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April 1, 2006
Dancing along the Ceilidh Trail
With Halifax hosting the
Juno Awards this weekend, Cinda Chavich explores Nova
Scotia's Celtic roots - which run deepest on music-mad Cape
Breton Island
Cinda Chavich, The
Globe & Mail
CAPE
BRETON ISLAND, N.S. - I've been on the Ceilidh Trail for
nearly three days when I spot my first Rankin sister. There
she is, pretty Heather Rankin, at the Red Shoe Pub in Mabou.
It's 6 p.m. on a warm fall evening and the place is packed.
But Heather is not harmonizing sweetly with her sisters
Cookie and Raylene tonight -- she's standing next to my
table and asking how I like the tourtière.
The thick
slab of meat pie, smothered in gravy and served Cape
Breton-style with her Aunt Mary Lorettes's bread dressing,
is delicious, a specialty at this restaurant-cum-pub owned
and operated by the famous trio. It's like everything I've
encountered on Cape Breton Island -- warm, accessible and
authentic.
I've come
to Cape Breton -- the land of step-dancers and fiddlers --
to explore all things Celtic. There's a Celtic vein running
through much of our Canadian musical history, and much of it
can be traced to this rocky island in the Atlantic. This
little corner of Canada has spawned so many Juno award
winners -- from Rita MacNeil and Natalie MacMaster to the
aforementioned family of Rankins -- that it bears
investigating by anyone interested in our unique Canadian
sound.
It's hard
to turn around without bumping into someone who is connected
to this Canadian style of Celtic music and the living
culture that's so steeped in it. Everywhere I look, there's
a notice stuck to a telephone pole or town hall door,
announcing another ceilidh (pronounced KAY-lee). That's
Gaelic for a party with musicians and dancing, and there's
at least one, somewhere around here, nearly every night.
You might
just luck out and see one of the famed Rankins take the
stage, or run across some other local talent from MacMaster
to Ashley MacIsaac or the Barra MacNeils, all purveyors of
this East Coast style.
In
Halifax, where the Juno Awards weekend is in full swing,
legendary pubs such as The Lower Deck and the Halifax
Alehouse have helped nurture a lively local music scene
that's spawned hot new talents like Sloan and The Trews.
But on
Cape Breton Island, The Red Shoe is ceilidh central. Along
with the poutine, "westside" chowder and sticky toffee
pudding on the menu, the Rankin sisters serve up Cape
Breton's most famous export, Celtic-Canadian music. A poster
behind the pub's historic storefront window announces a
different musician every night of the week -- well-known
locals like fiddlers Mairi Rankin, Andrea Beaton and Dougie
MacDonald.
The
Rankins (and the Beatons and the MacDonalds) all still live
in this part of Cape Breton as their forefathers did. They
were among the Scots who crossed the pond 200 years ago
during the infamous Highland Clearances, forced from their
homes because of economic hardships or evicted by British
"lairds" who preferred sheep over tenant farmers.
Thousands
arrived on the shores of Cape Breton Island, a remote and
isolated corner of Nova Scotia, from 1780 to 1840. These
early Highland immigrants arrived in geographical groups and
stayed put where they settled -- thus, the MacNeil clan from
the Isle of Barra (like the Barra MacNeils of pop-folk music
fame) came en masse and still populate the area around Iona.
They
arrived with their particular dialects of the Gaelic
language, traditional songs and stories, and today Cape
Breton is one of the few places in the world where that
Highland culture, and its regional nuances, is still largely
in intact. It has become kind of a living museum for those
keen to preserve their Gaelic traditions -- a place that in
some ways is more traditionally Scottish than Scotland.
Whatever
the impetus for the 19th-century clearances, the
disappearance of the population was so complete that the
only evidence a modern Highlander in Scotland has of
ancestral life is in museums. Scots were made to feel
ashamed of their folk culture. Traditional piping was
militarized -- now the domain of pipe bands -- while
traditional fiddlers learned classical music. The Gaelic
language is now considered "endangered" by organizations
such as UNESCO.
But on
Cape Breton, customs and traditions that were eliminated
from the culture in the homeland have been kept alive for
two centuries. Thanks to schools like the Gaelic College --
founded in 1938 to preserve Celtic language and culture, and
the only institution of its kind in North America --
traditional Scottish music, dance and arts like weaving and
kilt-making flourish.
Gaelic is
still seen here on sign posts, still spoken by elder
"Capers" and taught at schools. While other Canadian kids
study French or Chinese as a second language, in towns like
Mabou, Gaelic is part of the kindergarten-to-Grade 12
curriculum. And musicians, like the Rankin sisters and their
Cape Breton contemporaries, keep it alive and popular in
their songs and performances.
At the
Highland Museum -- a living museum featuring costumed
interpreters and historic buildings gathered from throughout
the region -- the strains of Highland pipes fill the air as
I leave my car. It's a world of homespun and shaggy Highland
cows, where Gaelic is spoken and the lilt of the language
permeates every conversation.
The museum
sits near the town of Iona, named for the Hebredian island
that traces its roots to the Irish saint who first brought
Christianity to the Highlands. The replica "black house" --
a round Highland-style dwelling with its stone walls and
peaked thatched roof -- recalls what the immigrant Scots
left behind, while the wool mill, historic church, and log
cabin speak to the new lives they created here.
"Gaelic is
the working language here on the site," says Seumas (a.k.a.
Jim) Watson, the Gaelic co-ordinator at the museum. As we
sit next to the open hearth in one of the historic homes
that dot the property, he breaks into one of the 1,000
Gaelic songs collected from people around the island. The
music and stories are preserved and passed down here from
older Cape Bretoners to younger ones, as they once were
among clans throughout the island.
Scots who
came to North America to seek better lives first settled in
the Maritimes, but many also headed to Western Canada,
naming places like Calgary and Banff for the homes they left
in the Highlands. Colourful Scots figure prominently in
Canadian history -- from the country's first prime minister
to many of the two million Canadians who can trace their
roots to Scotland today.
The
culture brought to Canada by these early Scots is woven
deeply into our own traditions. Scratch almost anyone and
you'll probably find a Celt or two in the family tree, a
kilt or a fiddle in the closet, which makes a trip to Cape
Breton like a journey back home.
Pack your
bags.
WHERE TO HEAR
MUSIC
Celtic
Music Centre: Judique; 902-787-2708;
www.celticmusicsite.com. The centre offers live music
and dance demonstrations by local musicians, as well as a
listening centre and archives where more than 200 Cape
Breton musicians share anecdotes and musical history on
tape. It's also the place to find a detailed Celtic Music
Events Registry, listing ceilidhs and other small
performances.
Celtic
Colours Festival: 1-877-285-2321;
www.celtic-colours.com. This annual 10-day event (Oct.
6-14) features dozens of local and internationally renowned
Celtic musicians in concerts held across the island. Tickets
go on sale July 10.
WHERE TO EAT
AND DRINK
The Red
Shoe Pub: Route 19, Mabou; 902-945-2326; redshoepub.com.
Owned by the Rankin sisters, this is a great place for Cape
Breton-style pub food and live, local music.
Glenora
Inn & Distillery: 1-800-839-0491;
www.glenoradistillery.com. The only single-malt whisky
produced in the Scottish tradition in Canada is made here
and, in the dining room, husband and wife chefs John Haines
and Tracey Wallace are turning out sophisticated Cape Breton
cuisine.
MORE
INFORMATION
Cape
Breton:
http://www.cbisland.com, or call 1-888-562-9848 for
festival events.
Nova
Scotia tourism:
http://www.novascotia.com.
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Above photo:
Margaree (by Victor Maurice Faubert)
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