Cape Breton Symphony Strathspey

The concert tonight was great! Beolach was only four in number rather than five... the group had been on Cape Cod for a folk festival and on their way home... the keyboard player, Mac Morin kept going I guess, he'll get back to Cape Breton before the others! The venue was pretty interesting. We followed the directions, which were perfect, we headed up the mountain on the slippery dirt road (wet from all the rain), followed the signs... to a parking lot with a big building that did not look like a concert hall. It's hard to describe, but definitely not what we expected, nor did it sound like Beolach expected it either. Very remote, very undeveloped, very 'rural Maine'. The concert was acoustic, in a large room, and we had a good time. We weren't in the front row, but because of the small area, we were able to see the fiddling styles of both Wendy MacIsaac and Mairi Rankin. The guitar player, Pat Gillis, is left handed and he learned by just picking up a guitar and playing... so, he plays left handed with the guitar reversed so the strings are upside down! The piper, Ryan J MacNeil played a variety of wind instruments. Wendy also filled in on keyboard since Mac wasn't there... oh yeah, neither was his keyboard, someone brought one in to use! We had a really good evening... great date night!
Cape Breton Symphony Strathspey comes from Jerry Holland's and the Cape Breton Jig can be found in the Portland Collection Volume Two. If anyone gets a chance to see Beolach, or to go to the New England Celtic Arts in Carthage, we highly recommend both!