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Reviews
Excerpt from review of 2007 New Tunemakers concert in Mabou, Cape Breton Celtic Colours
Paul Keating
Irish Echo
Octoer 17, 2007
And those roots were showing more brilliantly than the colors on the trees last week at the Celtic Colors International Festival at some of the events along the route that I was able to attend.
With 45 concerts over nine days and some 200 community events slotted in as well over the 4,000 mile square island that occupies Nova Scotia’s northern most region, hard choices have to be made each day and night. Thankfully each provides a varied cultural slice of the overall programming package so that time and travel are well spent and rewarded with an entertaining show and great scenery along the way. As it happened I spend a good deal of time on the western shores along the Ceilidh Trail in Inverness County where the nights in the Mabou area were especially exhilarating and informative.
Foulds borrowed a concept from Glasgow’s Celtic Connections and thrust 10 young musicians together for four days in a creative environment at Beinn Bhreagh not far from where Alexander Graham Bell did his most inventive work in Baddeck on the lovely Bras D’or Lakes. The night was entitled “The New Tunemakers” under the additional spark of special guest and overseas artists in residence, fiddler Aidan O’Rourke, guitarist Kris Drever and Martin Greene who plays piano accordion, collectively known as the Scottish group Lau. They were joined by Nova Scotian fiddlers like Andrea Beaton, Glenn Graham, Troy MacGillivray, Colin Grant and whistle/piper Ryan J. MacNeil along with Prince Edward Island singer Patricia Murray and Metis fiddler Sierra Noble from Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Individually, they performed their own original material and embellished it collectively to fashion a highly entertaining show that more than any other event demonstrated what a creative cauldron this Celtic Colors International Festival has become in its 11 year run. Murray, a Gaelic scholar (pronounced Gallic in Cape Breton) also gave a stirring rendition of “Hector the Hero” with some lyrics she composed to remember a valorous Scottish warrior in the service of the Crown who died under tragic but dramatic circumstances. Hers was a refreshing voice that I would like to hear more of as it was full of the Blas that makes you take note of her Gaelic singing even if you don’t understand a word of it. The standing ovation that followed their show boosted the confidence and acceptance of these already seasoned young musicians and most certainly assured a bright future for their artistic careers.
The late night Festival Club up at the Gaelic College at St. Ann’s gave them a chance to bask further in the afterglow of their singular artistic achievements together as they took the stage for the last act at 3 a.m.
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