PhilPaine.com

A fab­u­lous night of music and con­ver­sa­tion. An assort­ment of local musi­cians at the vil­lage pub called Sterenn Roz (The Rose Star). These “ses­sion trad” have been held here for at least a quar­ter cen­tu­ry. Young and old, play­ing in dif­fer­ent com­bi­na­tions through­out the evening. No stage, just a com­fort­able mix of musi­cians and clien­tele. Peo­ple switch­ing instru­ments, drop­ping in or drop­ping out of a song as the spir­it moved them, glances exchanged between play­ers who found a com­mon groove. The Celtic way. There were accor­dions; gui­tars, bag­pipes, and a cou­ple of reed instru­ments resem­bling a medieval shawm which they called a bom­barde. Call-and-response, knees and feet catch­ing the tem­po. The style of per­for­mance, the rhythms and melodies bore a strong resem­blance to Cana­di­an folk music (It’s no acci­dent that the acknowl­edged region­al heart of Cana­di­an folk is Cape Bre­ton, Nova Sco­tia). But the fid­dle, the work­horse of Cana­di­an music, played no part. So the effect was a bit weird to me, as if some­one played blue­grass with no ban­jo. Read more »