Nuala Kennedy isn’t the only Irish or Scots musician to have thought she’d died and gone to heaven on her first visit to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The Edinburgh-based Irish flautist and singer, however, has continued to build on her musical relationship with the far-flung stronghold of Gaelic diaspora, and consolidates it this month with an extensive Scottish tour with the acclaimed Nova Scotian fiddler and pianist Troy MacGillivray.

“The first time I went to Cape Breton I just couldn’t believe it,” she recalls. “I just felt so at home and very connected to the music.”

One might think the more rounded-out Cape Breton style, as opposed to the snappier nature of the Scots music from which much of it evolved, might suit the rolling approach of an Irish flautist. Kennedy agrees and cites the elder statesman of Cape Breton fiddling, Buddy MacMaster: “Buddy said to me once that he thought the way that Cape Bretoners play jigs was closer to the Irish style. And it’s still so tied to the dance; I love playing for the dancing out there.”

Kennedy has frequently visited Cape Breton and its autumnal Celtic Colours festival since that first, salutary trip. She returns in July to teach at Nova Scotian flautist and flute-maker Chris Norman’s Boxwood Flute School.

In the meantime, however, she is teaming up with MacGillivray, with whom she has been playing for years, including an annual Christmas tour in the United States (they’re working on a festive album at the moment). The celebrated fiddler and pianist hails from Antigonish County, where his family are acknowledged as Gaelic tradition-bearers, and he can boast a clutch of honours including the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal, which he was awarded two years ago for his contribution to Canadian culture.

Kennedy played on a recent album of MacGillivray’s, while the fiddler will guest on her next album. She and MacGillivray will hit the road with the two stalwarts of her own band, guitarist Mike Bryan and percussionist Donald Hay, and will also be joined at certain gigs by the young Scottish Borders fiddler Shona Mooney, who will appear on Kennedy’s next album.

Kennedy – who is speaking to me from Santa Monica, California, where she is visiting her fiancé and occasional collaborator, singer-songwriter AJ Roach (they’re getting married in Ireland this summer) – is not one to let the grass grow under her feet, as demonstrated by an extensive and extremely snowy US tour she made with Bryan and Hay in February, covering the American north-east as well as North Carolina and finishing up at the North Texas Irish festival.

“We were really unlucky with the weather – we had snowstorms, crazy weather, but people really made an effort to come out and see us,” she says.

March saw her in France, both with the band Oiralla, which plays music from her native County Louth, and with the very different sounds of Voyage de Nuit, the group she formed with French guitarist and composer Philippe Guidat, which stirs up an intriguing broth of Celtic, flamenco and jazz. With percussionist Malik Adda, French traditional fiddler François Breugnot and the enlisting of ebullient Scots accordionist Sandy Brechin in place of the band’s usual accordionist, Fiona Black, Voyage de Nuit has evolved somewhat, Kennedy says, from when she introduced an earlier version on a Scottish Arts Council Tune Up tour here back in 2009.

“It’s still like flamenco jazz, but it’s been kind of reborn a bit, with a traditional fiddler from the Auvergne and a North-African percussionist. I suppose it’s fusion music.”

Kennedy’s mellifluous flute playing and delicately ornamented singing are strongly rooted in Irish tradition, but as exercises such as Voyages de Nuit and her last album, Noble Stranger, with its contemporary electro-acoustic arrangements, suggest, she isn’t afraid to experiment. The tour with MacGillivray, however, should lean more towards the traditional.

“I just love playing with him,” she says. “His playing is based so strongly in Scottish and Irish music that it’s a natural fit for me. Right from the start, Troy and I had a very natural and spontaneous connection, which frees us up to do more with the tunes.”

• The Nuala Kennedy Band and Troy MacGillivray play Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline, tonight, and Eden Court, Inverness, on 7 May, before touring Scotland until 30 May when they play Douglas Robertson’s Loft, Edinburgh. For further information,
see www.nualakennedy.com

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Troy MacGillivray said growing up in Antigonish County helped formed his musical career and his passion for the fiddle and piano.

"I’ve always been around it,” the Lanark native said. "Everyone in my family plays: my older sisters are dancers and fiddlers, one sister has a CD, and it’s just always been what my life is.”

MacGillivray, who still considers Antigonish County home despite his time spent on the road
touring and doing music workshops, said his music style is what you’d hear from Inverness through Antigonish and down to Pictou County.

"I’ve had lots of influences from Canadian musicians and old time Scottish and Irish or Cape Breton music, and the type of music my family plays from Antigonish County,” he said.
MacGillivray has played over 200 shows in 2013, and last year he received the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal, which acknowledged his contribution and dedication to preserving culture in Nova Scotia and Canada through his music.

MacGillivray’s newest CD, Tune Poets, is something different.

"It’s traditional music still but it’s different in the way it’s seamed,” MacGillivray said. Each track on his new CD focuses on a different composter and the track is a compilation of all their music.

MacGillivray said the idea came from a concert tour he did in the United States last year which allowed him to compile composer’s music and talk about the composers, too.
"It was encouraging to hear people enjoyed hearing about the music and composers,” he said. "The CD was born from that.”

It’s been five years since his last record.

MacGillivray’s sixth and newest CD will be launched at a party in Judique on Nov. 8 at the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre. He said the evening will include a concert of some of the CD’s tracks, and "maybe some guests, or even a square dance. We’ll see what people want to do to and have a party.”

The CD launch will begin at 8 p.m

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A mainstay performer at the Celtic Colours International Festival, award-winning fiddler Troy MacGillivray is releasing his new CD this fall. It’s not been easy for the young Canadian to get a new CD together, but MacGillivray, who hails from Lanark, Nova Scotia, wanted to share sets of tunes from composers he admires.

“Last year, I did a small New England tour with Allan Dewar on the piano, and we did the Tune Poets concept — picking a composer and playing that composer’s tunes in a set, so all the tunes were composed by that person,” MacGillivray explained. “For example, we had four jigs all composed by Wilfred Gillis. The next number was a full set of Dan R. MacDonald tunes. The tour went well and people liked the concept, so I decided maybe a similar recording would work. So that is where we are at. I have been trying to get time between playing and teaching to capture some of these sets by people such as J.S. Skinner and Wilfred Gillis.”

It has been fun digging into composers’ books, learning their tunes and sharing them, especially as many of the tunes are not often played. “Some them haven’t been discovered yet,” the fiddler said. “There are so many great tunes out there, and many great composers. Often, a tune can be amazing and if the right backup isn’t there, with the right chords, it might not sound like such a great tune. So it’s the whole package, not only writing the tune, but how it’s presented.”

Still only 33 years old, this new album is MacGillivray’s sixth. It’s no surprise to learn that his musical passion and education began at a very young age. “I started the fiddle around eight or nine, and piano about the same time,” he said. “I played piano mainly for many years, while playing the fiddle at home. I had my own first fiddle gig in March of 2002 at the Red Shoe Pub in Mabou.

“My sister Kendra began teaching fiddle when she was 16 at the community centre near our house in Lanark, and, in the winter, I would go early in the day to start the fire with my dad and warm the place up for her lessons. Then I would stay and keep the heat going and join in the classes with my three-quarter size fiddle. Growing up, we lived the culture through our instruments and how we interacted with our families. The music was everything to us.”

Now, MacGillivray’s thoughts are already turning towards his next recording, although he never forces his creativity. “A creative process is inspiration. I don’t put myself under pressure to come up with new material. If it is not right there, it’s not there. There are always tax papers to work on, do that and come back to the music later. The inspiration will hit and it will come together.” He finds there is huge interest in the fiddle around the world.

“Last year I was part of a workshop weekend in Northern Manitoba where there were 650 students, all teenagers, and over 40 instructors – a massive fiddle gathering for a small community in a remote part of Canada. And there are many successful summer camps that are testament to the great interest in the fiddle. Through these camps alone, you can see how many young people are playing and having great fun with it.”

Perhaps part of the appeal is that the fiddle is “at home” in many genres. “It fits so well as a solo instrument or with a band, and it cuts through, has a great range of frequencies and can reveal emotions in the hands of the player.”

As well as pondering his next recording, MacGillivray is thinking about next year’s live shows. He knows he will be busy and can’t guess where his muse will take him, but he knows he will always be a traditional player. “It is what I love. It’s the best.”

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Who: Troy MacGillivray

Where: Seahorse Tavern, Halifax

When: Friday, March 8th, 2013 @11:45pm

Crowd: Full house of very enthusiastic Nova Scotians who all seemed enthralled with this guy. Lots of traditional dancing going on. You’d never have guessed this was a Music Nova Scotia showcase!

Style: Celtic Fiddler

Technicalities: Venue had tech difficulties off the top. Blow your ears off tech difficulties. My favorite kind. No singing when we did start though, just seemingly casual play. Female drummer had some sick skills. I was enthralled.

Memorable Song/Moment: Troy just played and played and played. An endless barrage of fiddle magic. I was rather fond of the futuristic looking stand up bass too.

Sex Appeal/Image: This guy had the "boy next store” look and I hope it works for him, cause judging by the audience reaction, he would have no trouble getting some phone numbers.

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An award-winning East Coast musician is bringing his unique brand of traditional Celtic music to Prince Albert. Fiddler and pianist Troy MacGillivray, who received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal last September, will play a house concert on Thursday, March 21 at the Jam Street Music Studio.

"It’s going to be a night of fiddle tunes and some piano work and some guitar stuff, and maybe some banjo,” MacGillivray said.

"Louis-Charles (Vigneau), the guitar player who’ll be with me, is a great singer. He’s going to sing a few songs in his Acadian French background.”

The fiddler previously played in the Prince Albert area a few years ago as part of the Northern Lights Bluegrass and Old Tyme Music Festival. In addition, he has taught classes at the Emma Lake Fiddle Camp.

MacGillivray’s forte is traditional Celtic fiddle music from the east coast of Canada, which is rooted strongly in Scottish tradition.

"A lot of people call it Cape Breton music now,” MacGillivray said of the genre.

"I grew up in it,” he added. "My whole family plays. It’s the music that I heard as a kid and all through my life so far. It’s part of me.”

MacGillivray’s grandfather, a musician who made recordings of his own in the past, was the catalyst for his family’s interest in music.

Award-winning East Coast fiddler Troy MacGillivray will be performing his brand of traditional Celtic music at the Jam Street Music Studio on Thursday, March 21 at 7:30 p.m.

MacGillivray first began playing piano with his older sisters and soon took up the fiddle. Some of his biggest musical influences were Celtic fiddle legends Jerry Holland, Buddy MacMaster and John Morris Rankin of The Rankin Family.

By the age of 13, McGillivray was already teaching piano at the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts in St. Anne’s, Cape Breton.

Later on, he completed grade seven of the Toronto Conservatory of Music for classical piano, spent four years in a string orchestra and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in music from St. Francis Xavier University.

The artist has also released a series of critically acclaimed albums. While the bulk of his recordings consist of older, traditional songs, MacGillivray has written some of his own material as well.

"It varies a little bit,” he said of his compositions.

"Some of them are pretty similar to the old style, and then some of the stuff I’ve been doing lately has been a little not-so-traditional in a way … They’re still fiddle tunes for sure, but they don’t sound like the old tunes from 200 years ago.”

MacGillivray’s Prince Albert concert is part of a scattershot trek -- not technically a tour -- that will take the fiddler throughout Canada and the United States.

Following his show in P.A., he will begin recording sessions for a pair of new albums.

"I’m actually working on two at the same time,” he said.

"The first one, it’s going to have a kind of a traditional sound, but it’s kind of a tip of the hat to composers, people who are out there writing music now. I’m going to be including a lot of their music on the CD. Each track will feature a different composer.

"And then the next recording … is going to be more … contemporary, you could say. There’ll be a full band on it and they’ll be dressed up a little more, (with) more arranging done with the music.”

MacGillivray’s P.A. show is set to start at 7:30 p.m. at the Jam Street Music Studio, which is located at 1026 First Ave. W.

Tickets cost $20. For more information or to inquire about reserve tickets, contact Lucy James at 763-0504 or by email at lucyhjames(at)hotmail.com.

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Troy was featured this week on SK's Stripped Down, a one hour music showcase filmed in the Saskatoon Shaw TV studio. Check out the show's Facebook page 

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Book some one-on-one time with Troy. Spend some time learning about traditional music, ask questions and follow along as he demonstrates his techniques for playing his favourite tunes.

$40 per 45 minute lesson.

Only 6 sessions available so book early.
Contact info@troymacgillivray.com to reserve your spot today.

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November 6, 2012 — Troy MacGillivray has played over 200 performances already in 2012 ... and
he’s not done yet! This year alone, he has played throughout Alaska, Washington, California, West
Virginia, Ireland, Denmark and seven Canadian provinces. The multi-talented, multi-award winning
instrumentalist is known for his ability to unearth the lesser-played but great tunes of respected
composers. With such tunes in his repertoire, Troy has assembled a show he is calling Tune Poets
and will present it at a series of venues in New England November 25th – December 1st.

Poetry is the expression of feelings and ideas using distinctive style and rhythm, and although the
greats often use words to capture the lyrical, these instrumental Tune Poets have done so with thewonderful melodies they have created. Featuring the tunes of composers like Dan R MacDonald,
Angus Chisholm, Gordon MacQuarrie, Andre Brunet, John Morris Rankin and others, Troy weaves
into his set-list the history and background of the musical selections he is playing. The Tune Poets
show will be informative, lively and engaging, delivered with Troy's impeccable playing, fabulous
arrangements and well-researched commentary. Tune Poets presents a wide and varied mix of
music that will captivate the audience with both sound and story.

"I’m looking forward to returning to New England and am very excited to share this new show with
those who enjoy traditional music as much as I do”, says MacGillivray. "This is the first time Allan will be playing in New England with me, so we’re looking forward to sharing some great tunes from some of my favourite composers and musicians.” Accompanying him on this tour is Allan Dewar, a
traditional pianist from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, who has not only toured extensively with Troy, but
also with Natalie MacMaster and Ashley MacIsaac to name a few. As director of the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre in Judique, Allan is excited to be part of Tune Poets, joining Troy in the sharing of old and new tunes alike.

