Cape Breton Music
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Buddy MacMaster died last month.
I put him in the same artist class as Jimi Hendrix.
Here is a documentary on him with a bit of music here and there.
Cape Breton Island —- musicaly, was another country. Once you took the ferry or later drove acorss the causeway, you were still in Canada. You were still in Nova Scotia but if there was world map of musical intensity, Cape Breton would require a visa.
I the 70’s, I was a rodie for a regional rock group. One of my tasks was to ensure that we had “stuff” in stock like picks, strings, spare 6L6 tubes, etc.
Our band was based 100 miles from Cape Breton.
If we had a gig on the week end near our home town, I’d have to take inventory and make sure I visited a music or electronic store to stock up before they closed at 5 PM on Friday.
If the gig was in Cape Breton, I wouldn’t bother. Every convienance store, including the ones on the side of a highway in the middle of nowhere, would have three different weights of guitar strings with a choice of manufacturers , mandolin strings, rosin, and cords. You might have to visit two to find a 6L6. The first store would tell you which store had it at 11 PM on a Friday night
Kitchen parties after the gig would have 20 drunk people singing in perfect harmony with chicks doing complicated counterpoint.
Imagine this…
There is a dance at the fire hall/legion
Buddy MacMaster and your aunt Aunt Joan are playing.
(The piano player was commonly local and was paid a fee. I have no idea what it was in those days but around that time, I was paid four dollars for playing drums for Saturday Night Skating. I guess that would be twenty bucks today).
If you want to measure fun…
You are 20-ish
Your favourite girl is there.
You have four beer into ya.
You have been listining to this music all your life starting from when you snuck down the stairs to listen to a kitchen party in your house when you were three.
There is no New York Rave where the Rolling Stones show up that can top that buzz.
Here’s Buddy and his niece, Natalie:
Another Buddy relation/protoge playing classic Cape Breton style at Toronto Pride 2010
Here’s Natalie MacMaster playing a similar set like her cousin above.