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Music 1253
Music and the Politics of Cultural
Representation in Nova Scotia
Tourism Marketing
The province of Nova Scotia is routinely marketed
through tourism promotions and popular culture
advertisements as a sort of living Scottish antique.
 Bagpipers meet arriving tourists at border crossings
and airports, greeters wear vests made from the Nova
Scotia tartan (signifying that Nova Scotians are all part
of one ancient clan), and all receive a welcome in
Gaelic: Ciad Mile Failte (One Hundred Thousand
Welcomes).
 Tourism literature encourages visitors to attend one of
the local ceilidhs, which are often professionally staged
concerts rather than the informal gatherings the word
implies.
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New Scotland?
The ascribed Scottishness is curious, considering that
the population of Nova Scotia comprises a diverse
range of ethnicities and heritages.
 As Ian McKay points out in his important essay
“Tartanism Triumphant: The Construction of
Scottishness in Nova Scotia, 1933-1954,” Nova Scotia
was not even the most Scottish province in Canada
when it began to be branded as a true “New Scotland”
 In 1921, only 28% of population was of Scottish origin
 PEI and Ontario had higher percentages of Scottish
citizens than NS
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Tartanism
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Premier Angus L. Macdonald began rebranding
Nova Scotia as “Scottish” in the 1930s
Under Macdonald’s premierships, Nova Scotia gained
its official tartan, Gaelic motto, the Cabot Trail,
Highlands National Park (featuring a replica of a
shieling from the island of Skye), the Keltic Lodge
Resort in Ingonish, and a Gaelic College in St. Ann,
Cape Breton.
Macdonald’s Tartanism stemmed from a romanticized
view of his own Scottish heritage, shrewd political
strategy, and a strong belief in the economic promise of
ethno-tourism.
Macdonald’s Strategy
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Though a third-generation maritimer, Macdonald often
spoke publicly and in personal letters about his proud
Scottish lineage.
This lineage was not portrayed as a connection to a living,
evolving, twentieth-century culture, but as a link to an
idyllic society from the past.
Macdonald was a skilled politician and this portrayal of
himself as a descendant of a great clan from the old country
enhanced his populist appeal.
However, Macdonald also saw the benefits of representing
Nova Scotia to the world as a Folk society with ancient
Celtic roots.
Macdonald and his followers basically invented symbols,
fabricated events, and outfitted the representatives of the
tourism industry to appeal to American travelers who
wanted to experience Scotland without crossing the Atlantic.
Hugh Trevor-Roper
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The links to a Scottish identity are even more tenuous
considering that the representative tokens of Scottish
Tartanism – kilts, bagpipes, tartans – have no real
foundation in ancient Highland Scottish culture, as is
usually claimed.
Hugh Trevor-Roper explains how the Highland
tradition of Scotland stems from the mid-eighteenth
century, and is not an ancient tradition passed down
through the mighty Scottish clans.
In fact, Trevor-Roper argues that Highland culture
owes much of its cultural identity to Ireland.
Scottish Tokens
Tartans, kilts, and clans do not extend from an
ancient past but are essentially modern
inventions that simplify and stereotype Scottish
culture for contemporary society.
 Nova Scotia Tartanism appropriated these
superficial Highland Scottish tokens in the
mid-twentieth century in a carefully crafted rebranding that still persists to a large extent
today.
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Helen Creighton
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Folklorist Helen Creighton recorded,
transcribed, and documented music that
she believed to be at the heart of Nova
Scotia’s true Folk society
 Songs and Ballads collected had their
origins in the collection of Francis James
Child’s English and Scottish Popular Ballads.
 More about this later (next week), but the
Creighton collection reinforced the idea that
Nova Scotian society was antimodern,
predominantly rural, and backward
Why were these
stereotyoes accepted?
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Money!
 Marketing of Nova Scotia as a haven of
the past, unfettered by modern society appealing to travellers.
 Folk and Scottish cultures provide tourists
with a sense of the exotic but without
having to travel far
 Convenience of a (mostly) similar
language as well as modern conveniences
(restaurants, golf courses, hotels).
Television
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Television and radio broadcasting, as well as recording
technology, provided powerful new modes of tourism
promotion and utilized the province’s rich musical
heritage as another element in the marketing package.
 “Don Messer’s Jubilee” was broadcast nationally from
Halifax, and featured “down home” country music and
dancing.
 Don Messer was a fiddler, though his style was more
American “old time” than Scottish.
 “Singalong Jubilee,” which ran nationally from 1961 to
1974, capitalized on the American folk music revival.
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Singalong Jubilee
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The show helped launch the careers of singers Catherine McKinnon, Gene
MacLellan and Anne Murray, and was therefore an important vehicle for the
development of a music industry in Atlantic Canada.