Troy has been performing as a musician from a very young age, across Canada, North America and
around the globe. He has been recognized with numerous honours including two East Coast Music
Awards, and in September, he received the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal
commemorating his contribution and dedication to preserving and promoting arts and culture in Nova Scotia and Canada. After the New England tour, Troy will head back in the studio to begin recording his highly anticipated 6th CD, set for release in 2013.

In addition to inspiring traditional music, ticket holders also have the chance to win a weekend
getaway to Nova Scotia! Pictou Lodge Resort (www.pictoulodge.com) is a true Nova Scotia
experience that is as delightful as it is utterly relaxing. The Lodge overlooks the incredible sandy
beaches of the Northumberland Shore and features a wonderful variety of accommodations, culinary treats, eco-adventures and spectacular views. A lucky ticket holder from Troy’s New England tour will enjoy 2 nights accommodation, a dinner for two and breakfast for two each morning at one of Canada’s ocean playgrounds. Reserve your tickets early!

Upcoming concert dates include:

November 25 – Knights of Columbus Hall, Calais, ME
November 26 – 430 Bayside, Ellsworth, ME
November 27 – St. Lawrence Arts, Portland, ME
November 28 – Skye Theatre, South Carthage, ME
November 29 – Unity College Center for the Performing Arts, Unity, ME
November 30 – House Concert, Lebanon, NH
December 01 – Canadian American Club, Watertown, MA

View/Download Press Release (PDF)

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Richmond, Va. -- Toe-tapping, jaw-dropping, shoulder-dancing fun is back at the riverfront. The Richmond Folk Festival has begun its fifth year.

Toe-tapping kept time Friday night with the Irish and Cape Breton fiddling of the Liz Carroll Trio with Troy MacGillivray at the Altria stage near Second Street.

Jaws dropped at the sounds Wang Li could coax from the Chinese jaw harp and calabash flute at the MWV stage.

Parents put children on their shoulders at the Dominion Dance Pavilion to shimmy and sway as Super Chikan & the Fighting Cocks played Delta blues on the didlybo, guijo and shotar — homemade electric guitars named for the shape that inspired them and decorated to be an inspiration all their own.

And what were those instruments the Ethiopian group Fendika was playing? The krar looked like and was played like a lyre but sounded more like a banjo. The masenko, with one string on its long neck extending from a box, was bowed like a fiddle.

"You're able to walk from place to place and hear another part of the world," said Cliff Fox, 60, of Richmond, explaining why he and wife Deirdre Condit have attended yearly since their 8-year-old daughter was 3. "It's such a great sampling of music."

"Some of our best memories of Richmond are here," Condit said.

She recalled the year when Mayan pole dancers opened the festival. One of her colleagues who came with them had a fatal illness.

"It was a perfect night, and they were fabulous. It's one of my best memories of her," she said. "It's a great gift the festival gave to us.

"I think it's one of Richmond's best things. It's full of generous, loving happy people celebrating music from the area but also introducing other traditions."

Megan Maltby of western Henrico County was a first-timer with her daughter, Ella, 3.

"She's old enough to dance and have a good time. It's a beautiful day."

Her sister, Allison Maltby, a drama and French teacher at Holman Middle School, said she encouraged her students to attend because French-speaking Moroccan and Haitian groups will be playing. She had already spotted several former students in the first hour.

Temperatures that dropped into the lower 50s gave an excuse to bring out hats and gloves for the first time this fall.

The bucket brigade was encouraging donations of $5 a person per day, with different stickers for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The goal of $125,000 would be enough to fund a single stage.

Justin Long, 16, of Richmond said people had been generous on his first evening of volunteering for the collection buckets.

"I come here every year," he said. "I just thought I'd help out. I'll be here every day from start to finish."

The festival continues from noon to 9:30 p.m. today and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Rosanne Cash will perform at 1 p.m. today; Ralph Stanley will play at

4 and 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

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Seventeen deserving Nova Scotians were recognized with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal today, Sept. 5, for contributions to the province.

Premier Darrell Dexter presented the medals at a ceremony in New Glasgow.

"The Diamond Jubilee Medal celebrates outstanding contributions made by Canadians and Nova Scotians," said Premier Dexter. "Today's recipients are making Nova Scotia a better place to live, and are great examples of what can be achieved when you get involved in your community."

The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal commemorates the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty's accession to the Throne, and honours her service and dedication to Canada.

Hundreds of Nova Scotians will be honoured throughout the year with the Diamond Jubilee Medal. Today's recipients were nominated personally by the premier.

The medal recipients are:
-- Matthew Allen (Tatamagouche)
-- James Stewart Arbuckle (Pictou)
-- Emilie Boucher (Antigonish)
-- Kendra Boudreau (Little Dover)
-- Edward Burke, Jr. (Pictou)
-- Donald J. Butler (Merigomish)
-- Heather Gunn (Antigonish)
-- Gordon Edmund Hankin (Pleasant Valley/Westville)
-- Kalene Hines (Goshen)
-- Christopher John Kennedy (Thorburn)
-- Ryan Alexander Kennedy (New Glasgow)
-- David Leese (Westville)
-- Troy MacGillivray (Lanark, Antigonish Co.)
-- Doris MacMillan (Pictou)
-- Holly Mathias (Westville)
-- Brittany Pye (Stellarton)
-- D. Joan Sutherland (River John)

Throughout the year, the Diamond Jubilee medal will be awarded to 60,000 deserving Canadians.
For more information on the Diamond Jubilee and the medal visit the website

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Troy's Diamond Jubilee Medal from award ceremony
Click photos for larger views

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FAIRBANKS - Last year, Fairbanks oncologist and Celtic music fan Andrew Cox invited Canadian fiddler Troy MacGillivray up for a concert and workshops. MacGillivray’s band sold out the Blue Loon and filled the Pioneer Park Theater for a second show. The workshops also were a big hit. The event was so successful Cox decided to do it again this year.

"This year it was clear we wanted to make it a little bigger,” Cox said. Three times the size, in fact.

The Far North Fiddle Fest will again feature the Troy MacGillivray Band, which will be joined by Fairbanks native Caitlin Warbelow. MacGillivray, from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, will play a mix of traditional Cape Breton and Irish tunes. Also on the bill are Jeremy Kittel and Nathaniel Smith, a fiddle/cello duo whose genre-defying music includes elements of jazz and Celtic. The third group is the April Verch Trio, from Ontario’s Ottawa Valley.

All proceeds benefit Fairbanks Memorial Hospital Hospice Services.

The musicians will arrive in Fairbanks Sept. 5 to begin three-day series of workshops, culminating with a concert at the Davis Concert Hall on Saturday, Sept. 8. A community jam is scheduled at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6 at the Alaska Coffee Roasting Co., 4001 Geist Road.

"I go to other festivals around the country and these are the best of those festivals,” Cox said. "All three, in my opinion, are as strong … you can’t get stronger within their genre.”

He was especially impressed with April Verch.

"It’s more of an old-time style,” he said of her music. "It would be very similar to the Appalachian fiddlers. She combines not just fiddle and vocals but a very lively step dance. She’s just a masterful kind of performer.”

Verch has been impressing audiences since she was a 4-year-old step-dancing with her sister. She is the first woman to win both the Grand Masters and Canadian Open fiddle championships and performed at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

She has released eight CDs, most recently "That’s How We Run,” an exploration of southern traditional mountain music paired with "plucky, straight-backed Canadian tunes.”

"The world is this amazing puzzle that we can’t fully understand and music is the joy that pulls it all together and helps us make sense of it,” Verch says on her website.

Troy MacGillivray’s roots are in the traditional Scottish and Irish music of Cape Breton. He has been step-dancing since he was 6 years old and began teaching piano at the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts at age 13. He started playing fiddle as a teenager. Music is in his blood. His parents and sisters are also accomplished musicians. MacGillivray’s grandfather, fiddling pioneer Hugh A. MacDonald, is a member of the Nova Scotia Country Hall of Fame.

MacGillivray’s latest project is "When Here Meets There,” a collaboration with fiddle champion Shane Cook.

Cox first saw Kittel perform in 2008 and was wowed by his music, which he finds hard to pigeonhole.

"He comes from a more classical background,” Cox said. "Scottish and sort of jazz and now he’s doing something, I don’t know quite what to call it. It was like listening to 15 people playing at once. Not many people can do that.”

Kittel will be playing with cellist Nathaniel Smith, an award-winning musician who has toured with Mark O’Connor and Natalie MacMaster. Smith has performed with a wide variety of musicians, appearing on Austin City Limits and NPR’s Prairie Home Companion. He released a CD, "Arrhythmia,” of original cello music in 2009, as well as a live CD, "The Nathaniel Smith Jazz Project,” recorded live at the Mississippi Museum of Art.

Cox compared the musicians with guitar great Leo Kottke, who will be performing in Fairbanks Sept. 7.

"They’re all relatively young,” Cox said. "All of them are spending all year on the road just touring. I suspect they’ll achieve what Leo Kottke achieved, we’re just seeing them a couple decades earlier.”

IF YOU GO

What: Far North Fiddle Fest concert
When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8
Where: Davis Concert Hall, UAF campus
Cost: $20 adults; $10 students, seniors, military and UAF students.
Info: fairbankshospital foundation.com/far-north-fiddle-fest/
What: Community jam
When: 8:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 6
Where: Alaska Coffee Roasting Co., 4001 Geist Road

WORKSHOPS

When: Sept. 6-8 at Zion Lutheran Church
Ages: 7 to adult
Times: 1-4 p.m. Thursday
1-4 p.m. Friday
9:30 a.m.-1:45 p.m. Saturday
Cost: $25 per day. Scholarships are available.

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Six-time Grammy winners The Chieftains top the bill in a concert which will be remarkable even in the long history of the venue, the Plaza in Buncrana.

The closing NAFCO 2012 concert, on Sunday 1st July, features the Chieftains and a line-up which includes musicians who have appeared at major festivals around the world, such as Alasdair Fraser from Scotland and US, and Troy McGillivray from Cape Breton Island in Canada.

But the Plaza concert is just one of six major concerts during NAFCO 2012, with lots more lunchtime and evening performances and sessions durin the Convention.

Here are some details on the concerts.

Taste of NAFCO

McGrory’s in Culdaff hosts the opening concert of NAFCO 2012, with music and dance from Canada, Denmark and Ireland - and some top names in fiddling.

Blazing Bows features three of Ireland’s leading traditional fiddle players; Cathal Hayden, Dezi Donnelly, Tola Custy with one of the most in-demand rhythm sections in Irish music guitarist Ed Boyd and percussionist John Joe Kelly.

Lau from Scotland are currently one of the hottest properties on the British folk scene. The three piece comprise of Aidan O’Rourke (fiddle), Martin Green (accordion) and Orkney singer and guitarist Kris Drever.

From Denmark come the award winning young 10 piece dance band Habadekuk whose brass section enliven their fun approach to Danish music , Troy MacGillivray, Shane Cook and Jake Charron (Cape Breton/Ontario) are among Canada’s leading traditional players. Rounding off this remarkable bill will be Cape Breton musicians Andrea Beaton, Janine Randall with dancers, Dawn and Margie Beaton.

The concert starts at 9pm with doors open at 8pm, and tickets€15.00 at www.nafco2012.com or 028- 7137513

A Feast of Fiddles

Sandino’s is the venue for the Feast of Fiddles concert which will take place in a relaxed folk club type setting in the heart of Derry City on Wednesday June 27th.

Headlining this impressive international line-up are the exquisite fiddle and guitar duo of Martin Hayes and Denis Cahill.

From Scotland originally but now based on the west coast of America, fiddle player Alasdair Fraser has carved out an international reputation playing alongside innovative cello player Natalie Haas. Quebec in Canada is renowned for its exciting percussive dance music and there are few greater exponents than Eric Favreau, Pierre Chartrand and friends. Buncrana man, Kevin Doherty along with Magherafelt based Gino Lupari and Pomeroy’s Cathal Hayden front one of Ireland’s leading traditional bands, Four Men and a Dog. From Copenhagen come Habadekuk whose exuberant and innovative approach has revolutionised the perception of folk music in their native Denmark.

The line-up is completed by the remarkable American dancer Nic Gareiss (USA).

Concert starts 9pm, doors open at 8pm. Tickets: £15.00 at www.nafco2012.com or 028- 71375134.

Fiddle & Feet at the Forum!

A spectacular evening of fiddle music and ance at the Millennium Forum on Thursday 28th June – with the emphasis firmly on the dance!

Fiddle & Feet will feature premieres of new work from international dance star, Breandán de Gallaí, who made his name as lead dancer with Riverdance, with champion dancers from across the north west and a specially commissioned piece from Shetland islander, Chris Stout, entitled Sail/Seol, that celebrates the various fiddle traditions of the North Atlantic and will feature a 10 piece band.

Also appearing will be Seamus Begley (accordion) and Tim Edey (guitar) with the polkas and slides which provide the rhythm for the west Kerry Set Dancers- music and dance is guaranteed to raise dust from any floor.

From Norway comes the spectacular dance ensemble Frikar who made an international impact when they featured as part of the winning entry for Norway at Eurovision 2009. The couple dance tradition of Donegal and Sweden will be featured with dancers from both areas and musicians including Donegal’s acclaimed band Fidil.

A sean-nós step-off will feature renowned dancers from Ireland, Scotland, Canada and the US along with lilters and fiddle players including Nic Gareiss, Frank McConnell, Micheál Ó Súilleabháin, Joe McGuiggan and Margie Beaton.

