Cape Breton Music

[dulcillini]

My wife and I plan to travel to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in September. Anyone know any good bands and performance dates in Nova Scotia between Sept 9 and Sep 16 ? Or any musician's websites from the area I can check. Thanks

Mike

[Marc Berman]

Don't know about the mandolin but check out Jerry Holland and Brenda Stubbert, two great Cape Breton fiddlers. They both play regularly in Cape Breton. Other names to look for - Beaton and MacIsaac.

Brenda Stubbert also has a facebook page.

[Jim Garber]

Jerry Holland passed away a few weeks ago: Holland obit. Still, it is worth checking his recordings out.

[Marc Berman]

I can't tell how sorry I am to hear the news. I knew he had been battling cancer for the last few years. Another treasure gone. I love Cape Breton fiddling, especially his work.

Here a couple of video's he put up on YouTube in 2007. They are a health update along with some tunes. Part two is touching when he plays a tune he wrote for his son, the young man playing the drum. That's Brenda Stubbert playing the piano.

[Marc Berman]

Just want to post one more of his tunes, my favorite, Boo Baby's Lullaby.

[Bernie Daniel]

dulcillini: Anyone know any good bands and performance dates in Nova Scotia between Sept 9 and Sep 16 ? Or any musician's websites from the area I can check. Thanks

Hello I am not at a place right this moment where I can readily provide you with links....

But there are several sites from CB that list weekly preformances on the Island.

Search something like "Cape Breton today" or "Cape Breton music events" or the like.

Bottom line is though that you will have little trouble finding live music just about every evening somewhere -- many resturants also have live music during the dinner hour. You may have to drive 20 - 30 minutes to the place the has it each night.


I recommmend staying in someplace central like Baddeck so that you can journey out any direction to where ever the live show is for the night on the Island --- you may even have to make a choice.

And Marc thank you for posting that clip! It is stunning to me really -- my wife, my dad and I were sitting in front row there that day at the show at the historical society or town hall (or whatever -- can't rememeber what the building was now) -- you must have been behind us filming I remember the remark about starting over -- we had driven over from our hotel in Baddeck as we had heard by the "grapevine" there would be a Jerry Holland preformance associated with the fiddle camp.

[Sandy Beckler]

Thanks for the posts Marc....I could listen to that all day, what a treasure lost.

Sandy

[Rob Gerety]

I think you are smart to ask around about music opportunities in Cape Breton / Nova Scotia. My wife and I have visited the area several times and we have had a heck of a time finding music and dancing. Here in northern New England we are blessed with an amazing amount of high quality traditional music and contra dancing so I think we have been spoiled. When we travel we often comment how it seems that our own home area may well be one of the richest areas for traditional music in the world. Jerry Holland often visited our area and I was fortunate to meet him and I saw him play several times. Wonderful guy. Sad. I don't think he was actually born in Cape Breton - but he lived there and he was a wonderful Cape Breton fiddler. He was a sweet man.

One spot worth checking out is a little Restaurant/Cafe called the Red Shoe. We caught a couple of wonderful performances and had some good meals there. Here is the web site http://www.redshoepub.com/. Also, there is a Calieh circuit it seems - you will find Caliehs in many of the communities during the tourist season. They seem oriented mostly toward the touists frankly. I am told there is a lot of music going on at private house parties but we have yet to sort that all out or find any house parties. The Cape Breton scenery is very impressive. All of Nova Scotia is quite rural. Small towns and farms, lovely scenery and nice people.

I will keep watching this thread for more music ideas.

[dulcillini]

Thanks everyone for the information. I just can't wait. We will be spending two nights in Baddeck. I am expecting to hear a lot of good music.

[OlderThanWillie]

On my last trip there, which was in September, we found music on four out of five of the days we were there. Check with the tourist bureau. Even go to the Glenora Distillery -- a tour and a lunch with fiddle music is a lot of fun. Google will find you a bunch of the bigger establishments -- like the Normaway Inn & Barn in Margaree Valley. They can be reached at 1-800-565-9463.

Here's a description of the music in Cape Breton: "Ceilidhs (pronounced kay-lees) were for entertainment during the long winter months but today they are most popular during the summer. Every night in the villages along the western coast of Cape Breton Island, pubs vibrate with the sounds of fiddles, pipes and pianos. Walls shake with the lively jigs and reels. It's not like a concert with an audience. At a ceilidh, everyone entertains. Most everyone plays an instrument or two, and people of all ages get up to dance. The steps come as naturally to them as walking it seems. The Cape Bretonners are a boisterous crowd and even visitors don't get away with just watching."

You might want to bring your mandolin.

[McMandolin]

If Elmer Deagle is playing anywhere close by,http://www.myspace.com/107018662check him out.