The show was originally intended as a television vehicle for American folk singer
Pete Seeger; however Seeger’s involvement was cut short when his passport was
revoked by the United States House Committee on Un-American Activities.
While the American folk revival had direct ties to the communist
movement, Singalong Jubilee reinforced the Folk culture stereotype
advocated by Creighton.
 Many of the songs from the Creighton collection were regularly
performed, and there was a preference for songs of the simple Maritime
life.
 The house band played banjo, guitar, upright bass, and even a washtub
bass. As the popular show evolved over its lifetime, new songs were
incorporated into the repertoire.
 However, a number of these added further to the maritime Folk
stereotype, such as Jim Bennett’s “Black Rum and Blueberry Pie”.
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Black Rum and Blueberry
Pie
We’re living in the age of space as everybody knows.
Most everyone is in the race as this here country grows.
But, down among the lobster pots you’ll find a funny crew.
Us Maritimers don’t do things like other people do.
We just like fishin’, fightin’, getting tight’n starin’ at the sky.
Chewin’, spittin’ and just sittin’ watchin’ things go by.
Climbing rocks and drivin’ ox and learnin’ how to lie.
Drinkin’ black rum & eatin’ blueberry pie.
Upper Clements Park
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A family theme park was constructed by the Progressive
Conservative government under Premier John Buchanan in the
mid 1980s. “Upper Clements Park” was strategically located in
the Annapolis Valley riding of the then Minister of Tourism, Greg
Kerr.
Among the many attractions, the park featured a replica shanty
fishing village, a pirate island, and a prospector cabin.
Craftspeople worked on site at weaving, spinning, soap-making
and other folk crafts.
The live entertainment featured Victorian era clowns and
bicyclers, a singing fisherman, a storytelling pirate, a Victorian
school marm and, most perplexingly, a group of characters who
lived in an old train shed and spoke with southern U.S. accents!
A live band of musicians performed material largely derived from
the Helen Creighton collection.
Sounds of Nova Scotia
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 In the 1990s, the provincial government began
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marketing Nova Scotian music through a series of
recordings titled Sounds of Nova Scotia.
These recordings were simply compilations of tracks
from previously recorded albums by local artists.
The songs were largely folk-influenced adult
contemporary tracks meant to appeal to a middle-aged
tourist audience.
Antimodernism and the fun, simple life were
overriding themes with tracks such as “The Bluenose,”
“Small Town Wind,” “Sound the Pibroch,” “Song for
the Mira,” “Jigging Medley,” and “Good Times.”
Good Times
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“Good Times” is the first track on the Sounds of Nova Scotia,
Volume 1 recording, and is performed by John Allan Cameron,
who is often referred to as “the godfather of Celtic music in Cape
Breton.”
Each verse of the song begins with: “You ask me what I like about
the Maritimes?” and then proceeds to rhyme off a seemingly
endless list of maritime stereotypes.
Each verse culminates with a chorus that is meant to summarize
East Coast life:
Good Times
It’s a big feed of lobster
It’s a cold Alpine in my hand
It’s a quarter to one and the fun’s just begun
Singing “Song for the Mira” with this good time band.
Cape Breton Island
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The first two Sounds of Nova Scotia recordings in the
series featured twenty-three tracks, nineteen of which
were by Cape Breton artists.
If music was going to be used as a marketing vehicle
for tourism promotion, then Cape Breton with its
perceived Scottish identity would be a focus.
Tartanism and the Folk concept combined to create an
attractive cultural package in Nova Scotia that served
the political appetite to establish and expand an
industry based on ethno-tourism.
Cape Breton Island became the logical hunting ground
for cultural wealth, as the traditional fiddle music
served both the Tartanist and Folk ideals.
Cape Breton Summertime
Revue
The “Cape Breton Summertime Revue” encapsulates all of
the most blatant Cape Breton stereotypes. This annual
production was first staged in Sydney in 1986 in an attempt
to capitalize on the summer tourist season.
 A smaller version of the show known as “The Rise and
Follies of Cape Breton” had been operating since 1977.
 The production featured a combination of traditional Cape
Breton fiddle music, and original songs that conformed
mainly to a contemporary folk or country style.
 The musical performances alternated with various comedic
sketches that highlighted the stereotypical backwardness of
Cape Breton Islanders.
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Video Link
Revue continued
The “Cape Breton Summertime Revue” attained its
height of popularity at the very time that Canadian East
Coast music was receiving national attention.
 The show actually toured Canada several times,
presenting an entertaining parody of the Maritime
lifestyle to audiences across Canada.
 This had positive economic spinoffs for the tourism
industry.
 However, the national marketing of a stereotype only
serves to further undermine Cape Breton in its attempt
to rise from economic depression.