Concert starts at 8pm. Tickets: £15.00 (family ticket £50.00) at 028 71 264455 or 028- 71375134 and www.nafco2012.com

Women of the Fiddle

A line-up that features some of the most highly acclaimed women in traditional music from around the North Atlantic including, on their first ever performance in Ireland, the String Sisters. Acclaimed at international festivals the world over String Sisters eaturing the three Liz’s – Liz Carroll from Chicago, Liz Doherty from Buncrana and Liz Knowles from St. Louis, Catriona MacDonald from Shetland, Annbjorg Lien from Norway and Sweden’s Emma Hardelin. Stellar musical support is provided by a Scottish rhythm section of David Milligan (piano), James Mackintosh (drums), Conrad Ivitsky (bass) and Norwegian guitarist, Tore Bruvell. Along with the String Sisters also sharing the bill are The Wrigley Sisters from Orkney. More welcome visitors to NAFCo are Nancy Kerr from England and and Australian-born James Fagan who were deserved winners of the prestigious BBC Radio 2 Folk Duo of the Year 2011. Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia boasts one of the greatest living musical traditions of any place and exceptional exponents of this Scottish influenced music are Andrea Beaton, Janine Randall and Dawn and Margie Beaton.

Tickets: €15/€13 at +353 71 9120777 or 028- 71375134. www.nafco2012.com

Fiddles of the World

The Waterside Theatre on Saturday 30th une hosts a showcase of international fiddle traditions that will include Scottish, Shetland, Ulster Scots, Canadian, Irish and Galician. From Ontario in Canada comes the exceptional fiddleplayer, Pierre Schryer and his Trio. The Ulster Scots tradition will be ably represented by Antrim’s Willie Drennan. Two of the more adventurous musicians working in the traditional field are American Dan Trueman and Caoimhín O Rathallaigh from Dublin -their work shows innovative elements that meld beautifully. The Scottish fiddle and harp duo of Chris Stout and Caitriona McKay have travelled the world as members of Scottish folk supergroup Blazing Fiddles and have been described by The Guardian as "sonically exquisite” and they are not to be missed. From Galicia on Spain’s atlantic north west coast comes the fiddle and percussion duo of Alfonso Franco and Alfonso Merino. This concert will be presented in an informal round-robin style.

Tickets: £10.00 at www.nafco2012.com or 028- 71375134.

Chieftains take to the Plaza

Is there a more famous or critically acclaimed folk music band in the world than the six time Grammy winners The Chieftains? For the closing concert The Chieftains bring dancers Cara Butler from New York and the dynamic Jon and Nathan Pilatzke from the Ottowa Valley in Canada and their regular guest vocalist Alyth McCormack. They will showcase collaborations with Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas (Scotland/USA), Annbjorg Lien (Norway), Troy MacGillivray, Andrea Beaton, Pierre Schryer and Friends (Canada) and young local musicians and dancers from the Inishowen Music Project and Coyle School of Irish Dancing. Opening this concert are the all female fiddle trio from Denmark, Fiolministeriet. Tickets: €20 at 028- 71375134 or www.nafco2012.com

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The Seabeck Conference Center will host its annual Scottish Bagpipes and Fiddlers event starting Feb. 6. The 10-day event will bring together pipers from around the world looking to train under award-winning bagpipe masters from Glasgow and Edinburgh.

"It’s really the largest school of its kind in the United States,” said Skye Richendrfer, director of the Celtic Arts Foundation.

The small pipes and fiddlers arrive on Friday to put on a performance at the center on Feb. 6 at 7 p.m.

"What’s cool about the Seabeck concert is that you’ll find a sound that is closer to what you’d find a Scottish tavern rather than a traditional bagpipe ceremony,” Richendrfer said.

Nova Scotia musicians Andrea Beaton and Troy MacGillivray will arrive with the big pipes and drums before the group moves to Benaroya Hall in Seattle for a concert on Feb. 10. The Celtic musicians are known in the bagpiping community as a "triple threat” having mastered fiddle, piano and Scottish step dancing, said Richendrfer.

Instruction for the 100 students who have enrolled with the center will start Feb. 11.

Learning to bagpipe is a "very challenging musical endeavor unlike any other instrument,” said Chuck Kraining, executive director of Seabeck Conference Center.

The students will be piping around-the-clock with night walks and midnight bag piping sessions.

"It will be 14 to 18 hours, just about as much piping as they can stand,” Richendrfer said.

Richendrfer explained that bagpiping appeals to students as a "cultural totem” of family heritage. According to a 2000 U.S. Census Bureau report approximately 25 percent of the nation’s population claimed Celtic ancestry.

The Highland pipe also has historical ties to the British military in the 19th century and the World War II storming of the beaches in Normandy.

"The instrument is just so unusual and has tremendous mystical appeal even for younger generations,” Richendrfer said.

For more information or tickets, contact Chuck Kraining at 360-830-5010.

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CARTHAGE -- Troy MacGillivray will bring his energetic, roots-centered fiddling and piano playing to Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center and Unity College for the Performing Arts on Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 16 and 17, presented by New England Celtic Arts.

MacGillivray’s musical prowess can be attributed to an especially rare combination of commitment and bloodline. By the age of 6, he was already impressing audiences with his step dancing skills. By 13 he was teaching piano at the renowned Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts in St. Anne’s, Cape Breton and he now holds a bachelor of arts degree with a major in music from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S.

He’s completed grade seven of the Toronto Conservatory of Music for classical piano, spent four years in a stringed orchestra and received an applied music technology diploma for recording engineering.

Troy’s roots-centered approach to his fiddling and piano playing has the power to inspire any audience. With six releases to his credit, he has played across Canada, the U.S. and United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan and Australia. MacGillivray's CD "Live At The Music Room" was honoured as the 2008 East Coast Music Association’s Instrumental Recording of the Year and the 2008 Music Nova Scotia Traditional /Roots Recording of the Year. His CD "When Here Meets There" is a unique collaboration with Canadian and U.S. National Fiddle Champion Shane Cook that clearly showcases why both fiddlers are at the top of their game by winning the 2009 East Coast Music Award for Roots /Traditional Recording of the Year.

Whether playing piano or fiddle, or showcasing his step-dancing capabilities, MacGillivray displays an intense commitment to the Celtic heritage he inherited from his Highland ancestors.

Jake Charron is continuing to build a reputation as one of Canada’s finest accompanists for fiddle music. He has become a much sought-after musician for traditional styles, playing piano and guitar with artists across the country. Charron is currently a part of Stephanie Cadman's "Celtic Blaze" production and will be joining The Step Crew for a tour of China in December. He is the house pianist at several fiddle competitions including the Canadian Open Fiddle Championships and enjoys teaching at camps across Canada. He recently graduated from the University of Western Ontario with an honors degree in kinesiology.

Sabra MacGillivray is a champion highland dancer, a spectacular step dancer and a talented musician with an impressive list of dance awards. She has choreographed award-winning dances and was invited to perform at the Royal Military Edinburgh Tattoo in Scotland as a soloist. Step dancing is one of her passions -- her quick and intricate footwork are crowd-pleasers that combine movements that she learned in Cape Breton step, Highland, Irish, and Flamenco dancing. Sabra's desire to express her rhythm has led her to becoming an accomplished bodhran player and has also tried her hand in pipe band snare drumming. When not involved in music, Sabra is a registered massage therapist in Port Hawkesbury, N.S.

Tickets are $15 at the door. Curtain at Skye is 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. in Unity. Pre-show jam sessions at Skye and Unity start one hour prior to curtain. For reservations call Skye Theatre at 562-4445 or UCCPA at 948-7469. Reservations are strongly suggested at both venues.

Skye Theater is located 3 miles west of East Dixfield village at 2 Highland Drive off Winter Hill Road and Route 2 in south Carthage. UCCPA is at 42 Depot St.in Unity. For reservations call Skye Theatre at 562-4445 or UCCPA at 948-7469. Reservations are strongly suggested at both venues.

More information is available at: www.necelticarts.com

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FAIRBANKS - For Canadian musician Troy MacGillivray, music and movement are one and the same. The fiddler and pianist grew up in Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton region surrounded by folk music, which was brought overseas by Scottish settlers hundreds of years ago.

"It’s music for movement,” he said. "I really like to talk (to my students) about the love for the music and playing for dancing and the reason why we play these tunes. It’s all kind of dance shows, even in theaters where people can’t get up to dance.”

MacGillivray, joined by guitarist Jake Charron and percussionist/dancer Sabra MacGillivray (Troy’s sister) will be in Fairbanks for two public performances and a series of fiddle and dance workshops through mid-week. The trio features Celtic fiddle, guitar, step dance and Bodhran.

Bringing the trio to Fairbanks was the idea of local oncologist Andrew Cox, a fiddle player whose two children are students at the Fairbanks Suzuki Institute. Cox had met MacGillivray at fiddle workshops in the Lower 48 and learned he would be in Whitehorse, Yukon, later this month, so the timing seemed good, Cox said. He and and fellow Fairbanksan Kim Troxel have been planning the visit, with help from Acoustic Adventures, Fairbanks Concert Association and The Blue Loon, among others.

All proceeds will be split between the Fairbanks Suzuki Institute and the Interior Alaska Cancer Association.

Cox was inspired by previous visits to Fairbanks by fiddler Natalie MacMaster and violinist Midori. The two renowned musicians put on a series of workshops and performed at sold-out shows. Cox said MacGillivray, although lesser known, is of similar musical caliber.

"First and foremost, he’s a great musician,” Cox said, "but after that he’s a super nice guy and he’s super low key.”

MacGillivray is both a dancer and musician.

He was impressing audiences with his step-dancing at age 6, began teaching piano at age 13 at the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts and started playing fiddle in his teens.

Music is part of MacGillivray’s bloodline. His grandfather, Canadian fiddling pioneer Hugh A. MacDonald is a member of the Nova Scotia Country Hall of Fame.

"My granddad was born in the 1800s,” said the soft-spoken MacGillivray by phone from his Nova Scotia home as he was doing laundry in preparation for his trip to Fairbanks. "He was one of the first in Canada to put fiddle music on records, on 78s. It was some of the first fiddle music out there in this country.”

His parents are accomplished musicians; his sister Kendra has also won East Coast Music Awards (ECMA) for her fiddling; and his sister Sabra is a percussionist and dancer.

He has released five albums and won a slew of awards. His fourth CD, "Live at the Music Room,” won the 2008 ECMA for instrumental recording of the year. In 2009, his 2009 recording "When Here Meets There” won two more ECMA awards. He has also been nominated multiple times for the Canadian Folk Music Awards. He tours all over the world, performing and conducting workshops.

The trio, accompanied by Caitlin Warbelow of Fairbanks, will be teaching workshops to local students and has performances scheduled for Saturday at The Blue Loon and Tuesday at Pioneer Park Theater.

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Music is all relative for fiddler Troy MacGillivray

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In the digital music age, there’s still a place for CD shops, particularly ones that sells East Coast music, says the owner of one such store that opened recently on the Halifax waterfront. Atlantic Canada Sea-Dee’s began business June 1 on the boardwalk between Bishop’s Landing and the new Nova Scotia Power building.

"In Atlantic Canada we’re well-known for our music," Troy MacGillivray said in a recent interview.

"You can’t always get a lot of it digitally. A lot of people aren’t on iTunes."

MacGillivray, a full-time musician from Antigonish, co-owns the store with his business manager, Pam Wamback. She has worked in the tourism industry for 15 years.

MacGillivray said he wanted to open the store because in recent years he’s found it increasingly difficult to find stores willing to carry his own recordings of Celtic piano and fiddle music.

"We want to help out musicians and maybe get a little support back," he said.

Sea-Dee’s, located in a kiosk between the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia shop and Back in Time Photos, will be open until the end of October. A co-op student from the Nova Scotia Community College has been hired to man the store for the summer.

MacGillivray said the shop has just opened so he hasn’t had much feedback yet from customers.

"Everyone is very supportive that we talk to. Other businesses and also the musicians, the ones I’ve dealt with, seem really happy about it."

Sea-Dee’s is still getting in stock from music distributors and from the artists themselves on consignment.

The shop carries various types of East Coast music but most of the 50 to 60 titles in stock now are traditional fiddle and singer-songwriter recordings, MacGillivray said.

The store carries such internationally recognized artists as Natalie MacMaster and Dave Carroll of United Breaks Guitars fame, as well as local talent, including Cape Breton’s Carmen Townsend and Angelo Spinazzola and John Chiasson of Dartmouth.

MacGillivray admits Sea-Dee’s likely wouldn’t do well in a mall but he hopes the waterfront location will be successful at showcasing East Coast talent.

"There’s a lot of stuff that perhaps people from away, the tourists, will enjoy," he said. "The music is from here. It’s definitely unique to the area. It’s not like you can go anywhere else in the world and find the same thing."

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Experience traditional Irish culture through music, song, dance and storytelling as The Magic of Ireland comes to The Playhouse.

"It's an authentic performance bordering on a musical, but not quite," says Peter Jacobs, the producer of The Magic of Ireland and owner of Independent Concert Productions.

"Basically it's Irish traditional music that is played by a bunch of very talented musicians," he says.

The newest musicians to join the cast are Nova Scotia's Troy MacGillivray and Julie Fitzgerald from Ontario.

MacGillivray has been impressing audiences with his fiddle, piano and step dancing skills from a young age. Fitzgerald, an accomplished fiddle player and step dancer, is the Canadian Grand Master Fiddle Champion of 2009/2010.

"The dancers are all championship dancers," says Jacobs. "And we have two actors in the show that narrate and tell stories from Ireland and about Ireland."

The two actors are Jonathan Lynn and Kevin Kennedy. Lynn is a Thea Award-winning actor and designer with Toronto Irish Players, and Kennedy is an active member of Toronto Irish Players and is featured in the Oscar-nominated docudrama, The First Winter.

What makes the production so wonderfully Irish is the combination of creative arts.

"And it's all live. There is no technology between the audience and the participants," says Jacobs. "The music is live, the dancing is live, the singing is live and the actors are live. Nothing has been taped."

Many big performances include taped segments.

"I'm not knocking them or anything because they gave (the genre) such popularity to the public, but these shows are predominantly dance shows, and it's one dance after another," he says.

