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Some months have quietly and quickly slipped by since the 2009 edition of Celtic Colours International Festival came to a close. This year's festival focused on the musical bridge between Cape Breton and Ireland with about three dozen Irish performers taking part over the nine day fest of tunes and songs. I've been trying to think of ways to write about this during these past weeks without sitting at the computer for days writing pages and pages about one of the best things that has ever happened to Cape Breton in my brief existence on this planet. With the exception of the show Roger and I played in St. Peter's I confined my travels to the Festival Club at the Gaelic College and I'll go through some of my highlights of this experience.
First, the Green Room. There was an abundance, or dare I say an overabundance, of fiddlers with tunes going from 11 pm 'til 6 am. The thing I was struck by this year was the youthfulness of the players who just played and played tirelessly every night backstage while the onstage shows went on. There were Cape Breton, Irish, Scottish, Orcadian and Shetland musicians who played and swapped tunes all week long. The one musician who stood out was a young girl from Kildare. Caroline (didn't get a last name) played the concertina like no one I've ever heard before. She was easiliy heard over a phalanx on fiddlers on an instrument that is usually quieter than most and she was very rarely stumped on tunes and could pick up a tune after one or two times hearing it. She is an exchange student in her third year of university and was heading for New York after her stay in Cape Breton. The New York Irish music scene will be welcoming a dynamic musician.
Shetland fiddler Chris Stout and his musical and life partner Catriona McKay wove fiddle and harp magic onstage and backstage. Chris is a very interesting guy and a passionate musician. We had a long chat on Saturday night about the music of our respective islands. The chance to discuss music and it's influences is one of the many perks of the festival.
Irish piping duo, Gay and Sean McKeon played some beautiful music on their incredibly ornate Uilleann pipes. The father and son team are gifted players who are passing along the music and history of this strange and enthralling instrument. Their set onstage at the club really had folks just staring at the stage with feet ever so gently tapping so as not to miss a note of the performance.
On Saturday night one of the neatest musical collaborations took place in the Green Room. A young chap who lives in Cheticamp and hails from Trinidad set up his steel drums and began playing Cape Breton and Irish dance music to great effect. It was remarkable to hear the pipes, fiddles, flute and piano join in with this guy to produce something I've certainly never heard before. I didn't get this young musician's name but I've been told you can find him on YouTube playing with the late Jerry Holland. I suppose it's only a matter of time before he'll be doing an album with the Chieftains!
Some of the onstage performances that left an impression included Ryan MacNeil with a solo performance on the small pipes and low whistle. Dawn and Margie Beaton, Colin Grant, Jason Roach, Jerry Holland Jr. and Dave MacIsaac put on a wicked set. My bandmate Roger Stone decided to try something unconventional during our set at the club on Tuesday. We played his banjo accompanied version of "I Still Haven't Found What I've Been Looking For" by U2 and got quite a few possitive comments afterward.
On Friday night I had some great laughs with some of the drive'ers (that's the way it's spelled for this festival) who volunteer their services every year carting the performers all over the island to the venues. Bernie Gouthro, a schoolmate from Riverview High School, Jim Campbell, Cecil Hodder, Jim Eagar and I chatted backstage for well over an hour with a cocktail. It was a lesson in Cape Breton humour.
The phenomenon that is the Festival Club runs smoothly because of the diligent work of many people. Buddy MacDonald is the ever-present MC who puts the preformers at ease with his sense of humour. Malcolm MacMillan (house sound) and Brad Stevens (monitors) do an amazing job with little or no preparation. Shauna MacDonald keeps the musicians well-fed in the Green Room. Kelly Peck keeps everything rolling as stage manager. Working for four hours at a frenetic pace lining up performers and making sure they're ready to go when they're supposed to be is kind of like herding kittens.
I consider myself extremely fortunate to have played at every edition of Celtic Colours so far. I don't know if anyone other than Buddy MacDonald has done that. There are hundreds of volunteers all over the island who make this work every year and they deserve tons of credit. Since Roger and I had a non-festival gig on the last Saturday we decided to stay all week and our thanks go to the amazing Madonna Doucette (production manager) for finding us a place to lay the head down over the last few nights. The kitchen staff at the Gaelic College are the best.
Celtic Colours is an important part of the festival circuit worldwide. It always seems like director Joella Foulds and the festival staff manage to make it better every year. That may be an illusion because its been brilliant every year. This anecdote sums it up perfectly for me.
When Roger and I arrived on Tuesday we were in the production office waiting for our room keys. There were three young Irish musicians getting ready to leave as they'd spent the the first four days performing when another group from Ireland arrived. After hellos were said, one of the arriving musician asked, "So how was it?" One of the departing guys leaned on the table behind me, lowered his voice and said, "Best f#%@&^g festival ever!" 'Nuff said. See you next time.
John Ferguson
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I was visiting from Montreal and just wanted to let you know that I saw you and Roger playing at the Old Triangle in Halifax this Canada Day Weekend. I thought you guys were great!!! I was with a buddy from Cape Breton as well and I know he thoroughly enjoyed it as well.