The Glengarry Fiddlers
The Glengarry Fiddlers, from Glengarry County, Ontario, have been attending this festival (with varying personnel) for many years now. In an e-mail response to my query about the association between the Glengarry Fiddlers and the Cape Breton Fiddlers’ Association, Don MacPhee wrote:
“[The Glengarry Fiddlers’] association with Cape Breton goes back many years. Like CB, Glengarry has a strong tradition in Celtic (particularly Scottish) music and one of our clergy, Fr. John McPhail, himself a fiddler, often brought musicians from CB up to perform at our local St. Andrew’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day concerts back in the 50’s and 60’s. My mother, Mary Frances, was the pianist for those that did come and we entertained many in our home. Thirty years ago, under the leadership of Allan MacPhail, we formed the Glengarry Strathspey & Reel Society, a group dedicated to playing traditional Glengarry style music. In the mid 70’s we made our first recording and then were invited to play at the Cape Breton Fiddle Festival at Glendale. In those days, it was held every two years in July, and we tried to get a contingent to the festival on a regular basis. With our group aging and having problems with traveling (due to health and other committments), we seldom perform as the GS&RS, but we always try to have some fiddlers attend to represent the area.
“Three years ago we had an exchange of our youth and the CBFA and it was quite successful. We now have many young people taking fiddle lessons and I teach Celtic fiddle two nights a week at the local high school, but my students are mainly seniors who ‘always wanted to play the fiddle.’”
Thanks also to Don for confirming the identities of the players in the photos below.
The Glengarry (Ontario) Fiddlers:
Donaldson MacLeod, Donald MacPhee
Koryne Fraser, and Gary Cooper
The Glengarry Fiddlers accompanied by Lawrence Cameron on keyboards
The Glengarry (Ontario) Fiddlers:
Donaldson MacLeod, Donald MacPhee
Koryne Fraser, and Gary Cooper