed a giant sized fiddle sculpture outside the Marine Terminal building where the show was held. By the time all these musicians brought their bands and their energy back to the stage to join together for the finale, the fiddle itself might fairly have been dancing along, although it's a safe bet that no one in the packed house was going to miss a moment of the music to go outside to see. Songs into tunes, solos into duos, trios, and larger ensembles the collaborations went, with Ryan kicking things off then joining Lamond and Tara Rankin in Gaelic harmony. Buddy MacMaster made the fiddle tune set that followed, at first with all the fiddlers on stage joining in and then step dancers, guitarists, and all others finding the way to add their gifts to the mix. The magic of musical collaboration, of Cape Breton music and its sources and connections in Ireland, Scotland, and Northumbria were well introduced, and -- did the big fiddle really dance along? No certain word on that, but it could have. And this was only the first night, with forty six more shows and additional late night gigs at the after hours festival club yet to come through the nine nights of the Celtic Colours International Music Festival on Cape Breton.

The festival is held across the entire geography of Cape Breton Island, at places large and small, churches, community halls, schools and other venues in communities eager to welcome visitors and celebrate the unique music that is Cape Breton, and the roots and branches of it. Usually an evening's bill will consist of three or four acts who each play a short set on their own and then join together for a collaboration on a finale of two or three songs. The Chieftains headline the opening concert this year, on October 5th, and there are dozens of Cape Breton and international musicians on the schedule, along with a full slate of after hour festival club shows, educational sessions, art exhibits, and other activities. Lamond and Holland will return, as will MacIsaac. Karan Casey, Shooglenifty, JP Cormier, and Dougie MacLean are among those international stars slated to take the stages across Cape Breton this year, as are local favorites Fiona and Ciaran Mac Giilvray and Kimberly Fraser.

If you'd like to go, start planning now, as several of the high profile shows are selling out already. Lots of information, artist schedules, links to other sites, and helpful community forums too, at the festival's official web site.

5-13 October

 

 

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Kerry Dexter, Music Correspondent Kerry's credits include VH1, CMT, the folk music magazine Dirty Linen, Strings, The Encyclopedia of Ireland and the Americas, and The MusicHound Guides.. She also writes about the arts and creative practice at Music Road and contributes to Fred Bals' Series of Tubes.