"The difference with us is we're performing with musicians, with orchestrated arrangements, so when the dancers are off changing, the musicians or the actors carry on performing. There is no break for tapes or to change costumes."

Because every sound the audience hears is live, each performance is difference from the next. This adds a sense of spontaneity to the show. For centuries, the music of Ireland has captured the hearts and imagination of not only Irish natives but countless people around the globe.

Jacobs says he doesn't know what the appeal of Ireland is for so many, but he expects it's different things to different people.

"Some people claim it's a heritage, that some part of them is Irish," he says.

Even those who don't have Irish roots often have some Celtic connection.

"It's all related," he says, noting the music, the dance and the instruments are similar from one country to the next.

This show brings to the stage traditional Irish and Celtic music in an evening filled with fast and graceful dance steps, authentic music and enchanting songs, enhanced with traditional Irish and Celtic instruments. The production is comprised of young, talented groups of dancers and musicians dedicated to recreating the ambiance, moods and emotions associated with Irish and Celtic music.

The troupe's enthusiasm and precision have drawn praise from audiences, who can't help but get caught up in the energetic atmosphere.

Jacobs says he's not surprised that interest in this form of entertainment continues.

"It's so sincere," he says. "What you see is what you get."

There is plenty to enjoy about this show as far as Jacobs is concerned.

"We have some lovely costumes, we have a bit of a different show using the actors. They're very knowledgeable people and stars in their own right," he says.

"There isn't another show like this out there."

He wanted the show to be unique and that's exactly what it is.

"It's the magic of everything about Ireland. The dance, the singing, the storytelling and the music."

He encourages people to come out to the show.

"If people come out to this, it will brighten the rest of their week or the rest of the month for them," he says. "It would give them some sign that spring is on the way."

The Magic of Ireland is coming to The Playhouse on Tuesday, March 1, at 8 p.m. To purchase tickets, drop by the box office or visit www.theplayhouse.nb.ca .

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What: The Magic of Ireland
Information: The Magic of Ireland captures the romance and mysticism of the Emerald Isle through an evening of traditional music, song, dance and storytelling. It is coming to The Playhouse stage on Tuesday, March 1, at 8 p.m.
Contact: To purchase tickets, drop by The Playhouse box office or visit www.theplayhouse.nb.ca.

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The world's eyes were recently focused on the Canadian city of Vancouver during the Olympics, but it's time that other areas of the northern country got some attention. Get a glimpse of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, through their musical culture, during the Woods Hole Folk Music Society's next concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, when Canadian musicians Kimberley Fraser and Troy MacGillivray perform with David Surette.

They will make their third appearance in Woods Hole, offering creative interpretations of traditional music from back home. Fraser and MacGillivray are fiddlers, but their performances offer much more. The two musicians alternate between accompanying one another on their instruments and swapping stories and performing on the dance floor (they're both experts at step dancing, as well as other instruments). When they do turn back to music, it flows from marches to jigs to strathspeys.

Surette, a well-known player of Celtic fingerstyle guitar who's based in New Hampshire, is also at home on the mandolin and bouzouki, performing with Fraser and MacGillivray as well as a host of other folk groups. His repertoire includes traditional guitar compositions as well as original roots, blues and ragtime pieces. Combined, the three have won five awards for folk, roots and songwriting, and each continues to perform with other groups across the world. Doors open at 7 p.m. for the concert, part of the society's winter concert series.

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Combining lively fiddling, piano and step-dancing, Nova Scotians Troy MacGillivray and Kimberley Fraser will fill the library’s Great Hall with an uplifting free concert of Highland music on Saturday, March 20. They will perform twice, with a 6:30 p.m. event for children and at 8 p.m. for teens and adults.

Cape Breton fiddling is a regional style of violin and is considered to be in the Celtic music genre originating with Scottish immigrants.

This is MacGillivray’s second performance on the island, having given a concert at the library last May. He said he and Fraser will trade off playing piano and fiddle, and plan to entertain with such tunes as "Big John McNeil,” King George IV medleys and a Celtic song called "Tullochgorum.”

"I really liked it last time and it’s going to be great to do it [at the Great Hall] again,” he said. "Kimberley hasn’t been there so she is looking forward to her first time on the island. The venue is really nice. It’ll be really cool.”

MacGillivray was raised in Lanark, Nova Scotia and began impressing audiences with his step-dancing skill at the age of six. At the young age of 13 he was already teaching piano at the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts, and went on to learn classical piano, spend four years with a stringed orchestra and earn his bachelor’s degree as a music major from St. Francis Xavier University.

His fourth CD, "Live at the Music Room,” was named the East Coast Music Award’s 2008 instrumental recording of the year. His 2009 recording, "When Here Meets There,” earned two ECMA honors. MacGillivray’s talent is a gift of his lineage. His grandfather Hugh A. MacDonald is a member of the Nova Scotia Country Hall of Fame. His parents Tony and Janice are acclaimed musicians and his sister Kendra has twice won the ECMA for her fiddling. His sister Sabra is an accomplished dancer and percussionist.

Kimberley Fraser also comes from musical roots that span more than a century in her family, and she takes pride in having her great-great-grandfather’s fiddle. Born on Cape Breton Island, she drew attention at the age of three with her step-dancing performances and went on to learn piano and fiddle. Although still in her early 20s, Fraser has played Cape Breton’s music in cities around the globe and has shared the stage with some of the finest performers in her field.

In 2005 she graduated from Nova Scotia’s St. Francis Xavier University with an honors degree in Celtic Studies and a jazz minor. Her second album, "Falling on New Ground,” received the 2008 ECMA recognition as best roots and traditional music album of the year.

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Australian singer-songwriters Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttal took the grand prize in the annual International Songwriting Competition on Thursday for their song Caught in the Crowd from their latest CD,
Curiouser. Entered in the Pop/Top 40 Category, it tells the story of a young girl who befriends an unpopular kid at school, then succumbs to peer presssure and turns her back on him when he is hassled by bullies.

The judges, who included Black Francis, frontman for the U.S. rock band the Pixies, and Jerry Lee Lewis, praised it for its powerful lyrics and strong pop sensibility. The Brisbane-based husband-wife team are the first Australians to win
the competition's top prize.

Miller-Heidke, who initially trained as an operatic singer, said they will use the $25,000 US prize, the largest of any songwriting competition, to take her band overseas. Canadian songwriters scored highly in the awards competition, which provides an opportunity for both aspiring and established songwriters to have their work heard in an international arena.

Bill Halliday and Gereth Jones (the Cansecos) of Toronto took top place in the Dance/Electronica category for Raised by Wolves. Tea Petrovic of Vancouver scored top place in the R&B/Hip-Hop category
for Fire & Flame.

And Cape Breton singer-songwritier and hit producer Gordie Sampson and Michael Logen of Nashville took the first place award in the Folk/Singer-Songwriter category for Davey Jones.

First-place winners received cash prizes of $3,000 US.

Remi Chasse and Tailor Made Fable of Terrebonne, Que., took second prize, with a value of $2,000 US, in the Rock category for A Case of Mistaken Identity.

Third-place prizes of $1,000 US were won by:

Kim Beggs, Whitehorse, Americana category, Lips Stained with Wine.
Nic Gorissen (Bignic), Penetanguishene, Ont., Dance/Electronica
category, The End of Something Big.
Chris McKhool and Kevin Laliberte (Sultans of String), Toronto,
Instrumental category, Luna.
Christopher Pennington and Paul Johnston, Montreal, Children's Music
category, Banana Pie.

Canadians who received honourable mentions included:

Duane Andrews, St. John's, DD's Blues.
Nathan Bishop, Toronto, Without You.
Matt Borck, Jeremy Friesen, Mike Newman, James Pendleton (Yuca), Vancouver, It's About Something.
Dalannah Gail Bowen, Michael Creber, Vancouver, My Blues Keep Bringin' Me Home.
Seven Bowers, Halifax, Bees in Jars.
Dale Boyle, Montreal, You Might Come Around.
James Bryan, Ferando Osorio, Toronto, Nuestra Amor.
Jackson Cook, Kelowna, B.C., Street Soldier.
Glenda Del Monte Escalante, Toronto, New Habana.
Geoff Fifield, Tim Fifield, Jordan Allen, Nathan Elliot (the Contact), Halifax, My Divine.
Shiloh-Sheray Gagnon, St. Basile Le Grand, Que., The Way We Are.
Dave Gunning, George Canyon, Pictou, N.S., Cowboy's Dream.
Azeem Haq, Marcus Kane, Neetin Salwan, Mohsin Qureshi, Toronto, Keep Clappin'.
Joshua Helgason, Tristan Norton, Tobias Jesso, Martin Kottmeier (the Sessions), Vancouver, Say Goodbye
Kirsten Jones, Toronto, You Ain't Comin' By.
Yiannis Kapoulas, Hamilton, Sun in Your Eyes.
Troy MacGillivray, Lanark, N.S., New Tune Makers.
Chris McKhool, Kevin Lalaberte, Toronto, Scat in the Hat.
Tyravis Nesbitt, Ben Shillabeer, Morgan Gies, Logan Jacobs (Social Code), Edmonton, He Said, She Said.
Martin Ouellette, Brian Paul (Tenth Planet), Toronto, Man in Full.
Paul Runalls, Christ Atkinson, Regina, Wish I Was a Fish.
Kallen Saczkowski, Robin Hooper, Oakville, Ont., Eye Can See Now.
Bob Tonnoch (Fathead), Toronto, Somebody Else's But Mine.
Kgomotso Tsatsi, Toronto, In Love.
Bryan Weirman, Toronto, Cause I Get to Love You.
Robert Wilson, Winnipeg, Crystal.
J. Wynne-Jones, Ottawa, Looking the World Straight in the Eye.

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March 28, 2009
Nova Scotia fiddlers play rhythm of generations
Tampa Bay Newspaper

ST. PETERSBURG – Andrea Beaton and Troy MacGillivray play music with the power to make their audience move on Sunday, April 5, downstairs at The Palladium Theater, 253 Fifth Ave. N., St. Petersburg. Doors open at 7 p.m. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m.

Purchase tickets for $20 in advance, $25 at the door, from The Palladium Box Office, 727-822-3590.
The room will be set up with chairs – no tables – to make room for step-dancing – Nova Scotia style.

Andrea Beaton grew up to the rhythm of generations. Her father is one of the leading fiddle players of his generation, her mother, an accomplished pianist. So were her grandfather and grandmother. In fact, her grandfather, Donald Angus Beaton, was just awarded the 2009 Stompin' Tom Award by the East Coast Music Association (ECMA) for significant contributions to the east coast music industry. Her uncle, Buddy MacMaster, is revered in Cape Breton. Andrea Beaton continues the rhythm in her own dynamic style.

Troy MacGillivray's heritage is equally impressive. For generations, the MacGillivrays and MacDonalds have been keeping the Gaelic tradition alive in Lanark, Nova Scotia. His parents are talented musicians, his sister Kendra is a two-time East Coast Music Association award-winning fiddler, and his sister Sabra is a skilled dancer and percussionist. His grandfather, Hugh A. MacDonald, is a member of the Nova Scotia Country Hall of Fame.

Nova Scotia is steeped in musical and dance tradition, and Andrea Beaton and Troy MacGillivray uphold that tradition. Andrea's debut CD, "License to Drive 'Er," was nominated for Roots Traditional Solo Artist of the Year at the East Coast Music Awards. Troy MacGillivray is an accomplished pianist, fiddler, and stepdancer. His fourth CD, "Live at the Music Room," was the 2008 Instrumental Recording of the year, and his CD "When Here Meets There," a collaboration with Canadian and U.S. National Fiddle Champion Shane Cook, won the 2009 ECMA Award for "Roots/Traditional Group Recording of the Year."

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An East Coast tradition turns 60 this year when the Maritime Fiddle Festival celebrates its sixth decade in July in Dartmouth. From Canada Day, Wednesday, July 1 to Monday, July 6, fiddle champions and competitors will converge on the City of Lakes for the event?s biggest year yet.

This year, Canada?s longest running old-time fiddle festival and competition welcomes a prime lineup of performers, including ECMA winner Troy MacGillivray and the Ottawa Valley?s U.S. Grand National  Champion Shane Cook, three-time Canadian Grand Master Mark Sullivan, ECMA nominees Chuck and Albert, and world-renowned champion Métis fiddler Calvin Vollrath.

Other performers include Ian Mardon, Geoff Horrocks, Sheryl Fitzpatrick, Brian Hebert, Pam Hebert, Ivan and Vivian Hicks, Kim Holmes, Skip Holmes and Anthony Rissesco and the Gig Dogs.

Key venues for the Maritime Fiddle Festival include Alderney Landing Theatre and Prince Andrew High School auditorium, with various Dartmouth bars and restaurants also taking part.

Tickets, competition entries and workshop registrations, as well as the complete festival lineup, are available online.   Tickets can also be purchased at  Maritime Ticketpro outlets.

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Troy's latest album "When Here Meets There" (Troy MacGillivray & Shane Cook) wins the 2009 East Coast Music Award for "Roots/Traditional Group Recording of the Year" presented by Marble Mountain.

This is Troy's second ECMA. His album "Live At The Music Room" won the 2008 ECMA for "Instrumental Recording of the Year".

February 10, 2009
Media Release: For Immediate Release

HOSTS AND PERFORMERS ANNOUNCED FOR 2009 EAST COAST MUSIC AWARDS
CBC Broadcasts Awards Show & Festival Stages on multiple platforms - TV, Radio and Web

(Corner Brook, NL) - The East Coast Music Association announced today that Newfoundland songstress Damhnait Doyle will pair up with Jian Ghomeshi of CBC Radio One's 'Q' to host the 2009 East Coast Music Awards live from Corner Brook, Newfoundland on Sunday, March 1st.

The East Coast Music Awards return to CBC. Fans of East Coast Music can catch the star-studded spectacular live at 8:30pm NT/8pm AT/7pm ET on CBC's digital channel bold or on the internet at cbc.ca/eastcoastmusic. The main CBC Television network will broadcast the East Coast Music Awards at 11pm in all time zones/11:30 NT.

