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Re: PEI Sinclair musicians?



What a great bloomin email!   Jennifer Roland was the featured performer at
the Ceilidh in Guysborough last summer.  Why do Cape Breton fiddlers dance
and play at the same time???  It blows me away because they seem equally
outstanding at both.
Your aye Rory
-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Cohn <rob@eteast.com>
To: sinclair@mids.org <sinclair@mids.org>
Date: Saturday, July 31, 1999 4:02 PM
Subject: Re: PEI Sinclair musicians?


>Kay Wilson wrote:
>>
>> I'm interested to learn that there were Sinclairs on Prince Edward
Island --
>> by any chance were any of them fiddlers or other musicians? (How about
>> Sinclairs in general -- does this family have a musical tradition?)
>>
>> I didn't know until recently that PEI is a treasure trove of celtic music
>> (along with Cape Breton). Here are excerpts from Ken Perlman's tune book
>> "The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island: Celtic and Acadian Tunes in
>> Living Tradition" (Mel Bay, 1996):
>>
>> -- PEI is home to about 130,000 people -- almost all of whom are of
>> Scottish, Irish or Acadian French origin...Kings County is most Scottish
in
>> terms of ethnicity and culture...
>> -- PEI is also home to one of the oldest, strongest, and most vibrant
>> traditional fiddling cultures in North America...this small island
(roughly
>> 150 miles long by 40 miles at its widest) still hosts at least two to
three
>> hundred fiddle players of a quality sufficient to warrant being
commercially
>> recorded. Moreover, there are easily another two or three thousand
Islanders
>> who can play the instrument well enough to accompany a dance. This is
fully
>> two percent of the population! Despite this wealth of talent, the
fiddling
>> scene on PEI is virtually unknown to outsiders.
>> -- Island fiddling is a lively blend of Scottish, Irish and
Acadian-French
>> elements. Local tradition has it that the first boat-loads of Scottish
>> immigrants landing at Tracadie Bay on the northeast shore of Queens Co.
in
>> the late eighteenth century had fiddlers among them, and some families
can
>> trace their musical pedigrees back to that time.
>> -- The Island fiddle repertoire these days is a hodge-podge of tunes from
a
>> variety of national and regional traditions. Its core is Scottish and--to
a
>> lesser extent -- Irish...
>> -- The playing of a "good fiddler" is said to convey a rhythm so
infectious
>> that anyone within listening range will want to get up and dance. Island
>> fiddlers tend to have a full, strong yet sweet tone.
>>
>> Well, there's more, but I think you get the idea that this music is very
>> special. I had the opportunity this summer to participate in a band lab
>> working on PEI tunes. We learned 3 jigs and 3 reels, and they are truly
>> wonderful tunes.
>>
>> If you read music, Perlman's tune book is a must-have. If you'd like to
hear
>> this music, Perlman recorded a number of the PEI fiddlers for Rounder
>> Records. There are two CDs in "The Prince Edward Island Style of
Fiddling"
>> set:
>> -- Fiddlers of Eastern Prince Edward Island (Rounder CD 7015, 1997)
>> -- Fiddlers of Western Prince Edward Island (Rounder CD # unknown)
>> Rounder has a website: www.rounder.com I think.
>>
>> BTW, my only interest in this music is in sharing it -- I have no
commercial
>> interest in it. I'd love to find out that our Sinclair family was part of
>> this musical tradition.
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: T Sinclair <TSinclair@webtv.net>
>> To: <sinclair@mids.org>
>> Sent: Monday, July 26, 1999 7:18 PM
>> Subject: Re: Sinclairs of Michigan
>>
>> > Hi
>> >
>> > Where is Prince Edward Island located?
>> >
>> > [ This is the Sinclair family discussion list, sinclair@mids.org
>> > [ To get off or on the list, see http://www.mids.org/sinclair/list.html
>> >
>>
>> [ This is the Sinclair family discussion list, sinclair@mids.org
>> [ To get off or on the list, see http://www.mids.org/sinclair/list.html
>
>
>well, to the best of my knowlege there are no outstanding Sinclairs
>among PEI musicians but in the coming week I will check my records
>thoroughly...the current best known PEI fiddler would have to be 20-year
>old Richard Wood who, along side his 5-year successful solo career,
>toured the U.S. with Shania Twain and her navel last year...the Island's
>best known musical product would be Canada's legendary Stompin' Tom
>Connors, although songwriter Gene MacLellan made his home there for many
>years - he wrote Snowbird for Anne Murray and (Put Your) Hand in The
>Hand that went #1 for a band called Ocean in 1970...currently Lennie
>Gallant carries the torch and many, many artists make their homes
>there...but 300 recordable fiddlers - I doubt that...what a noise...you
>should hear their bagpipers (no offense, Rory)...they have a College of
>Bagpiping in Summerside, PEI...
>
> Unfortunately - PEI is best known for being the home of Anne of Green
>Gables...
>
> But the question is interesting - does anyone know of Sinclairs who
>have excelled at the arts over the centuries...?...Were we not
