We woke to a steady rain this morning so we had a late breakfast and did some computer work until early afternoon. After the rain let up at about 2:30 we drove to downtown Baddeck and did some shopping at gift and craft stores, and got some groceries at the local Co-op. The Co-op stores have memberships that give weekly and monthly special prices on many items. They are organized under an umbrella organization, because some of the brands are the same in all Co-op stores, and the advertising and packaging look similar in all we've shopped. They are well-stocked, reasonably priced, and the produce is very fresh and mostly local. We look for the Co-ops when we need groceries; occasionally we need to find a bigger store, like Sobey's or Dominion for some items.
We had dinner at home (called supper here in Canada) and then went into Baddeck to attend a Ceilidh (Gaelic, pronounced KAY-lee). This get-together happens every night at 7:30, at the parish hall, and has been going on for 13 years. Local musicians rotate in this parish hall presentation, with Melody and Derrick Cameron playing quite often. Tonight Tyson Chen joined them on the piano.
Derrick is a local farmer, plays the guitar in the ensemble, tells great stories and corny jokes and keeps the act moving along. He spoke about how the Highland Scots that came to Cape Breton brought their music with them, and that the music was handed down and about the communities, and learned and influenced by other groups in the places they settled.
Derrick accompanies Melody his wife, the star of the show, and man, can she fiddle! Melody said she learned Cape Breton fiddling listening and imitating, although she could read music. "You can't write style," she said. Tyson Chen joined them on the piano. The music was mostly Highland Scottish with a little Irish and Acadian flavor added. The musical numbers were medleys of three to five tunes that started out with a lively beat and with each following tune the beat became more rapid; Melody set the pace, and often the last tune in the series was increasingly faster until the fiddling fingers were flying. There was lots of foot-pounding going on. On the fastest tunes Melody had one foot stomping and the other swinging--we wondered that she didn't fall off the stool!
Tyson played a beautiful piano solo. He learned to play this Cape Breton music by working with other local musicians and persistence; he can read music and had a difficult time sitting down at a piano with no music to play. He came from Ottowa to Baddeck to find work (exactly the opposite of what usually happens) and stayed.
There was a break at 8:30 when we could buy tea and oat cakes. Derrick did some more story telling, answered questions from the audience, and found out where in the world people in the audience were from. Out of about 80 people attending, probably 20 were from the US. Four couples from the audience volunteered to learn two square-dance numbers and Melody did a Scottish step-dance as the final number. She did a bit of "Riverdance" type stepping again getting more rapid near the end of the tune, and she didn't look tired or out of breath at all!
At the end of the evening (9:30), Derrick warned us all about moose on the roads. There have been a couple recent encounters. Again, we didn't see any moose.
We are sure glad we attended this Ceilidh; it was a great show.
Tomorrow we visit the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site.
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