The stellar line-up of artists for this year's East Coast Music Awards showcases Atlantic Canada's emerging talent to the country, including Hey Rosetta!, Jill Barber, Tara Oram, Christina Martin, Meaghan Blanchard, RADIO-RADIO, MIR, David Myles, Ryan LeBlanc, and Troy MacGillivray. The ECMA Awards Show also features the reunion of quintessential East Coast Celtic-rockers, Rawlins Cross.

"The East Coast Music Association heard loud and clear from artists, members and fans that a broadcast of the 21st annual awards show from Corner Brook was important to promote our artists and East Coast Music," said Steve Horne, Executive Director of the East Coast Music Association. "We're excited to again partner with CBC to offer many opportunities for fans to get their fix of East Coast Music."

"This year again, east coast artists have produced an extraordinary amount of spectacular music," said Jac Gautreau, ECMA Awards Show producer. "We've put together a jam-packed music filled show with east coast stars sharing the stage with exciting new performers."

Riding the waves of their critically acclaimed latest album - which won the XM Satellite Radio Verge Award for Best Album - four-time ECMA 2009 nominees Hey Rosetta! return home from touring Australia to rock ECMA weekend.

With four nominations this year, past ECMA winner Jill Barber returns to the East Coast, with her sultry, distinctive voice, after touring across Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia during the past year.

Country singer-songwriter Tara Oram is excited about returning to her home province with three ECMA 2009 nominations after her success on Canadian Idol, her own reality TV show on CMT, and JUNO and Canadian Radio Music Award nominations.

This year's East Coast Music Awards features some rising songwriters from across Atlantic Canada including Halifax-based Christina Martin, a multiple Music Nova Scotia award winner originally from New Brunswick; and Meaghan Blanchard, who won four Music PEI awards last month.

Three guys. Seven years. Six awards. Twenty-six nominations. Four studio albums. Seven music videos. Five charting radio singles. Toured four continents in last 2 years. With worldwide internet following and critical acclaim, multiple ECMA nominees and winners MIR will perform.

Multiple ECMA nominee David Myles brings his creativity, vocal versatility and musical dexterity to ECMA 2009 in Corner Brook.

Ryan LeBlanc is a progressive, innovative solo instrumentalist from New Brunswick who interlaces guitar, djembe, harmonica and banjo to produce a wide variety of upbeat and passionate musical pieces.

Winner of the 2008 Instrumental Recording of the Year, multi-instrumentalist and virtuoso, Troy MacGillivray, is nominated in 2009 for a unique collaboration with Canadian and U.S. National Fiddle Champion Shane Cooke.

The reunion of quintessential East Coast Celtic-rockers, Rawlins Cross will ignite memories of the East Coast Celtic music wave of the 1990's. Performing together for almost twenty years, they are back and have just released their seventh album Anthology.

Artists from Newfoundland's traditional and country music scenes will perform in a special tribute to Dick Nolan, the 2009 recipient of the Dr. Helen Creighton Lifetime Achievement Award. Nolan, originally from Corner Brook, NL, was a pioneer of Newfoundland's music industry, sharing the music of his province with the rest of Canada.

CO-HOSTS
Radio Broadcaster, television host, musician, singer, manager, writer and producer - Jian Ghomeshi does it all. As host of CBC Radio One's 'Q', Jian introduces Canadians daily to new and innovative artists including many from the East Coast.

Damhnait Doyle is a songwriter, vocal powerhouse, budding director and multi-award winner who is excited and ready to co-host this year's East Coast Music Awards.

The 2009 East Coast Music Awards is produced by the East Coast Music Association. The creative team is led by Gemini-award winning producer Jac Gautreau, with Gemini-winning Mario Rouleau directing. The 2009 East Coast Music Awards broadcast is sponsored by the province of Newfoundland & Labrador (National Presenting Sponsor) and the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island (National Signature Sponsors).

The 2009 East Coast Music Awards, Festival & Conference will take place in Corner Brook from February 26-March 1 and is an annual event organized by the East Coast Music Association. The ECMA is a not-for-profit organization whose mandate it is to foster, promote and celebrate East Coast music locally and globally.

The 2009 East Coast Music Awards, Festival & Conference has received financial support from the Government of Canada through ACOA and Service Canada, Province of Newfoundland and Labrador through the Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, and the City of Corner Brook. The East Coast Music Association would also like to acknowledge the financial support of FACTOR and the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage (Canada Music Fund) and of Canada's private radio broadcasters.

Media Contacts:

For ECMA:
B.J. Grechuk, The Joseph Scott Entertainment Agency
bj@josephscott.ca

For CBC:
Debbie Hynes, CBC Communications St. John's
debbie.hynes@cbc.ca
709-576-5150

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"When Here Meets There" nominated for:
- Group Recording of the Year
- Traditional / Roots Recording of the Year

The 2009 East Coast Music Awards, Festival & Conference will take place in Corner Brook, Newfoundland  from February 26th to March 1st, 2009.
Visit www.ecma.com for more information.

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Despite whatever perils the music industry might be facing, they haven’t stopped East Coast musicians from continuing to create recordings that delight, astonish and move us.

But trying to assemble a year-end list of favourite CDs from this region feels like an even more substantial task in 2008 than in years past, and as I gaze at a pair of two-foot high stacks of releases in every conceivable style, the best approach appears to be micromanaging and breaking things down into genres, awards show style. The best part is, there won’t be any lame monologues, rambling acceptance speeches or commercial breaks; just my completely biased opinion.

Favourite traditional recording of 2008

Another tough call, and this time I’m stuck between South Shore siblings Drumlin and their reinterpretation of songs from the Helen Creighton collection on Mackerel Skies and Lanark virtuoso Troy MacGillivray, who joined forces with Ontario old-time fiddle champ Shane Cook on When Here Meets There.

Ultimately I have to go with the MacGillivray/Cook combination. Just when I think I’ve heard every possible variation on the Celtic fiddle sound, along come two world-class musicians from two similar, but disparate styles to challenge each other and raise the bar even higher.

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Gordie Sampson and Matt Mays & El Torpedo Lead the Pack with Five East Coast Music Award Nominations. Hey Rosetta! and Jill Barber Receive Four Nominations Each.

(Corner Brook, NL) - The East Coast Music Association announced the 2009 Music Award nominees today at the Pepsi Centre in Corner Brook. Leading the list with five ECMA nominations each is Gordie Sampson and Matt Mays & El Torpedo. Following closely with four nominations each is Hey Rosetta! and Jill Barber while Christina Martin, David Myles, Tara Oram and The Tom Fun Orchestra each pick upthree nominations.

An amazing 16 artists received two nomination nods apiece: Age of Daze, Bette & Wallet, Chad Hatcher, Damhnait Doyle, Dave Carroll, Duane Andrews, Hot Toddy, JD Clarke, Joel Plaskett Emergency, Matt Andersen, Max MacDonald, Meaghan Blanchard, MIR, Paul Hébert, Troy MacGillivray, and Vishtèn. For a complete list of nominees, see www.ecma.com

"The 2009 East Coast Music Award nominees truly reflect the vibrant musical diversityamong East Coast artists, from well-established and popular bands and musicians to fresh new faces and sounds." said Wade Pinhorn, chair of the East Coast Music Association. The East Coast Music Awards continue to be a celebration of the region's immense wealth of talent, once again bringing East Coast music into a national and international spotlight."

Award nominees are chosen by juries of industry professionals from all five regions of the East Coast Music Association: Newfoundland & Labrador, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, mainland Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island.

Voting ballots will be sent to all eligible members of the East Coast Music Association, who will vote on the award winners. Tickets for all Molson Canadian ECMAFest Shows, and the Music Awards Gala on Sunday
March 1, are now on sale via Ticketpro, 1-888-311-9090 or www.ticketpro.ca and at various on-site locations in Corner Brook including Colemans Food Center (Caribou Rd.), the Pepsi Centre Box Office and the Arts & Culture Centre Box Office.

The 2009 East Coast Music Awards, Festival & Conference will take place in Corner Brook from February 26th to March 1st. It is an annual festival and music industry conference organized by the East Coast Music Association whose mandate is to foster, promote and celebrate East Coast music locally and globally. The 2009 East Coast Music Awards, Festival & Conference has received financial support from the Government of Canada through ACOA and Service Canada, Province of Newfoundland and Labrador through the Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, and the City of Corner Brook. The East Coast Music Association would
also like to acknowledge the financial support of FACTOR and the Government of Canada through
the Department of Canadian Heritage (Canada Music Fund) and of Canada's private radio broadcasters.

Media Contact:
BJ Grechuk, The Joseph Scott Entertainment Agency
bj@josephscott.ca

Charlie Livingstone was "about the size of a cellphone" when he entered the world four months early on Jan. 2, 2004. His eyelids were fused together, he had a punctured lung and he was "pretty well see-through," his father, Chuck Livingstone, said.

Charlie was on life-support for two months at the IWK Health Centre before he took his first breath on his own. He remained at the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit for another two monthsbefore his father and mother, Nicki, could bring him home.

Premier Rodney MacDonald met Mr. Livingstone at the hospital Monday, where Mr. MacDonald announced he will pick up his fiddle for Ceilidhs for Kids, a concert series in support of the neonatal intensive care
unit.

"If I can use my position and my musical background to give back a little bit, then hopefully we can raise a few dollars that may provide an opportunity for some additional equipment or to make life a little bit easier on family members who could be here for months at a time. . . that's my goal," Mr. MacDonald said.

The premier, who is a well-known fiddle player, will play alongside musicians like Raylene and Jimmy Rankin, John Gracie, Dave MacIsaac, Troy MacGillivray and a number of others, at four concerts in Halifax,
New Glasgow, Wolfville and Liverpool from Nov. 26 to Dec. 5.

Just how much the premier and friends hope to raise for the children's hospital hasn't been discussed.

But Jocelyn Vine, the hospital's vice-president of patient care, said "the neonatal (intensive care) unit has a very high need for excellent staff with great education, lots of technology that's changing and evolving all the time, so . . . the fundraising will be put to very good use."

Mr. Gracie watched as the premier played his fiddle in a hospital playroom for a small group of young patients and their families, including a baby girl who wiggled happily to the tune and a boy in a
wheelchair who tapped his toes on the floor.

The friend of the premier said audiences will get "more than their money's worth" at the concerts, which will include individual performances and jam sessions, and possibly a few of the premier's original compositions.

With two children of his own that have "been here (at the hospital) more than once or twice," Mr. Gracie was more than happy to offer his support for the cause.

Mr. Livingstone, whose voice shook as he addressed the premier and the small crowd, said there is a 20 per cent survival rate for children like Charlie. And of those who live, there is an 80 per cent chance of
a severe disability, he said.

Charlie's now four and a half, and "I'm very happy to say he's 100 per cent completely normal, no problems, nothing's slowed him down," Mr. Livingstone said.

"He plays hockey, soccer, skating, basketball, the whole works."

Charlie couldn't attend Monday's announcement, he was home sick with a cold, but his father wanted to thank the premier for his efforts.

The neonatal intensive care unit, he said, is "a pretty special place for myself and my family."

Mr. MacDonald said he recognized how important the children's hospital is to the people of Nova Scotia and the entire Atlantic region. But he also has a very personal reason for hitting the stage.

His wife, Lori-Ann, had a difficult pregnancy and spent three months in the Halifax hospital before the birth of their son, Ryan, now 10.

"I can appreciate what many of these families are going through and it's my way of trying to give back," he said.

THE TOUR:

Premier Rodney MacDonald will host the Ceilidhs for Kids concert series, starting Nov. 26 at the Bella Rose Arts Centre in Halifax. 

The remaining concerts are:

Nov. 28: North Nova Education Centre in New Glasgow
Nov. 30: Festival Theatre in Wolfville
Dec. 5: Astor Theatre in Liverpool
Tickets are $15 a person and will be available at the above venues.

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I recently received a pair of recordings that come from Antigonish Countys MacGillivray family. Kendra and Troy are very talented siblings, both primarily fiddlers and both East Coast Music Award winners. In the past few months they have both released new CDs, Kendras solo effort  Love O The Isles  and Troys duet recording with Shane Cook  When Here Meets There.

Kendra has lived in Prince Edward Island for the past few years, continuing to play while raising her young family. Love O The Isles gives us a dozen cuts that range from tranquil slow airs to traditional Antigonish polkas, to boisterous and rollicking hornpipes and reels. Recorded at Lakewind Sound Studios in Point Aconi, Kendra doesnt have to stray far to gather up some excellent backup.

The piano chores are shared between her brother Troy and Tracey Dares, Elmer Deagle plays guitar and a bit of banjo, Cheryl Smith handles the percussion and Troy adds bass on a few cuts, a nice compact combo of very talented people.

Kendra has selected the music well. She leans heavily on traditional tunes and some of the Scottish masters such as Skinner, Mackintosh and Grant, but she has also included local and regional composers as
diverse as Wilfred Gillis and Ned Landry, even including one of her own tunes.

As expected, Kendras playing is spot-on, and she has laid out some great arrangements.

My personal favourite is the second cut that starts with a jig and moves on to a pair of lively reels, including Mark Anthony Rainnie, a reel composed for her son.

Meanwhile, When Here Meets There gives us a different slant on traditional music with a pair of young players who are among the best in their individual fields. Troy is well known around here as an incredible fiddler and pianist, a favourite for dances and concerts and this years winner of the ECMA for Instrumental Recording.

Shane Cook has garnered a sack full of awards for his playing, including being a Canadian Open, Canadian Grand Masters and U.S. Grand National champion.

Individually, they are terrific. Together they are better than the sum of the two parts, a powerful combination that is eclectic in tastes and astounding in virtuosity. Their music blends together seamlessly, the different styles weaving in and out, bubbling to the surface only to be overtaken by something newer, greater and even more pleasing.

