On vacation this summer, we visited a foreign country - Canada.
We discovered that Nova Scotia might look small on the map from
the Canadian tourism office, but it is actually far more ground
than can be covered in just a few days - which is all the time
we had. So after we get finished telling someone about our brief
visit, they will inevitably ask us how we liked Cape Breton, especially
the music. Even though we will have to wait until next year to
visit in person, a taste of the rich culture and and music of
Cape Breton can be found on the Internet.
At http://www.celtic-colours.com/culture.html,
I found out that Gaelic Cape Breton has been described as "the
most recent and far-flung outpost" of Gaelic Scotland. The
music of the region reflects this. An introduction to the area
and its music from a traveler's perspective can be found at http://www.sfcelticmusic.com/Capebret/capebret.htm.
More detailed information the background of the music, and how
it differs from traditional Scottish music can be found at http://www.sfcelticmusic.com/Capebret/capebcds.htm.
Be sure to click on the "Introduction" link. This site
also recommends a few CD's to get you started enjoying the music
of Cape Breton.
Portland America has offers a large number of CD's of the music
of Scotland and Cape Breton. Browse their catalog at http://portlandamerica.com.
Click the "mail order" button.
Elderly Instruments also offers a selection of Cape Breton Fiddle
music at http://www.elderly.com/recordings/75.htm.
For an on-line listen to this music and other music of Atlantic
Canada, tune in to "Downeast Ceilidh", a radio program
webcast from WMBR Cambridge on Thursday evenings from 7:00-9:00
Central time. Find it at http://members.aol.com/deceilidh/index.html.
Also check out "Cape Breton Music Online" at http://www.cbmusic.com/core.html.
It has extensive listings of Cape Breton artists, venues, and
events. Best of all it has audio samples from a variety of Cape
Breton artists.
Listen to more audio samples, subscribe to several mailing lists,
and read articles about bagpipes, fiddle and step dancing at this
site dedicated to Gaelic music, http://tullochgorm.com/.
A more contemporary take on the music can be heard on "Radio
Atlantica" at http://www.radioatlantica.com/radioatlantica/index2.html.
Cranford Publications is a mail order business and publisher specializing
in the traditional Celtic fiddle music of Cape Briton, Ireland
and Scotland. This site has free written music, and lots of audio
clips as well as books, sheetmusic and CD's to buy. Check it out
at http://www.cranfordpub.com.
If you have any favorite sites or topics you'd like to see
mentioned in Cyberfolk, please let us know. Write to me
care of Common Times, or email me at chrismac@wwa.com. See
you in Cyberspace.
Check out Cyberfolk Online at its new home!
http://www.wwa.com/~chrismac/cyberfolk
By Chris McIntosh
Copyright © 2000 Chris McIntosh
All Rights Reserved.