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Cape Breton Fiddling
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Throughout the 1990s and into the twenty-first century, Cape
Breton fiddle music has been promoted through tourism literature
as a pure legacy of Nova Scotia’s Scottish ancestry.
In 1997, the official tourist guide for the province of Nova Scotia,
dubbed the “Doers and Dreamers Guide,” featured a picture of
Cape Breton fiddle master Buddy MacMaster on its front cover.
The annual tourism theme for that season was “Celebrate Our
Music.”
Rather than extolling the stylistic plurality of the province’s
musical culture, which includes a thriving alternative rock scene,
an urban hip-hop community, a professional orchestra, a fine
chamber music program, a country music legacy, and active
Acadian and Mi’kmaq musical communities, the tourism industry
focused predominantly on the “Celtic” music of Cape Breton as
the main marketing vehicle.
Travel Literature
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Newspaper and travel literature play a significant role in
furthering this Scottish Folk stereotype.
In Travels in the Celtic World by Rannie Gillis, Cape Breton
Island is literally and pictorially linked to Ireland and Scotland.
Descriptions and pictures of Kisimul Castle and Loch Morar are
juxtaposed against those of Highlands National Park and the
Mabou Ceilidh.
The book actually begins with the author’s tale of a Cape Breton
dance where fiddler Natalie MacMaster performed. The account
features this astonishing description of her:
“But Natalie MacMaster is not only one of the fastest rising ‘stars’
in the new firmament of Celtic music. Nor is she just an attractive
blond who happens to play the fiddle. Along with her musical
peers, she is the descendant of a long line of Celtic musicians who
can trace their ancestry back to a time before the Roman Empire.
To a time before Caesar.”
Gaelic Report
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Nova Scotia Museum’s curatorial report in 2002 on
Gaelic in Nova Scotia by Michael Kennedy
This report is an extensive overview of the history and
state of Gaelic culture and the Gaelic language in Nova
Scotia. It was sponsored by the Nova Scotia
Department of Tourism and Culture under Rodney
MacDonald (also a fiddler)
Michael Kennedy’s Gaelic Report is intended as a
warning of the pending extinction of the Gaelic
language from its previous bastion on Cape Breton
Island.
Gaelic Language
Michael Kennedy’s Gaelic Report is intended as a warning
of the pending extinction of the Gaelic language from its
previous bastion on Cape Breton Island.
 It is curious, then, that the language is perennially tied to a
mythical ancient Celtic culture and not promoted as a
potentially vibrant and evolving modern language.
 This echoes Angus L. Macdonald’s own conception of
Gaelic.
 The Gaelic College was established by Macdonald in Cape
Breton, not as a laboratory for a living mode of
communication, but as an archive of a fossilized language
that should be preserved as a museum exhibit.
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The result has been a language petrified from lack of use.
“Gaelic” Fiddling
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The issue of Gaelic is complex but most fiddlers
generally agree that the sound of a correctly performed
Cape Breton fiddle tune resonates with the sound of the
spoken Gaelic language.
This relationship does not involve the specific timbral
or tonal properties of the spoken language but rather
relates the rhythms of the language to the fiddle tunes
and playing techniques.
Efforts to associate Cape Breton fiddling with the
Gaelic language as spoken in pre-emigration Highland
Scotland also echo other attempts by fiddlers and
tourism vendors to ascribe a pure Scottish lineage to
the music.
The Vanishing Cape
Breton Fiddler
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The perception of a threat to the local tradition from outside
influences has persisted as a powerful identity myth on Cape
Breton Island since the early 1970s.
In 1971, Ron MacInnis directed a CBC documentary titled The
Vanishing Cape Breton Fiddler.
The main thesis of the film was the threat of extinction facing the
fiddle tradition because of the dying off of the older generation of
fiddlers and a lack of interest from younger musicians.
The mainstream pop-culture influences of radio, television, and
Hollywood cinema were viewed as a powerful source of cultural
competition, distracting young Cape Bretoners from their true
cultural roots.
Video Link 1
 Video Link 2
MacInnis’ perspective
As with many documentaries, The Vanishing Cape Breton
Fiddler takes a particular stand without any pretense to
objectivity.
 The script, interviews, and images were carefully chosen to
suggest a Folk culture from a bygone era with a unique
musical tradition on the edge of extinction.
 Director Ron MacInnis casts himself in a primary role in the
film as an outsider entering this strange world.
 In contrast to the rural countryfolk he interviews, MacInnis
is presented as the model of contemporary urban life,
sporting a trendy 1970s hair style with complementary
“mutton chop” sideburns, and driving around the beautiful
countryside in a convertible.
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Glendale Festival
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Formation of the Cape Breton Fiddlers’ Association
and the staging of the first Glendale Festival in 1979
did not result because Cape Breton fiddlers believed in
the premise of the film.
