Saturday, 15 July — Rollo Bay

I woke up a little past 8h30 and ate breakfast at the inn: microwaved omelette, cereal, toast, orange juice, and tea. I worked on the post for Tuesday, 4 July, until it was time to head for the field and today’s day-long music.

The afternoon concert kicked off a couple of minutes past 13h, as Elmer Deagle on mandolin, Koady Chaisson on banjo, and Tim Chaisson on guitar opened with a wicked set of tunes. Next up were all of Peter and Doreen Chaisson’s children: accompanied by their uncle, Kevin Chaisson, on keyboard, Melanie, Stephen, Andrew, and Bradley were on fiddles and Stanley was on guitar; in his memory, they played a very moving and emotional set of several of Peter’s favourite tunes. They were then joined by more of the Chaisson clan: Kenny, JJ, Brent, Tim, and Elmer Deagle (a Chaisson through his mother), and another lad I don’t know, all the added players were on fiddles except Brent on guitar; they played a fine, rousing set in tribute to Peter that had all our feet a-tappin’. What a musical legacy he and his siblings have left! After they left the stage, Shelly Campbell on fiddle, Allan Dewar on keyboard, and Brent Chaisson on guitar gave us three simply outstanding sets, the first including a pipe reel, the second of jigs, and the third beginning with a beautiful Gaelic air. What a superb player Shelly is, always straight from the heart! Colette Cheverie sang five songs, accompanied by Zak Cormier on guitar, the last of which was Stan Rogers’ Three Fishers. She was followed by DOC: Anastasia DesRoches on fiddle, Mylène Ouelette on keyboard, and Brent on guitar; they gave us four fine sets, the second containing an André Brunet tune with a beautiful keyboard introduction by Mylène and subtle guitar by Brent, the third a gorgeous slow air whose name I didn’t catch, and a set of Scottish traditional tunes; if you’ve not run into Anastasia, seek her out—she’s a great fiddler with a very versatile repertoire. Anne McPhee then presented a well-deserved lifetime PEI Fiddlers Society membership to Anastasia. André Brunet next took the stage; on fiddle, with Colin Savoie-Levac accompanying on guitar, he gave us a seated foot-dancing spectacular with fast tunes to match (he was very understandably out of breath at its end!); a ballade that began slow but followed by some very fast tunes; a slower-paced set with a Joseph Allard gigue and some other tunes; a medley of three tunes with his feet a going a mile a minute; and a lovely slow air he wrote, Quand soufflent les anges, followed by several reels that had several folks, both children and and adults, dancing at the right side of the stage as both musicians’ feet were flying like the pistons in an engine running at full bore! Quite the performance! I skipped the next two acts, which occupied the next hour and a half, as I had seen way more than I ever wanted to of Liz Springer last year and had no interest in hearing Liz Carroll again after last night. Instead, I had a good chat with Kenny, after which I got two sandwiches and ate one, saving the other for later tonight, and a cup of ice cream. Wandering around, I ran into and spoke to Mike Hall, who is there for the festival. I rather begrudged the time I could have been hearing traditional Maritime fiddle music, as I would have in years past, but it was also a good chance to get up and get some exercise, which, in previous years, consisted mostly of walking to and from the car and between the cèilidh barn and the tuning shed.

The cèilidh in the barn kicked off a little before 17h10 with Seán Grey of Scotland, who first sang a 200-year old song; with Jake added on guitar and Seán playing a transverse wooden flute, he gave us some Irish tunes; on solo guitar, he next gave us another song; Jake returned to accompany him on another song; and the final instrumental set added Koady on banjo. I’d not run into him before, but I’d gladly listen to him again. Next up was Ellen MacPhee on Scottish small pipes made by Hamish and Fin Moore, with Ward MacDonald on keyboard; they gave us four sets of tunes, the second with a very pretty old Irish pipe tune, the third of reels, and the last a “little set” of slip jigs. Ellen and Ward were followed by Alexis MacIsaac on fiddle and Calum MacKenzie on keyboard, the first time I had heard them playing together. Their first set included an Irish hornpipe and other tunes; the second was of jigs, the first two of which Alexis wrote; the third a Scottish traditional tune she learned at Ceolas followed by jigs. My notes are a bit garbled at this point, but I can say that two more sets concluded their performance. Ward on fiddle and Zak on guitar finished the cèilidh with four fine sets, the first containing a Jerry Holland tune and two Ward wrote; Vishtèn and André joined them on their last set. This cèilidh I quite enjoyed, nearly all traditional music and all of it very well played indeed.

Little time separated the cèilidh in the Cèilidh Barn from the evening concert on the main stage, so I hurried to regain my seat for the latter; on the way there, I noticed that it had clouded over and could rain. Les poules à Colin (Colin’s Chicks), led by Colin Savoie-Levac, proved to be a noisy vocal and instrumental folk music group whose singing was way too loud; I couldn’t understand the lyrics and not because they were in French either! Rhythmically complex, some of it might have been listenable if it were toned down a bit, but it was definitely for folks far younger than I and with much more modern tastes. Later in their set, they were joined by André Brunet and Vishtèn (Emmanuelle and Pastelle LeBlanc and Pascal Miousse), becoming even noisier, if that were possible; a lot of “mosh dancers” from the crowd were up and dancing in front of the stage, so clearly they connected with at least some of the attendees. They blessedly left the stage at 19h45, replaced by fare totally to my liking: Andrea Beaton on fiddle and Jake Charron on guitar; she give us a set with Radio Edit, a tune she wrote, along with another tune; a set with Weegie Martini, which she also wrote, with other tunes; a set of tunes ending with a Liz Carroll tune Liz wrote for Andrea and a tune Andrea wrote for Liz; and, with Allan Dewar joining on keyboard, a fantastic march/strathspey/reel set. What a welcome relief to hear great fiddle music played so beautifully, especially after the noise that had preceded! JJ on fiddle and Darla (Chaisson) MacPhee on keyboard opened their set with a gorgeous Hector the Hero and followed it by a great blast of strathspeys and reels; these two are both incredible masters of their instruments and it was a joy to hear them. At 20h30, Vishtèn took the stage on their own and played some of their typical fare; their energy and drive is amazing and I enjoyed hearing their Acadian music, as always. They got a standing ovation and gave us a fine Cajun music encore. They were followed by the very popular East Pointers (Tim Chaisson on fiddle and stomp box, Koady Chaisson on banjo, and Jake Charron on guitar). As usual, a great crowd formed in front of the stage, dancing to their sets as they performed. Overwhelmed by the noise levels, I bagged it and carted my cameras, pack, and field chair back to the car.

I then returned from the car to the cèilidh barn, where I talked with friends from Cape Breton until the square dance started. Shelly and Allan played for the first square set; Kenny and Darla for the second; Mike Hall on fiddle, Allan on keyboard, and JJ on guitar for the third; Rannie MacLellan and Kevin played waltzes and then strathspeys for step dancing to close off the evening’s official entertainment. The music was fine throughout and how could it not be? This was what I came to Rollo Bay to hear! I was by then tired out and, while I’d have loved to supplement the afternoon and evenings’s relatively meagre traditional fiddle (when compared to earlier Rollo Bay festivals) with the informal sessions in the tuning barn, which go on to the wee small hours of the morning, I needed sleep for another full day tomorrow. Accordingly, I returned to the Inn and was in bed at 0h15.