Produced by Ray Legere, who also plays mandolin on the recording, the CD was mainly recorded at Troys home in Lanark with additional bits and pieces added in at studios as far away as Scotland. The backup musicians are just as diverse, with the most familiar names being Skip Holmes and Scott Macmillan.

This is a powerful CD with some amazing playing with a wonderful variety of music. It would be hard to pick out a favourite, but I lean towards Bovaglies Plaid that features Troy on piano, backed up by several layers of strings on violin and viola.

I am also quite taken by the final cut  The Reprobate  which mixes jigs, strathspeys and reels with incredible ease, showcasing fiddles and piano weaving in and out and around throughout the piece.

I suggest that you look for these CDs and dont be shy about adding both to your collection. Or put them on your Christmas list. Its not that far away.

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This Saturday evening (October 25th) at 8:06 pm Atlantic Time, CBC Radio's "Island Echoes" will feature Troy MacGillivray with Allan Dewar (piano) and Cheryl Smith (snare). Recorded live at the Knox Presbyterian Church in Baddeck during the Celtic Colours International Festival. Hosted by Wendy Bergfeldt.

Listen to Island Echoes on CBC Radio 1 in Cape Breton (1140 am) or online at: www.cbc.ca/islandechoes/

Nova Scotia fiddler Troy MacGillivray is up for three trophies at the Canadian Folk Music Awards.

Antigonish native MacGillivray is up for instrumental solo artist of the year for Live at the Music Room and is nominated with Ontario old-time fiddler Shane Cook for traditional album of the year and instrumental group of the year for When Here Meets There.

Margaree fiddler Chrissy Crowley competes against family Celtic/folk/pop band Drumlin for young performer of the year. Their CDs are Demo and Mackerel Skies respectively. And Dave Carroll, who with his brother Don makes up Sons of Maxwell, is nominated in the contemporary singer of the year category for Perfect Blue.

The late fiddler Oliver Schroer, who died in July of leukemia, leads the field of nominees after being nominated for contemporary album of the year, solo instrumentalist of the year, producer of the year and a  category called pushing the boundaries. The awards ceremony takes place Sunday, Nov. 23 at the Arts and Cultural Centre in St. Johns.

Vancouver roots singer-songwriter Wyckham Porteous is tied with MacGillivray with three nominations.

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ANTIGONISH’S Troy MacGillivray is a peerless Celtic musician, as proficient on fiddle as he is on piano, but he’s also a gifted collaborator.

Whether it’s with fellow Nova Scotian players (including sisters Kendra and Sabra), Scottish musicians like guitarist Anna Massey and flutist Nuala Kennedy, or even a one-off ECMA performance with jazz musicians like bassist Adam Fine and sax player Dani Oore, MacGillivray likes to spread his talent around.

"I hope that’s OK," he says with a self-effacing laugh. "I’ve never really thought about it, as in "Who will I work with this time’ Anything I do just sort of happens.

"I get an idea, and usually it involves the people I’m hanging out with at the time, and usually it works out nicely. At least I hope it does."

MacGillivray’s latest project is When Here Meets There, a collaboration with Ottawa fiddle champion Shane Cook, who has several titles under his belt, including being the only Canadian to win the U.S. Grand National Fiddle Championship.

The two had often crossed paths, at Jerry Holland’s fiddle camp and on the road in Ontario, and eventually a friendship and appreciation for each other’s gifts developed.

"We’d be playing in the same concert with some other acts, and at some point we’d do a couple of songs together, and that led to doing our own shows together, and that’s where we got the idea to do a record together," explains MacGillivray.

This week a Maritime tour featuring the pair plus guitarist Skip Holmes and Ray Legere on mandolin — who also perform on the CD — kicks off today at Mabou’s Strathspey Place at 7:30 p.m., with guest pianist Betty Lou Beaton. That’s followed by a Sunday matinee at Sackville, N.B.’s Music Barn at 2 p.m.

The road trip continues on Wednesday at the Courthouse Theatre in Sherbrooke at 7:30 p.m. and the Al Whittle Theatre in Wolfville on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The dates wrap up with shows at the deCoste Centre in Pictou on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 8 p.m. and the Bicentennial Theatre in Middle Musquodoboit on Sunday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m.

What’s remarkable about When Here Meets There, as implied by the title, is the way it combines MacGillivray’s Celtic playing with Cook’s old-time sound, with the two players weaving in and out of stylistic sync as they play solo and unison parts. There’s definitely a unique harmony taking place on the album, bridging what MacGillivray sees as a split between the Celtic and old-time traditions.

"I guess there’s a divide there, I don’t know why that would be," he muses. "I just like good music; if it sounds good to me then I’ll probably want to try and play it.

"And it’s not even a geographical divide. Even in our own province the Scottish musicians don’t really know the old-time players and vice versa. They could be in the same community and not even know each other. Ottawa is a good example; you have Maxville, which is really Scottish, on one side, and then on the other side of town you have the old-time scene, and they have no idea about each other, even though they’re only a half-hour or 45 minutes apart. It’s odd"

What caught MacGillivray’s ear about Cook’s playing was his remarkable ability to absorb styles, mimic them and then perfect them.

"Shane definitely comes from the old-time school, and he does a great job of it, but he grew up with a lot of Irish music too, so he’s no stranger to Celtic styles.

"And being from Antigonish, I play the strathspeys and reels, but I’ve also picked up polkas and hornpipes which a lot of Celtic fiddlers wouldn’t necessarily play. So we’re both kind of stuck in the middle of a few different styles. It worked out kinda nice when it came to this project."

For ticket information go to troymacgillivray.com

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What do you get when you pair an ECMA Award Winner with a Canadian Grand Master Fiddle Champion You get a dynamic live performance featuring two of the most highly acclaimed fiddlers around! "When There Meets Here" is a new CD that is a must-have for fiddle aficionados… it is the coming together of Troy MacGillivray’s driving Nova Scotian fiddle and piano with Shane Cook’s swinging Ontario-oldtime fiddle. And fiddle fans in the Maritimes will be able to hear this dynamic team live in concert as they travel around NS, NB and PEI September 26th - October 5th.

When Here Meets There is an exciting new collaboration between these two young Canadian fiddlers at the top of their game.

"Shane and I have been talking about doing a project together for a while... Shane started to make a new CD that turned into both of us working on it, sharing the duties and ideas and bringing together a sound that is definitely a new feel and twist in century old tunes", says MacGillivray.

"It’s a mix of East Coast and Ontario, of bluegrass, country and Scottish tradition".

In concert, Troy and Shane together provide an astonishing breadth of styles, tunes, and arrangements individually but together there is an obvious excitement and spark between the two players and their ensemble that is infectious. The ensemble includes New Brunswick mandolin player Ray Legere, Nova Scotia guitarist Skip Holmes and Troy’s sister, Sabra MacGillivray who dances during the show.

"Ray Leger is a great friend of Shane's and a man that I have heard of for many years and have great respect for", says MacGillivray. Adds Cook, "He is one of the best musicians that exists who is definitely proud of his East Coast roots and it shows in his personality and his music. Skip Holmes was a regular face on "Up Home Tonight" for a number of years and has played with hundreds of fiddlers from around the world".

And MacGillivray is used to playing with his sister Sabra … they have been a powerful musical team for over 20 years! "Sabra is a highly acclaimed highland and stepdancer, not to mention plays a mean bodhran!" says MacGillivray. "Its great to have her along on this tour—it brings a whole other dimension to the live performance." For more information on tickets and concert times, or to purchase When There Meets Here online, please visit www.troymacgillivray.com and www.shanecook.com . To listen to tracks from the new CD, please visit www.sonicbids.com/whenheremeetsthere

In August, Troy had the honour of being a judge for the first time at the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championships in Ottawa. The Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship was conceived by a group of people interested in preserving Canadian Traditional Fiddling, and giving recognition to the excellent fiddlers  found across Canada.

"I had a great time being on the other side of the table this year", says Troy. "It’s a totally different perspective and not as easy as it looks with so many great fiddlers in Canada." Quebec’s Andre Brunet was selected as the 2008 Canadian Grand Masters Champion.

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August 2008 - News Articles

Musician Proud To Represent Canada, The Casket Newspaper  - READ ARTICLE (JPG)

Entertaining The Soldiers in Afghanistan, Celtic Life Magazine -  READ ARTICLE (PDF)

'Live At The Music Room' CD Review, Celtic Life Magazine  - READ ARTICLE (PDF)

ANTIGONISH, NS — Troy MacGillivray is halfway through 2008 and has already had a year filled with many firsts: his first ECMA Award win in February, his first time touring with a new band in Germany, the CD release of his first joint project in April (with Ontario fiddler Shane Cook) and in May, his first military tour to perform for the troops in the Middle East.

Troy MacGillivray was one of 14 Canadian entertainers from across the country who traveled to Afghanistan to entertain our troops in May for the Task Force Afghanistan Show Tour. The diverse cast put on four performances for troops over a two week period from May 16-28 around the Persian Gulf including Kandahar and Kabul.

"It was an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that was also very humbling, one I’m not soon to forget",
says MacGillivray. "The hospitality and giving from the troops from all the NATO forces was overwhelming.
It was great watching them enjoy and appreciate the music and entertainment. It’s an entirely different world over there … it is a place of strife where every day is more difficult than the day before. Every day it gets hotter - we arrived to a temperature of 56 degrees Celsius yet they still welcomed us with smiling faces and great happiness".

The tour was organized by the Canadian Forces Personnel and Family Support Services (CFPFSS),
the morale and welfare arm of the Canadian Forces (CF). The CFPFSS has a long tradition of providing
show tours to CF members serving overseas and in isolated locations. Over the course of any six-month
major mission, a CF Show Tour is usually held at the mid-point.

"These are great people representing Canada and I am very proud to have met some of them and to have had the honour to play for them", says MacGillivray. "They are amazing people who are risking their lives daily for the greater good of the world. It was incredibly humbling experience yet at the same time an incredible honour to bring a little piece of Nova Scotia, and Canada, to them half a world away".

"A CF Show Tour contributes immensely to the morale of deployed members," says Manager Deployment
Policies and Resources Mark Larose, "especially when topnotch Canadian talent takes centre
stage to perform for our servicemen and servicewomen half way around the world in a very harsh environment".

The show was directed and co-hosted by musical comedian Kenny Shaw. Also co-hosting was comedian
Pete Zedlacher who previously visited Afghanistan with a CF Show Tour in 2002. The remainder of
the show was filled with a variety of rock, pop, country and Celtic artists. Proving the Nova Scotia flair to
the tour were Troy MacGillivray along with fellow fiddler Kimberly Fraser and well-know local singer
Matt Minglewood. Additional performers included Duane Steele, Diane Chase, Ginette Genereux and
Toronto-based rock band Suckerfactory.

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SYDNEY - They call it the boneyard and it might be one of the most powerful images to grip Cape Breton fiddler Kimberley Fraser during a visit to Afghanistan, where she performed in front of thousands of  Canadian troops. Consisting of mangled machine wreckage, it's the place where tanks go after they've been hit by a roadside bomb and it's one memory, among many, Fraser will hold for a lifetime.

'Some of them were in really bad shape and some of the guys didn't make it out of there,' the 25-year-old Sydney Mines native said. 'There's that side of it, and then there's the story about the kids that they're helping go to school. They're helping to rebuild the country there. We got to see a lot of that stuff first hand.'

A first-time visitor to Afghanistan, Fraser joined Horizon Talent out of Calgary for a mid-May performance at the Canadian Forces base in Kandahar. Fraser travelled along with fiddler Troy MacGillivray of Antigonish County and Cape Breton rocker Matt Minglewood, who has performed in front of the troops before.

Fraser returned to Boston from Afghanistan, Thursday, where the ECMA winner is a student at the Berkeley College of Music. She said while she didn't feel unsafe during her tour, she also wasn't permitted to leave the base for safety reasons.

Fraser and the other performers did experience two rocket attacks, which sent them back to the bunkers, but said it isn't as dangerous as it sounds.

'We had a rocket attack during one of our shows in Kandahar, but it was kinda blown up a bit in the news. They actually happen probably three to four times if not more per week. It's old Soviet weapons that are shot down on the base, but they're not explosive,' Fraser said. 'No one's ever been hurt by them.'

Joining the Nova Scotia trio were four singers, two country acts, a bilingual singer, a house band and two comedians. The group performed four night shows, and slept in rooms and ate food similar to the soldiers.

'One of the things that struck me is it's so hot there. It can be 48-50º C there and we can wear whatever we want ' they have to wear their uniforms and their helmets and their weapons... I can't  imagine doing that. They're real heroes; they really, really are.'

After performances, the entertainment crew spoke with soldiers about their lives and duties in the desert and obtained autographs. Fraser said for her, a soldier's life is not always portrayed clearly in the media.

'They don't get a lot of live entertainment there, so when it comes along they're very appreciative of that. It was a huge honour, just to be asked to go on something like that. Just to ease their minds a bit about what they're doing,' she said.

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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Hundreds of NATO soldiers got a dash of Canadian music and humour Friday night before a Taliban rocket attack forced a troupe of entertainers to temporarily douse the lights at Kandahar Airfield.

The music and jokes had been flying for about an hour when the first explosion and siren forced everyone to scurry for nearby bunkers. No one was hurt.

Kandahar Airfield, the main base for Canadian and alliance troops in southern Afghanistan, has been hit routinely over the last few weeks with wildly erratic 107 mm rocket fire intended to harass NATO forces.

The show was interrupted for about an hour before performers retook the stage and carried on. One of the headline acts was East Coast blues rocker Matt Minglewood, who has spent the last couple of days mixing and chatting with the troops.

It is the guitarist's second trip to entertain soldiers in the war-torn country, and he said earlier Friday that a lot has changed in almost four years. Reading about the dangers and the casualties wasn't enough to prepare him for a "chilling" trip to what soldiers call "the bone yard" - a storage area at the base for armoured vehicles wrecked by roadside bombs.

