Page 28
www.celtic-connection.com
NOVEMBER 2012
Put Celtic Colours Festival on your list for next October - a true Cape Breton party
m
T'S mid October and the tourists have left stormy Cape Breton Island - what a perfect time to hold the International Celtic Colours Festival! And just where are all the folks in the audience coming from?
I don't know, but there had to be 100 shows and they were packed and sold out. Dozens of little communities just have to have a concert at their very own school gym or church hall.
You can circle the Cabot trail and enjoy fantastic shows from Aspy Bay to Cheticamp, Margaree Harbour to Inverness and Mabou, Baddeck to Big Pond, St. Ann's, Judique and Sidney.
Reminds me of Hank Snow's song/ 've Been Everywhere and all the verses simply list names of places. The performing groups move around like musical chairs to the many eager communities each day. What a lot of fun!
During the festival everything is off-season rates, so I rented an RV out of Halifax and tooled around boondocking (free camping) in all kinds of wonderful places.
My son, Peter Gynd and I spent the nights parked between fish boats, or out on a point with 74 km/hr winds, at the location of the world's largest 40-foot tide, the parking lot of the Gaelic College, and... well you get the idea.
Live music is everywhere and a lot of Cape Breton favourite sons and daughters come home to perform and participate in the festival with names like MacMaster, Rankin, Maclsaac, Cormier, McNeil, Lamond and MacDougall.
I really got swept up with the buzz around two of my favourite fiddle players who live in Vancouver and Victoria, Mairi Rankin and Daniel Lapp.
You can imagine how exciting it was for everyone when Mairi and her band Outside Track performed in her hometown, Mabou!
The fiddling, ballads, accordion, harp, step dancing and jokes make Outside Track the personification of the Cape Breton experience.
And Daniel Lapp, to me he is a pioneer on the fiddle (and trumpet). His unique style reminds me of Jean-Luc Ponty or Sugarcane Harris. Is Daniel playing Celtic Acid Rock?
His trio includes keyboard synthesizer that pours out the foundation bass line like a cement truck (yeah and I like it), electric guitar that drives the rhythm with attitude, and Daniel feeding on his musical genius with his voracious electric violin.
Cape Breton style piano playing is something you seldom hear in Vancouver so I was thrilled to play with Jason Roach at the Doryman Pub in Cheticamp.
The CBC had just recorded Jason and Chrissy Crowley performing and I was invited up to play. Jason's keyboard put my fiddle sets on fire with excitement
By DOUG MEDLEY
/ discovered that
you can walk through just about any door in Cape Breton if you are carrying a violin case. It's a kind of ultimate platinum Visa card to late night sessions!
and anticipation. Thank you Jason, your style did more than accompany, it supercharged my tunes.
By the way, I discovered that you can walk through just about any door in Cape Breton if you are carrying a violin case! It's a kind of ultimate platinum
Visa card to late night sessions, like the ones at the Gaelic College that go until breakfast.
It was great to see Wendy Maclsaac again after getting to know her at the Vancouver Island CeltF est last year, and what a blast to hear Brenda Stubbert in the green room loudly accompany the band on stage with the huge high school bass drum in Aspy Bay. She is just about the funniest person I have ever met.
Food! Peter and I quickly realized that each concert had a pre-concert dinner, lunch or breakfast held somewhere in the community - grilled mackerel, Acadian cuisine, mussels, haddock, roast beef with maragh, baked salmon, moose stew, fricot, fish cakes, chowder - heck, you can plan your itinerary solely around the community meals, and forget the music.
About the workshops and sessions that fill the nine-day festival, in addition to the many music classes, you can learn about basket weaving, fish harvesting, knot quilting, bobbin lace, and even hooking (rugs!).
Our last night was in Halifax. We toasted as many pubs as we could walk to and ended up playing in a fun session at the Old Triangle Pub that finally got pushed out onto the street at "closing time."
So the party carried on at our RV parked overnight on the waterfront.
Check outwww.celtic-colours.com and put Cape Breton and their beautiful red October leaves on your wish list for 2013!
ENJOYING Cape Breton's Celtic Colours Festival - (L-R) Gynd and Doug Medley at Gaelic College in St. Ann's.
V ■ It
m .
A LATE NIGHT jam session at Cape Breton's Celtic Colours Festival.
MICHAEL Pratt owner of Celtic Traditions in his new shop. Behind him is a selection of their Celtic jewellery, capes, and shelves of beautiful sweaters.
Celtic Traditions: So much more than just a store
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
VANCOUVER - Last year will be one not soon to be forgotten by Michael Pratt, owner of Celtic Traditions.
In November 2011, after giving a music lesson at the store, Michael was riding his bicycle home at night and was struck by a car. While recovering from the accident, he was forced to make the decision to move the store.
I recently dropped around to visit the new premises and talk to Michael about what new merchandise is in for the Christmas season.
Mchael looked surprisingly well and so did the new store. Although not as spacious as their previous location, they have done an excellent job merchandising the stock and it has a very warm and welcoming atmosphere.
Celtic Traditions is known as the sweater shop, but it's really so much more.
Both Michael and his partner Lynn McGown are musicians who teach music at the store along with a number of other teachers. The dressing rooms double as teaching rooms.
Speaking about his accident and the decision to move premises, Michael said, "It was at night after I had finished the music lessons, and I was cycling home when I got hit by a car.
"I was knocked off my bike, broke my arm in a couple of places and was taken to the emergency.
"I had two operations on my arm and was off work all November and December last year. I was fortunate to have had a lot of fantastic support and people just stepped in and looked after the business.
"At the same time, my landlord wanted a 50 percent rent increase and I just didn't know what I was going to do.
"I tried to negotiate but to no avail, so I found this location just across the street, and even though it's smaller, it still works.
"It all worked out and the actual move just took fifteen minutes, I had so many people volunteering. They were just ferrying all the merchandise across the street to the new store.
"After we had all the merchandise into the new store, we had a party with plenty of singing and dancing." Michael
SOME of the lovely capes and sweaters available at Celtic Traditions shop.
laughed and said, "it was definitely an Irish move."
Speaking about their new Christmas merchandise, Pratt said, "pretty well all my stock is in. I like to get things in early. The company Fishermen Out of Ireland from Donegal do some incredible sweaters for both men and women.
"All my wool and mohair blankets are in, tweed walking hats and caps, and lots of Celtic jewellery. I have some lovely, scarves, shawls and capes, with more capes coming in.
"So we're ready for the Christmas market and, since the weather has gotten colder, we're already selling our sweaters for the holiday season."
Along with managing Celtic Traditions, Michael and Lynn teach music at the store. Michael is a fiddle player and Lynn gives singing lessons and executive vocal coaching for beginners and professionals.
They also have a group called Quartete A Tete with Michael Pratt, Lynn McGown, Vanessa Kay and Michael Viens, (well-know from the Celtic group Blackthorn).
Quartete A Tete will present a concert at Celtic Traditions on November 17 and 18 with everyone welcome. It's also a great opportunity to visit the new store and do some Christmas shopping.
To make an appointment with Lynn for voice coaching, call (604) 222-4113 or visit: www.lynnmcgown.com.
Celtic Traditions is located at 3721 West 10th Avenue (at Alma) in Vancouver. For more information, call (604) 222-2299, or visit: www.celtictraditions.ca.