Traditional music on Cape Breton

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Since the indigenous inhabitants of Cape Breton are only a small minority, traditional music is heavily influenced by Western European immigrants, especially their numerically strongest and longest established group, the Highland Scots.

Origin and instruments

In addition to songs sung in English or especially in the Inverness district (west coast) in Gaelic (e.g. Mary Jane Lamond ), the instrumental, Scottish-Celtic dance music dominates. Many of the main instruments of Western European (harps, drums, accordion) or North American (banjo, mandolin, harmonica, double bass) traditional music rarely appear on Cape Breton. There are also bands with different instruments almost exclusively among younger musicians (Beolach, Cottars, Slainte Mhath, Barra MacNeills). The traditional Cape Breton instrumentation is limited to Scottish bagpipes, whose importance declined since the 19th century and which have only become more popular in the last few decades, and above all to the violin (" fiddle "). The harmonium or a second violin played in unison used to serve as accompaniment ; but since the end of the 19th century almost always the piano and / or occasionally the guitar.

Type and style of music

With the exception of the worn “pastorals”, the instrumental music from Cape Breton is pure dance music and is therefore played with a strong emphasis on rhythm. In addition to traditional Scottish and Irish compositions, much was and is also composed in the Scottish style on Cape Breton itself. Over the centuries , Gaelic highland violin music on Cape Breton, which was lost in Scotland and was already richly decorated in the style of bagpipe and vocal music, assimilated stylistic elements from other population groups, e.g. B. Stakkati of French-born academics, bordeaux resonating strings of American violinists or vibratos widespread in southern Europe. This is how the “Cape Breton Fiddle Style” came about, one of the most technically advanced and complex violin styles in the world. The Cape Breton Fiddlers Society with several hundred members has been taking care of the dissemination and passing on to younger talents for several decades . Through their support, it is possible also guests in the Celtic Music Interpretive Center to inform (Judique) or to take courses for traditional violins.

Traditional dance

The demand for traditional music is unbroken on Cape Breton. Concerts (" ceilidh ") and / or a square dance often take place. These square dances differ from their US counterparts not only in their musical structure - the sets each consist of two jigs (6/8) and a long reel (4/4) - but above all in the type of dance. Step dance figures are always interspersed, with the occasional Strathspey sets - a particularly accentuated form of the reel - even solo step is danced. Cape Breton tap dance is similar to the Irish one, but the arms are allowed to swing more freely and the feet are hardly lifted off the floor ("Close to the floor"). It is believed that this was the original tap dance style of the Gaelic highlands until the middle of the 18th century.

Formative musicians (selection)

violin
  • Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald (1940s to 1970s - most of today's Cape Breton Fiddlers refer to his style)
  • Buddy MacMaster (1960s to today - received the Canadian Order of Merit for his musical life's work)
  • Jerry Holland (died July 2009, was the most productive Cape Breton composer with over 1,000 compositions)
  • Brenda Stubbert (a symbolic figure of female Cape Breton fiddlers, composed several hundred pieces)
  • Glenn Graham (representative of the younger generation, wrote the first dissertation on traditional Cape Breton music)
  • Beaton family (for several generations best known representatives of the "Mabou Coal Mine" style, are among the most sought-after live musicians on the island)
  • Lee Cremo (1960s to 1980s, indigenous culture)
  • JP Cormier (French Canadian, multi-instrumentalist)
  • More modern arrangements: Natalie MacMaster (commercially most successful fiddler, received a " Grammy " and the Canadian Order of Merit), Ashley MacIsaac (was the first to combine traditional Cape Breton music with hard rock, hip-hop and punk)
piano
  • Doug MacPhee (accompanying pianist for numerous older and current CD productions, representative of the "classical" style)
  • Mac Morin (main representative of the "young" style, sought-after studio musician, among others on the albums of G. Graham and Beolach)
  • Joel Chiasson (French-Canadian, extremely rhythmic style, accompanist for Natalie MacMaster)
  • Tracy Dares (most sought-after female pianist, can be heard on many fiddle CDs as accompanist)
  • Ashley MacIsaac (specified above)
  • Jason Roach (experimental representative of the Cape Breton piano)
Bagpipes
  • Barry Shears (reconstructed the traditional bagpipe style through extensive field research)
  • John MacPhee (main representative of the younger generation, leader of the Cape Breton Pipeband, heard on many CDs by other artists)
  • Ryan J. MacNeil (Barra MacNeils, Beolach and formerly Slainte Mhath, the island's most commercially successful bagpiper)
guitar
  • Bruce Guthro (singer of the Scottish folk-rock band Runrig & solo guitarist)

literature

  • Graham, Glenn: The Cape Breton Fiddle - making and maintaining the tradition. Cape Breton University Press 2006.
  • Gibson, John G .: Traditional Gaelic bagpiping, 1745-1945. Montreal 1998, ISBN 0773515410