>discussing footballers earlier...?
>
> If you care further about Scotch, Irish or Cape Breton style fiddle
>music I recommend: Ashley MacIsaac, Natalie MacMaster, The Rankin
>Family, Howie MacDonald, Gerry Holland, Buddy MacMaster, or the
>harder-to-find work of Dan R. MacDonald - the acknowleged
>master...apparently his recordings are more readily available in
>Scotland than in his native Cape Breton...or there's Mabou Fiddler
>Rodney MacDonald who was just this week elected to our Provincial
>Legislature after a great dance set at the Antigonish Highland
>Games...he's actually being touted as our next Minister of Tourism...
>
> Things have come a long way since Father Kenneth MacDonald ordered all
>of the fiddles of Mabou (Cape Breton) Parish burned in 1850-ish as "the
>instrument of the devil"...
>
> There is a wise man in Mull, near Mabou, by the name of Jim St. Clair
>who runs the Gaelic Village at Iona, Cape Breton (not to be confused
>with the Gaelic College at St. Ann)...he is one of the nation's great
>historians - although he does remain an official Henry-in-Nova-Scotia
>sceptic - and this despite a close line of descent...he is best
>appreciated as a storyteller - one who spins his webs in both Gaelic and
>English...his voice is deep, sonorous, and spell-binding...he is
>definitely a St. Clair...
>
> I first met Jim at the wedding of Raylene Rankin who turned out to be a
>close relative of his (and no - not everyone in Cape Breton is
>related)...you should hear this girl sing...I had arranged for her and
>her 5-sibling band (The Rankin Family) to travel to Glasgow in 1991 to
>record for John Smith at BBC Gaelic TV (don't ask me to say it in
>Gaelic)...while there we also played a showcase at Glasgow University
>Hall...the next day the quote-of-the-day on the front page of one of the
>Glasgow dailies (the Herald?) was "sadly, they don't make families like
>this in Scotland anymore"...the gist of the story was that for two
>centuries the Scots Gaelic culture has been better preserved in isolated
>New Scotland than it was in Scotland...The style of fiddle playing, the
>gaelic songs, the step dancing was found to be more authentic...this has
>started a flood of Cape Bretoners going to Scotland to teach...
>
> just a curiosity if anyone cares...
>
> The music mix in PEI has much more Acadian than anywhere else... so
>there is less Scottish content...if that's your interest...there is a
>festival in Cape Breton each October - Celtic Colours which features the
>best Celtic Music from around the World - although you can find fiddle
>music practically any night of the week somewhere in Cape Breton...and
>you can't move in summer without stepping on a bagpiper...
>
> if you wish...
>
> with apologies for the lengthy digression - I had to get away from our
>15th day of 90 F heat this summer - Nova Scotia has turned
>tropical...some of you guys get long-winded yourselves - but usually on
>more relevant topics...
>
> Mark Finnan's book The Sinclair Saga was launched last Sunday at the
>Ward Room of Stadacona in Halifax...There's not ton of new information
>but it's the best overview book yet if you haven't read the fifty
>others...There is also up-to-date (but not a lot of) information on the
>archeological exploration of the alleged Henry site at New Ross, Nova
>Scotia...The book is the basis for the two hour-long documentaries that
>Bob Hutt will have to finish in August that air on Vision and
>Discovery...
>
> There was a reading from a new Henry Play by Kent Stetson at Festival
>Antigonish this past Wednesday...and two weekends ago Delayne Coleman
>put together a small gathering at the site of the Prince Henry Society
>Monument on the road between Guysborough and Canso...N.S. Clan
>celebrations were put off till next year after president Barbara
>Sinclair went down with a heart attack...she was up and mostly well at
>the Finnan launch...also, Scott Sinclair - known to you as the designer
>of the Henry Memorial in Guysborough, N.S., recently went in for eye
>surgery and hasn't been able to see properly since...he also attended
>the launch - but barely...
>
> I have been giving out the books like crazy - I was racing old wooden
>schooners around Mahone Bay (yes in sight of Oak Island) last week and
>all of these nautical types from around the world were more than
>curious...but I missed the launch beacuse I have to spend at least each
>Sunday this summer in Cape Breton...it's been relatively easy to find
>excuses to stay longer...
>
> I have a concert tomorrow evening in Port Hawkesbury, Cape Breton with
>19-year old Cape Breton fiddler Jennifer Roland and Gaelic singer Rita
>Rankin - about 5000 will show up for the free outdoor concert...we had
>6500 for Natalie MacMaster in the rain last weekend...
>
> I'll be looking for Sinclairs...
>
> rob@eteast.com
>[ This is the Sinclair family discussion list, sinclair@mids.org
>[ To get off or on the list, see http://www.mids.org/sinclair/list.html
>

[ This is the Sinclair family discussion list, sinclair@mids.org
[ To get off or on the list, see http://www.mids.org/sinclair/list.html