WHILE
CELTIC culture naturally dominates the proceedings
at the Celtic Colours International Festival in
Cape Breton, it’s not the only community deserving
recognition on the island.
Since
it was the Mi’kmaq nation that first greeted
the French and Scottish settlers in Cape Breton,
how appropriate at Saturday night’s show in
the First Nations community of Wagmatcook that history
would repeat itself at the town’s new culture
and heritage centre.
Titled
Mawita’mk: Getting Together, the evening began
with a drum circle and dancers from Indian Bay,
plus a smudging ceremony performed with an eagle
feather, with participation by audience members
and musicians alike.
Now
cleared of evil spirits, the sold-out hall was ready
for the main event, with a stellar lineup whose
skill and repertoire would definitely remove any
remaining bad mojo.
It
started with Metis fiddler Sierra Noble.
Accompanied
by veteran Cape Breton guitarist Brian Doyle, the
17-year-old Manitoban showed impressive skill and
depth of feeling, winning points right off the bat
by including Constitution Breakdown by Cape Breton
Mi’kmaq fiddler Lee Cremo in her first set
of tunes.
Noble
then paid tribute to noted Metis fiddler Calvin
Volrath, playing Aurora’s Reel, before pouring
out the scotch on Whisky Before Breakfast and St.
Ann’s Reel, probably to make Doyle, whom she’d
only met just three hours before, feel more at home.
"Brian
learned the history of Metis music in an hour,"
she explained. "Lucky for me, he’s a
genius."
"Just
don’t listen too closely," quipped the
Margaree musician, before launching into the delightful
Gilbert’s Duck Dance and the yearning True
Heart’s Waltz, "written for me by Oliver
Schroer, one of my best friends in the world, when
I was going through a tough time in my life,"
explained Noble.
Schroer,
now going through a tough time himself, did her
a great favour, with his lyrical, bittersweet composition.
Finally,
Noble and Doyle proved their meeting was truly serendipitous
with a set of tunes including Big John MacNeil and
even a bit of the Flintstones, as their fingers
seemed to move in unison like they’d been
playing together for years. The good spirits had
definitely taken hold.
J.P.
Cormier was in high spirits for his set, playing
some of his more lighthearted material and trading
barbs with his wife Hilda Chaisson-Cormier behind
the keyboard.
Even
when introducing The Wreck of the Molly Mae, he
noted that he hadn’t known it was a true story
until after he wrote it.
"I
must be psychic," the Cheticamp virtuoso mused.
"Well,
you’re definitely weird," Hilda countered,
snickering.
All
thoughts of comedy evaporated, though, when Cormier
hunkered down and played, constructing the delicate
framework of The Mathematician on his guitar fretboard
with unerring ease, and impressing listeners with
nimble sets on banjo and mandolin.
The
pair ended the set on a memorable note with Cormier’s
recent composition inspired by his visit to Afghanistan.
A vivid picture of men doing an impossible job in
an unforgiving land, the song earned them an immediate
standing ovation.
Headliners
Shooglenifty displayed plenty of virtuosity and
versatility, with a splash of irreverence as the
electric and ecclectic sextet took Celtic music
through uncharted territory.
Fiddler
Angus Grant described the tune Scraping the Barrel
as the product of being unable to come up with an
original new title, but the song itself was a delight,
built on guitarist Malcolm Crosbie’s cool
tremolo guitar line, like the theme for a spy movie
where Sean Connery stayed in Scotland.
Two
Fifty to Vigo was the result of Grant’s busking
trip through Spain, and a terrifying ride on the
back of a hippie’s motorbike, but the slow,
sun-baked melody was anything but scary, as Shooglenifty
navigated its mysterious curves.
"If
anyone feels like dancing . . . please don’t,
we hate it when people do that," deadpanned
Grant, before pointing out that was a bit of Scotch
humour. It was an apt preface, though, for a set
of tunes including a Macedonian death song and a
Tasmanian tango/breakdance, courtesy of Aussie mandolinist
Luke Plumb.
Grant’s
violin and Plumb’s mandolin chimed together
nicely over James Mackintosh’s churning Mediterranean
rhythm, before Plumb broke out his tenor banjo,
tricked out with fuzz tone and wah-wah for some
seriously funky sounds.
There’s
always an element of funk lurking in Shooglenifty’s
songs, due in large part to Quee Macarthur’s
rubbery bass lines. Trim Controller began as kind
of a lounge jazz number before turning into a rollicking
jig, complete with Garry Finlayson’s string-bending
solo on the electric banjax (a customized banjo)
and a few bars of the Kinks’ You Really Got
Me for good measure.
It
just goes to show there’s a fine line between
fun Celtic and funk-Celtic.
(
scooke@herald.ca)
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