Out on the Ocean

More stories from our visitors! We love it!


As an admiral of the Canadian Navy posted in Halifax for 25 years, Gordon learned a few maritime songs. Out on the Mira, by Allister MacGillivray, is one of those songs. He is requested to sing it regularly at a session he frequents in Halifax, and as he had just been out on the Mira in his kayak, quite literally, the day before, he saw fitting to sing it for us this Wednesday night. Marion Dewar provided her ready and able accompaniment to make the presentation of the selection.


Mike Agranoff is a character of a fellow, storyteller, and musician, who was visiting our ceilidh from New Jersey. A multi-instrumentalist, he chose from his bag of tricks to tell for us the classic Irish mythological story of the Selkie. According to traditional lore, the selkie is a part-seal, part-human creature, who occasionally sheds her seal skin to visit the land of men.


In this tale, for which Mike provided emotive and often eerie accompaniment on his English concertina, a fisherman fell in love with her. In order to keep her on land, albeit against her will, he stole her seal skin, and compelled her to make a home with him. Even after having a family with the fisherman, the poor creature was never content out of the sea. Finally the day came that she found where he had hidden her skin, and without remorse or goodbyes, she fled back to her watery home. The poor fisherman was just left to his tears.


Mike also played a song of PEI origin, the Ballad of St. Anne's Reel. As if they had rehearsed all day, Jennifer and Mike played the song together in close complement, finishing off with the popular tunes, St Anne's Reel and the Mason's Apron.

We failed to mention a phenomenal storyteller last week- Bill Carrall, from Tarbot, Cape Breton. What an amazing epic poem he had composed and recited for us! If you think poetry is boring or slow, you certainly haven't heard Bill recite one of his compositions. Such witty use of language and vocabulary, one was at once on the edge of their seat, totally captivated and engaged listening, and laughing aloud at the humble and unsuspecting humour. A real treat, and a true rarity to come across a story teller of this caliber in our modern day, where most would fail to slow down long enough to learn or even enjoy such a craft as his. They are missing out!

What next? What will be tonight? Come and see!


See you at the ceilidh!

Belfast to Istanbul!

Lots of visitors have taken the stage in the last couple weeks of the ceilidh.


We've seen and heard from:


Ian Finn from Belfast. He is a lovely guitar player, who sang us a song, accompanying himself, and then finger-picked a lovely air. Very nice, indeed. As were his dear family: wife, son and 2 sweet daughters who were all travelling together in this Cape Breton holiday.


Lydia Thornton from Somerville, Massachusetts sang She Moved Through the Fair, which you can hear at her myspace page again to reminisce, if you were there, or if you weren't, find out what you missed! Lydia is focusing primarily on the singer-songwriter genre at present, though she has a strong familial heritage in traditional Celtic music and song. After listening to the other songs on her page, I recommend you having a listen as well. They were very enjoyable, and I am glad to have found this lovely gem of a songstress. Just click her name above! Find out for yourself!


Yeliz Christensen from Istanbul, Turkey. After dancing in our nightly square set, she sang one of her family's favourite traditional Turkish songs. Yeliz is a professional musician in Turkey; she sings and is a cellist.

You never know what you might miss at our ceilidhs! The musicians on the schedule may very well only be the beginning...

See you at the ceilidh!

A Welcome Judique Surprise

Due to the disruptions in the Newfoundland ferry service, Mike Hall was stranded on the Rock, having made a trip over on the weekend, and he was unable to return to play our Monday night ceilidh. Thankfully, we got a hold of Glenn Graham of Judique originally, and he was able to come and grace us with his driving fiddle style, with Jennifer Bowman accompanying him on piano.

Glenn is a strong proponent of Cape Breton music. His playing and knowledge of the music and related history make him an asset to the tradition, and his scholarship is readily evident in his informed explanations and demonstrations.

We also enjoyed some visitors- Ceilidh regulars, Rachel Davis, Anna MacDonald and Anita MacDonald. Anita gave a demonstration of the Cape Breton step dancing tradition for the visitors. Anita is one of the best dancers around, and is a tradition bearer well beyond her years, being still in her teens. Anna MacDonald, whose great dancing and dance instruction you might remember if you attended the ceilidhs last year, was visiting the area again and gave us a few of her dandy steps! Welcome back, Anna! You've been missed!

Then for a rollicking finale number, Rachel, Anita, Jennifer and Glenn played a group fiddle number with Buddy MacDonald accompanying on guitar.

If you missed the chance to buy some of Glenn's music directly from him at the ceilidh, don't fret! You can visit his website with one click on his name above. His music can be purchased under the Recordings tab here. He also has a 2 books in print: a tune collection of his own musical compositions, as well as a book exploring the roots of the Cape Breton style.

See you at the ceilidh!