"It's just brutal to see it," said Minglewood, who traded in his signature cowboy hat for a ball cap and a desert neck scarf.

"People at home, they would never understand until you look in a vehicle where people lost their lives in. It brings the reality smack dab in front of your face."

Country singer Diane Chase, on her third concert tour in Afghanistan, said she looks up to soldiers and believes most Canadians feel the same way, even if they can't be here.

"People talk about having baseball players as heroes, you know, break world record. That's not a hero, these are heroes."

Musical comedian Kenny Shaw hosted the show, performed in front of troops from Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia, Portugal, France and Romania. Chase said she was excited to bring a little bit of Canada to troops, not only from back home but from other countries as well.

"They're just so grateful of us giving up our time to come over and perform for them," said Chase prior to the show.

"What we get back is far greater than what we bring them. It's hard to go home and perform for a regular audience after being here."

The musicians held an impromptu jam with soldiers, some of them just returned from forward operating bases for rest and relaxation, outside of the main Canadian recreation hall on Thursday night. One soldier broke out his own guitar and started playing, much to the delight of singer Ginette Genereux.

"He was really good, doing the guitar riffs and everything," said Genereux, who was the opening act.

The other performers included Celtic musicians Troy MacGillivray and Kimberley Fraser, the Toronto-based rock band Suckerfactory and Alberta country singer Duane Steele.

The tour was organized by Canadian Forces Personnel and Family Support Services.

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May 14, 2008
Afghanistan Show Tour Delivers Entertainment From Home

OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- A group of ten Canadian entertainers from across the country will combine their talents and travel to Afghanistan to entertain our troops in May for the Task Force Afghanistan Show Tour. The diverse cast will put on five performances for troops over a two week period starting May 18.

These show tours are organized for each Afghanistan six-month rotation by the Canadian Forces Personnel and Family Support Services (CFPFSS), the morale and welfare arm of the Canadian Forces (CF). The CFPFSS has a long tradition of providing show tours to CF members serving overseas and in isolated locations. Over the course of any six-month major mission, a CF Show Tour is usually held at the mid-point.

"A CF Show Tour contributes immensely to the morale of deployed members," says Manager Deployment Policies and Resources Mark Larose, "especially when topnotch Canadian talent takes centre stage to perform for our servicemen and servicewomen half way around the world in a very harsh environment".

The show will be directed and co-hosted by musical comedian Kenny Shaw. Also co-hosting is comedian Pete Zedlacher who previously visited Afghanistan with a CF Show Tour in 2002. The remainder of the show will be filled with a variety of rock, pop, country and Celtic artists. Singers Matt Minglewood, Duane Steele, Diane Chase, Ginette Genereux and Toronto-based rock band Suckerfactory will no doubt have the troops singing along. Adding some east coast flair to the show are Celtic fiddlers Troy MacGillivray and Kimberly Fraser.

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Shane Cook (right), of Dorchester, Ontario and Troy MacGillivray, of Antigonish, Nova Scotia have just completed their new CD and they played one of their promotional concerts right here in Tillsonburg. The concert, which was a sellout, was also a fundraiser for Victorian Order of Nurses Oxford’s Sakura House hospice.  Cook is one of Canada’s most highly awarded old-time fiddlers, a 3-time Canadian Open Fiddle champion, 3-time Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Champion, Grand North American Fiddle Champion and the only Canadian to win the US Grand National Fiddle Championship. Troy MacGillivray, is an accomplished fiddler, pianist and step dancer and most recently won the 2008 East Coast Music Award for Instrumental Album of the Year.

When Here Meets There is an exciting new collaboration between two young Canadian fiddlers at the top of their game. Shane Cook of Dorchester, Ontario is one of Canada's most highly awarded old-time
fiddlers: 3-time Canadian Open Fiddle champion, 3-time Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Champion, Grand North American Fiddle Champion, and the only Canadian to win the US Grand National Fiddle Championship. Troy MacGillivray of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, is an accomplished fiddler, pianist and step dancer; he most recently won the 2008 East Coast Music Award for Instrumental Album of the Year. Individually, these
two fiddlers are virtuosic musicians and dynamic performers; together, stimulating and feeding off of each other and their top-tier back-up musicians, they are inspirational.

The album provides an astonishing breadth of styles, tunes, and arrangements. While each fiddler has several opportunities to shine on solo sets that emphasize his particular strengths, my favourite sets on the album are those that Shane and Troy play together. There's an obvious excitement and spark between the two players and their ensemble that is infectious. Their combined lift and rhythmic drive propel the music forward.

While each fiddler brings to the album a flavour of his own, the contrast between their playing is nothing but complementary. Perhaps my favourite tune on the album is "Archie Menzie's". After playing the tune through in unison, well-matched in style, tone, variations, and ornaments, and yet not erasing the unique sound of either, each fiddler plays the tune through by himself, each version excellent, and each version very different. There can be no mistake that Troy, gritty and strongly rhythmic, plays the tune through first and Shane, slightly smoother, with unique melodic variations, plays second. This is a wonderful opportunity to hear how two of the top players in their respective traditions shape the tune to make it their own. Shane has
a considerable reputation amongst fiddlers for his individual, unique style that is not always predictable, but almost always recognizable for its daring, yet ever tasteful, melodic and rhythmic adventures. Troy demonstrates a similar inclination to flirt with stylistic boundaries, most notably in a number of original tunes included on the album. Some will challenge the listener; all will please.

Although the tunes are obviously very carefully arranged, they still manage to sound fresh and inspired, with a spark and energy that is easiest to capture before they have been endlessly rehearsed. Several of the transitions between tunes, in particular, are quite unusual and grab the listener's attention. The play with textures, both between the two fiddlers and with the ensemble, is also especially effective. Techniques such as soloing, doubling of the melody by back-up musicians, harmonizing both whole tunes and short phrases here and there, and playing in different octaves all serve to highlight the talents of the individual musicians, as well as create an remarkable listening experience.

In short, this album provides something for everyone; for those who like the old standards and those who like the cutting edge. For those who are familiar with the playing of Shane Cook and Troy MacGillivray
as individuals, their collaboration will surprise and delight. When Here Meets There, when Ontario meets Nova Scotia, when Canadian old-time, Cape Breton, French-Canadian, Shetland, Texas and other styles and tunes from a variety of traditions meet on this album, the result is truly magical.

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Troy MacGillivray played over 250 performances in 2007 … and still managed to record and release a new CD! Live At The Music Room is Troy’s most invigorating and toe-tapping release yet and features the best of the traditional Celtic music world all wrapped up in a single package. And last night, Live At The Music Room garnered Troy his first ECMA Award for Instrumental Recording of the Year!

The ECMA’s are a four-day music industry conference and ceremony which took place in Fredericton this year. The event culminated in a gala on Sunday night at the Aitken Centre in Fredericton in which over 20 awards were distributed honouring the best in East Coast music over the past year.

Live At The Music Room is MacGillivray’s 4th solo release. Despite the fact that all of his previous recordings have received ECMA nominations, this release marks the first time MacGillivray has received the award. "People have been asking me for the past three or four years to make a live CD. Last year, the timing was finally right. The Music Room is a great facility to play in and the whole idea just came together in a matter of days. We had a fun night and the tracks sounded so good, that I just decided ‘why not’ " says MacGillivray from Fredericton Sunday night, where he was reveling in the recognition from his peers.

The Music Room on Lady Hammond Road in Halifax did indeed provide for a proper concert presentation of Troy’s gifts on both fiddle and keyboard. On the CD, MacGillivray delivers a toe-tapping, invigorating musical journey that is both a concert and ceilidh wrapped up in an incredible listening experience! The unique acoustics of The Music Room are paired with the intimate rapport of Troy and the audience to provide 70 minutes of pure entertainment that flies by so quick, you feel as if you are at the concert instead of actually listening to a CD. Accompanying Troy on the CD are ECMA Award winner Dave MacIsaac on guitar and fellow Antigonish-native Allan Dewar on piano. Special guest appearances by guitarist Brad Davidge and step-dancer Sabra MacGillivray (Troy’s sister) round out the tracks on the CD that Juno Award winning engineer Chad Irshick put the finishing touches to at his studio, Inception Sound in Toronto, to create one of the most dynamic traditional CD’s to come out of Atlantic Canada in recent years.

Troy MacGillivray is also the 2005 winner of the Danny Kyle Stage from the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow, Scotland and the 2004 Auleen Theriault Young Tradition Award winner from the Goderich Celtic Roots Festival in Goderich, Ontario - an award given to an artist that shows outstanding talent and love for traditional and roots-based music. Troy MacGillivray's career has kicked into high gear in recent years and is moving into overdrive with this latest recognition - the ECMA Award - and the release of Live At The Music Room, which is now available online at www.troymacgillivray.com

-30-

Contact: Troy MacGillivray or Pam Wamback
(902)863-1067 / (902)499-1657
info@troymacgillivray.com 

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A repeat broadcast of the Cape Breton Live concert filmed at The Rose Theatre in Brampton, Ontario in November 2006 will air tonight on Bravo! TV. Featuring Troy MacGillivray, Natalie MacMaster, Andrea Beaton, Glenn Graham, Howie MacDonald, Cheryl Smith, Buddy MacDonald, Kate Quinn and Bob Quinn.

Bravo! TV Canada, 7:00pm ET  |  Bravo Website
Portions of this concert can be heard on Cape Breton Live

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Troy MacGillivray played over 250 performances in 2007 and still managed to record and release a new CD. Live At The Music Room is his most toe-tapping release yet and features the best of the traditional Celtic music world all wrapped up in a single package. He will launch it in Wolfville, NS. next week.

The Music Room in Halifax is one of the finest acoustic spaces in Canada and houses a New York-built Steinway grand piano, which showcased the musical talents of MacGillivray for this live recording. Accompanying him on the CD are ECMA Award winner Dave MacIsaac on guitar and fellow Antigonish native Allan Dewar on piano. Special guest appearances by guitarist Brad Davidge and step-dancer and sister Sabra MacGillivray round out the tracks on the CD.

Juno Award-winning engineer Chad Irchick put the finishing touches to at his studio, Inception Sound in Toronto. Live At The Music Room is MacGillivray’s fourth solo release.

MacGillivray was the 2005 winner of the Danny Kyle Stage from the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow, Scotland and the 2004 Auleen Theriault Young Tradition Award winner from the Goderich Celtic Roots Festival, an award given to an artist that shows outstanding talent and love for traditional and roots-based music.

The new CD will be featured in a release concert at Al Whittle Theatre Friday, Feb. 1 starting at 8 p.m. Accompanying him at the concert will be Allan Dewar and Brent Chaisson with a special guest appearance by local favourites, the Fiddlestickers. Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door.

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Troy MacGillivray’s Live at the Music Room CD is ready for release with a special show in the very same Lady Hammond Road venue on Friday night. He also plays St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Whycocomagh on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Port Hawkesbury at the Grand Slam of Curling on Dec. 20 and the Celtic Touch Highland Dance Christmas Concert at the SAERC on Dec. 21.

JUST A MONTH shy of a year after recording it, Antigonish Celtic maestro Troy MacGillivray’s Live at the Music Room CD is ready for release with a special show in the very same Lady Hammond Road venue on Friday night.

Part of the same group of musical siblings that gives us fiddling sister Kendra and stepdancer Sabra, Troy MacGillivray has shown both great skill and feeling for the music on his studio CDs Musical Ties, Boomerang and Eleven. But if you’ve heard him perform live, you’ve seen him work up a sweat with that extra jolt of Gaelic fire that only a live audience and without-a-net atmosphere can kindle.

MacGillivray has some live clips available on his website (www.troymacgillivray.com) but Live at the Music Room gives us the listening pleasure of a studio-quality recording in the famed hall’s acoustically perfect environment as well as the extra energy of a concert setting, with pianist Allan Dewar and guitarists Dave MacIsaac and Brad Davidge drivin’ ’er right along.

As a bonus, you get to hear Sabra stepdance, which doesn’t really compare to seeing her kick up her heels in person, but may serve as an added incentive to get to the show on Friday.

It’s been a busy fall for MacGillivray; since October he’s played Celtic Colours, the Celtic Nations Heritage Festival of Louisiana, the Clear Lake Celtic Music Festival in Texas, plus concerts in New England, including the Boston Tree Lighting Event.

At the moment he’s recording a project with New Brunswick fiddler Ray Legere, guitarist Skip Holmes and 1999 U.S. Grand National Fiddle Champion Shane Cook, a versatile Ontario player who’s mastered a variety of styles, which should make for an intriguing meeting of musical minds.

And MacGillivray’s still got a few shows to go until Christmas, including St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Whycocomagh on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and appearances in Port Hawkesbury at the Grand Slam of Curling on Dec. 20 and the Celtic Touch Highland Dance Christmas Concert at the SAERC on Dec. 21. Then it’s over to Glasgow for the huge Celtic Connections festival in January, where he’ll likely reconnect with many of the Scottish musicians who grace the cross-Atlantic tracks on Eleven.

The Music Room concert starts at 8 p.m., tickets are $15 and can be reserved by calling 429-9467 or e-mailing tyler@scotiafestival.ns.ca. Seating is limited, so it’s best to ensure you have tickets ahead of time.

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October 9, 2007
Celtic Colours project strikes a chord with group of musicians
LAURA JEAN GRANT, The Cape Breton Post

BADDECK — Take 10 talented musicians, a picture-perfect setting, and Flo Sampson’s home cooking and you have all the ingredients needed to make musical magic. For the past four days some of the best Canadian and Scottish roots/traditional artists have been holed up in a Beinn Bhreagh home sharing their own songs and collaborating on new material and tunes which will be performed publicly for the first time tonight at Strathspey Place in Mabou, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The New Tunemakers is a special project of this year’s Celtic Colours International Festival and features well-known local musicians Troy MacGillivray, Glenn Graham, Andrea Beaton, Ryan J. MacNeil, Colin Grant, Prince Edward Island’s Patricia Murray, Metis fiddler Sierra Noble and the three members of Scotland band, Lau, - Aidan O’Rourke, Martin Green and Kris Drever.

