Re: Ottawa Valley fiiddle with mandolin
Originally Posted by
Munnix
Randal. Thanks for sharing this one. It's seems that there is often a fine line between a hornpipe and a barndance.
To the best of my knowledge, the term "barn dance" isn't used in Canada to denote a particular style of tune or dance (in the sense of jigs, reels, hornpipes, waltzes, etc.). However, it's used to describe a country dance, as in "Going to The Barn Dance Tonight," the theme song for the Don Messer Show. I think the term is a borrowed Americanism (or UKism perhaps). In my nearly 70 years, the closest thing that I've seen or heard of to a Canadian barn dance was on an album cove. And even there, folks were dancing with straw on the barn floor, which suggests to me that the fiddler had never really been to a barn dance. If the hosts hadn't swept the straw off the floor, I assume the dance would be a slippery and dangerous one. Believe me, there are few barn floors in Canada that I'd want to grace with my wingtips!
Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
"I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.
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