O’Rourke said the project was devised by Celtic Colours co-director Joella Foulds and inspired by Scotland’s Burnsong project where a dozen artists spent a week together collaborating on new material.
With just four days to prepare for tonight’s show, O’Rourke said Sunday was the icebreaker day where everyone got to know each other and one another’s music during a jam session, and Monday and Tuesday were full days of writing and practising new tunes. The group will hold a final day of rehearsal today at Strathspey Place.

"It’s quite interesting for us as a band to work under this kind of pressure," he said, noting he, Green and Drever typically spend a lot of time fine-tuning new songs before performing them.
With a wall of windows overlooking the Bras d’Or Lakes as their backdrop, a fireplace keeping things toasty and lots of good food and snacks to keep the creative juices flowing, Green said the past few days have been a unique experience.

"It’s been fantastic," he said. "We’re in a beautiful spot and that never hurts."
O’Rourke said working with other musicians and creating new traditional tunes makes the time and effort required worth it.

"It’s really rewarding to know these quality new tunes are being written," he said, adding, "The atmosphere is good, morale is high."

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View photos from this concert

Dan Crook and Carla Sandstrom, whom I had met at the Tommy Peoples and Jerry Holland concert in Montpelier, are avid anglers who greatly enjoy fishing in the Margaree area; while there over the years, they have developed a taste for Cape Breton music, which they have recently started sharing with their friends and colleagues in a series of house concerts, providing another venue to visiting Maritime musicians in the New England area.

I heard about the Saturday house concert from a posting on this list. Since I was planning on attending the Jerry Holland benefit concert in Boston on Sunday, and since Lebanon, New Hampshire, is not too far out of the way, I e-mailed Dan to see if he still had room for another attendee; he did, so I decided to treat myself to an evening of Troy MacGillivray’s fine music on the way to Boston.

Dan and Carla’s house parties begin with a social hour with appetizers and BYOB from 18h-19h. They are followed by music until the musicians want a break, at which point dessert is served. More music then follows until the musicians decide to quit for the evening. When I arrived, the happy hour was in full swing and I got to meet several of the attendees. I also got a chance to chat with Janine Randall, who was Troy’s accompanist on this mini-tour, which also included appearances at the Skye Theatre in South Carthage, Maine, at a house party at Clint and Beth Telford’s home in Braintree, Vermont, and at the Jerry Holland benefit concert in Boston.

Troy and Janine started playing around 19h20 and provided a couple of fine Cape Breton sets which were very well received by the attentive audience. The acoustics were excellent and Troy played without amplification, so one was able to hear the music au naturel, so to speak. After the second set, Troy provided introductions to some of the tunes in the sets he played; in each case, there was a tidbit or more of information of which I was previously unaware. The third set began with Space Available March, composed by the fiddler, comedian, and actor Marcel Doucet (1948-1992) [locally pronounced as if written "Doucette"], who was heavily involved in the musical productions The Rise and Follies of Cape Breton Island and Cape Breton Summertime Review, and in whose honour the state-of-the-art sound and recording studio, Studio Marcel Doucet, from which CKJM broadcasts in Chéticamp, was named. The fourth set started with Elmer Briand’s slow air Beautiful Lake Ainslie (which appears in a version by Jerry Holland in his The Fiddlesticks Collection CD), for which Janine Randall’s accompaniment was superb; I don’t know how she did it, but she brought to my mind the rippling waters of Lake Ainslie under a clear blue sky, shimmering in the summer sun, whilst Troy’s beautiful rendering of the fiddle melody floated above the rhythmic pianistic waves. After another set (or possibly two—my notes are not clear), Troy took over the piano bench and played solo a fine set of tunes, none of whose names I have, starting with a slow air and ending with a virtuosic piece in which his fingers were flying through the descending cascades of notes with which it ends so fast that they were simply a blur to my eyes (I was seated not more than ten feet away), though not to my ears! The stunned audience, most of whom had never heard Troy play before, burst into applause at the end of this bravura performance!

It was time for a brief break. Troy had his latest CD, Eleven for sale; I noticed beside them a 7 × 8.5 inch booklet entitled Troy MacGillivray Fiddle Tunes. Published this year and designed by Troy and Pam Wamback, it contains fifteen of Troy’s compositions, four of which appear on his CD’s and one of which appears on his sister Kendra’s CD, in addition to some brief geographical, cultural, and biographical notes. I had a chance to chat briefly with Pam, who works in Nova Scotia’s Ministry of Tourism in Halifax; she was there overseeing the CD and booklet sales.

Once everyone was refreshed, Troy and Janine resumed playing. After a fiddle set beginning with the Carnival March, composed by Shetland composer and fiddler Gideon Stove (a version appears on Natalie MacMaster’s CD Fit as a Fiddle), Troy switched his fiddle tuning to high bass and gave us a Christy Campbell set (in introducing it, he misnamed it as Krispy Kreme, to the amusement of all, including Troy’s). Next, he explained that Antigonish square sets consist of five figures, with two of the five being danced to hornpipes and polkas; this led into a wonderful medley of hornpipes and polkas, many of which Troy got from his grandfather, Hugh Angus MacDonald, the celebrated Antigonish fiddler (1889-1976). A request from the audience led to a set with Gordon MacLean’s popular reel Mortgage Burn (which appears on Troy’s CD Eleven) and which Troy said had also been requested at the previous evening’s house party in Braintree. The next set began with the blind Scottish piper Archie MacNeill’s (1879-1962) pipe march Donald MacLean’s Farewell to Oban. This was followed by a long set containing Tulloch Gorm, ending in Troy step-dancing while he continued to play the fiddle at breakneck speed. A standing ovation ensued for this incredible performance! The encore featured a Jerry Holland tune (whose name I didn’t get) along with several other tunes. Janine’s piano accompaniment throughout was first class, never obtrusive and never pedestrian, but always solidly imaginative, complementary, and interesting; it sounded as if they had been playing together for years rather than three days. Indeed, she remarked how easy it was to accompany Troy as his playing was so true to the fiddlers she had heard and accompanied when she was first getting into the music, though she did admit, at the end of the evening, that her fingers were tired from keeping up with his hectic pace over the past three days.

The concert finished near 22h. I had an opportunity to speak with Troy afterwards and thank him for his fine music. His next CD, recorded live in Halifax, is currently in production; he hopes to have it available for Celtic Colours.

My thanks go to Troy and Janine for an evening of memorable music beautifully and energetically played with passion, and to Dan and Carla for their fine hospitality and for their kindness in fitting me in at the last moment. Their efforts to pass on to others the incredible richness and beauty of Cape Breton music through the quality of the performers they invite to play there are certainly off to a fine start and I wish them all possible success in this endeavour

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CARTHAGE - Troy MacGillivray, one of Canada's best young fiddlers, will take the stage Thursday, Sept. 6, at Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center.

MacGillivray's musical prowess can be attributed to a combination of commitment and bloodline. By age 6, he was already impressing audiences with his step dancing skills. By 13, he was teaching piano at the renowned Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts in St. Anne's, Cape Breton. He has completed grade seven of the Toronto Conservatory of Music for classical piano, has spent four years in a stringed orchestra and has earned a bachelor of arts degree with a major in music from St. Francis Xavier University.

Although engaged in a busy touring schedule, MacGillivray is on his way to Boston to participate in a benefit concert for mentor and friend Jerry Holland. Joining him on stage will be pianist Janine Randall founder of The Ceilidh Trail School of Celtic Music. Together, they will offer an evening of Celtic styles including Cape Breton, Scottish, and Irish fiddle tunes and step dancing.

Recent performance highlights include Celtic Connections 2004 in Glasgow, the 2004 East Coast Music Awards, Celtic Colours International Festival in Cape Breton, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, the Barbados Celtic Festival and the Edinburgh Fiddle Festival.

He also recorded a television program for the Bravo Television Network and provided music for a CBS made-for-TV movie starring Jane Seymour.

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SYDNEY - Bringin' It Home, Music Nova Scotia's annual musical tour of the province, comes to Cape Breton this weekend with two inspired pairings. Troy MacGillivray and Brad Davidge will appear Friday night at Royal Canadian Legion Branch 124, Iona, and Saturday night at the Octagon Arts Centre, Dingwall, and Sons of Maxwell and Scott Macmillan with Brian Doyle perform Saturday night at the Big Pond fire hall.

MacGillivray is a talented fiddler and piano player who has performed all over North America and from Switzerland to Australia. He was featured recently at Celtic Connections in Glasgow, Scotland, the East
Coast Music Awards in Halifax, Folk Alliance in Memphis, Tenn., and the
University of Wyoming.

Davidge is an exciting, versatile guitar player, full of energy and soul. His songwriting abilities are of a true craftsman, both mature yet current and his vocal abilities are endless, possessing a four-octave range. He regularly performs and records with Natalie MacMaster and has appeared on Good Morning America, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, CBS Morning Show, and ABC's New Year's Eve Special with Peter Jennings. His debut album, Unfolded, received coast to coast acclaim, including two Music Nova Scotia nominations, (album of the year, new artist of the year), and an ECMA for pop artist of the year.

Sons of Maxwell are a big hit with audiences of all ages. Don and Dave Carroll began singing together while attending university and started full-time music careers soon after graduation. Their pop-folk sound combines strong harmonies and thought-provoking lyrics with an interesting blend of musical styles that
has made them popular with a broad spectrum of people.

Macmillan is recognized as one of Canada's leading musicians and for playing an integral role in widening the audience for the music of Atlantic Canada both nationally and internationally. An exceptional guitarist, Macmillan has been nominated seven times for East Coast Music Awards, receiving the instrumental
artist of the year award in 1998, best classical recording for MacKinnon's Brook Suite in 2002 and Bach Meets Cape Breton with Puirt a Baroque in 1995.

Guitarist Doyle grew up in Margaree Forks. He was born into the Celtic music scene of pianos, fiddles, bagpipes and step dancers that were a part of his everyday life, performing with countless Cape Breton greats including Natalie MacMaster, Ashley MacIsaac, Buddy MacMaster, Howie MacDonald, Cameron Chisholm and Maybelle Chisholm to list just a few.

For the complete lineup and information about artists, venues and where to buy tickets,
visit www.musicnovascotia.ca.

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March 15, 2007 -- Troy MacGillivray, Ellen MacPhee and Jason Murdock will perform a free concert of traditional and contemporary Celtic music from Nova Scotia Thursday, March 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the University of Wyoming College of Education auditorium.

Whether playing piano or fiddle or showcasing his step dancing capabilities, MacGillivray displays commitment to the Celtic heritage he inherited from his Highland ancestors. By age six, he impressed audiences with his step dancing skills. At age 13, he taught piano at the renowned Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts in St. Anne's, Cape Breton. MacGillivray completed grade seven of the Toronto Conservatory of Music for classical piano, spent four years in a stringed orchestra, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Francis Xavier University.

Guest Ellen MacPhee is a Scottish small-piper, highly sought as a performer and a teacher. Guitar accompanist is UW student Jason Murdock, who has accompanied many of the top names in the Cape Breton tradition.

Other performers include Rod Garnett, professor in the UW Department of Music, Carrick Eggleston, professor in the UW Department of Geology and Geophysics, and UW students Amy Lenell of Cheyenne and Ingrid Thorstensen of Vikhammer, Norway.

The concert is sponsored by the UW Department of Music, UW Cultural Outreach, and the Associated Students of UW Student Activities Council. For more information call the Campus Activities Center at (307) 766-6340 or visit www.uwyo.edu/sac. 

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THE GREAT THING about Celtic music, especially here in Nova Scotia, is the ease with which it can transfer from the kitchen to the concert hall. Sure, you can dress it up with light show and splashy production if you want - Natalie MacMaster knocks 'em dead around the world doing just that - but often the sprit and the drive are plenty when it comes to entertaining crowds from a dozen or a few hundred.

Antigonish pianist and fiddler Troy MacGillivray is just the kind of artist who can do it; I've seen him play everywhere from someone's house to the Red Shoe Pub and a curling rink, and many different venues in between. But on Friday at 8 p.m. he's opting for one of the best venues for acoustic music you could hope
for, The Music Room on Lady Hammond Road for a proper concert presentation of his gifts on both fiddle and keyboard as well as making a live recording for future release.

"People have been asking me for the past three or four years to make a live CD, and I've always said no," says MacGillivray from his home in Lanark. "It's not that I wasn't interested, I just wasn't thinking about it.

"But over Christmas I was trying to figure out what direction I should go in next, and I'd been thinking about a Music Room concert for a while. Then I remembered they had a recording suite there, and the whole idea really just came together over a few days over the holidays."

Coming from a dynasty of musicians going back to grandfather Hugh A. MacDonald and including his sisters Kendra and Sabra, MacGillivray turned to a pianist with a similar lineage, Antigonish-area player Allan Dewar (son of noted pianist Marion Dewar), and also recruited the ne plus ultra of Celtic guitarists, Dave MacIsaac.

"I played with Dave when I was 16, when Kendra made her first CD, Clear the Track," recalls MacGillivray. "We played together a lot more after that, especially after he got off the road with Natalie.

"The great thing about Dave is he's so easy to play with. When I was a really young kid, I knew his music really well because he played on so many people's records. A lot of the time I'd end up listening to him more than the others."

As an added bonus, the evening will also include a set by special guest, guitarist/singer-songwriter Brad Davidge, known for his work with MacMaster as well as his own compositions on the CD Unfolded.

As for his CD, MacGillivray doesn't have a release date in mind yet for Friday night's recording, but he'd like to have it in hand before the summer music festival circuit gets under way. In the meantime, he's got a full slate with a trip to Scotland for the Celtic Connections festival and conference next week, plus trips to Wisconsin, Chicago, Folk Alliance in Memphis as well as some appearances at the ECMAs in Halifax in February, so listeners should catch him at home while they can.

Tickets for Troy MacGillivray and friends are $15 at the Music Room (429-9467 or 499-1657).

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