Their true agenda was to demonstrate the strength and
longevity of the tradition, which they believed was
under no threat of extinction.
Indeed, the very fact that 130 fiddlers played to over
10,000 fans at one concert in rural Cape Breton is a
testament to the fact that fiddling was thriving as a
tradition in the 1970s.
East Coast Music prior to
1990s
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The Atlantic region of Canada has produced a number of national and
international popular music success stories.
Hank Snow and Wilf Carter were each born in Nova Scotia and achieved
international recognition as depression-era country music singers.
Snow was also renowned as a country songwriter, having penned the
country music standards “I’m Movin’ On,” and “I’ve Been Everywhere.”
Carol Baker, Stompin’ Tom Connors, Joan Kennedy, Ron Hynes, and
Gene MacClellan were also successful Canadian country artists.
Rita MacNeil achieved national stardom as a singer/songwriter who
combined elements of easy listening, country, folk, and pop music.
Anne Murray became an international star in the 1970s, with many hit
songs and gold records in the United States and Europe as well as in
Canada.
In addition to country music, Matt Minglewood and Dutch Mason were
widely respected blues artists from Nova Scotia, while the Nova Scotia
band April Wine produced a number of hit rock singles in Canada in the
1970s, as did the PEI band Haywire during the 1980s.
Halifax-native Sarah MacLachlan became a pop superstar during the
1990s.
No Music Industry
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Prior to the 1990s, however, there was very little in the way of
music industry infrastructure in Atlantic Canada.
Nearly all of the above-mentioned acts had to leave the East Coast
to pursue recording contracts in central Canada or the United
States.
There were no major record labels with satellite offices in Eastern
Canada, and few of the independent labels had any distribution or
development arrangements with any of the majors.
“Celtic” music was very popular locally and was a useful vehicle
for the tourism industry, but most of the Celtic artists prior to the
1990s were not widely known throughout North America, though
many were able to tour throughout parts of Europe.
John Allen Cameron
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Perhaps the one exception to this was John
Allan Cameron, the so-called Canadian
“godfather of Celtic Music.”
 While Cameron never received any wide
airplay on mainstream radio, he was popular
throughout Canada from the 1970s until his
death in 2007
 He is seen by many as a trailblazer, bringing
East Coast Celtic music to national (and to
some degree international) attention.
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Halifax Rock Scene
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The East Coast music scene began to attract an unprecedented amount of
attention from the mainstream music industry during the early 1990s.
In Halifax, indie rock bands such as Sloan, jale, Thrush Hermit, Hardship
Post, and Eric’s Trip formed the core of a local “grunge rock” scene that
paralleled a similar hub of underground music activity emerging out of
Seattle, Washington.
Sloan received a major recording contract with DGC Records (David
Geffen Company) in 1992 after self-producing an independent recording
titled Smeared in a friend’s living room.
After their success with Geffen, Sloan went on to form the independent
label Murderecords as a way of developing other local rock bands.
The American label SubPop eventually poached many of these bands
from Murderecords. In fact, most of the industry attention directed
towards these indie rock bands was from record labels in the United
States.
Rock not good for tourists
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The Canadian music industry paid relatively little attention
to this activity compared to the emerging Celtic music scene
despite the fact that Sloan went on to receive critical
acclaim and impressive record sales.
This confirms the importance of regional identity in
Canadian popular music marketing.
Sloan and other indie rock bands defied the regional
Atlantic stereotypes: there were no songs about the sea, no
songs about the past, and no fiddles.
Sloan played to a young, cosmopolitan, and urban market
that was difficult to translate into commercial tourism
revenues
The kids who bought Sloan albums generally didn’t
vacation in Atlantic Canada.
Rankin Family
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The Rankin Family from Mabou, Cape Breton, also signed a
contract with a major record label in 1992.
Various incarnations of this band had been performing at
weddings and dances in Cape Breton throughout the 1970s but by
the late 1980s, five of the twelve siblings in the family had formed
the core of the band.
Their music combined aspects of folk, pop, and country music in
addition to traditional Gaelic songs and sets of fiddle tunes.
Successful performances as part of the Cape Breton Summertime
Revue and Mabou Jig tourist productions in Cape Breton led to an
independent eponymous recording in 1989 with a follow-up
independent record in 1991 titled Fare Thee Well Love.
These recordings were phenomenally successful for an
independent band playing traditional Cape Breton music. By
1992, they claimed to have sold nearly seventy-thousand
independent records.
Record Contract for
Rankins
This success prompted the Canadian office of
EMI/Capitol Records to sign the Rankin
Family to a Canadian recording contract
 Additional agreement to nationally distribute
the independent recordings.
 The title track to the Fare Thee Well Love
recording was also released to radio as a single
in combination with a music video that
received a coveted regular rotation spot on the
Canadian music video network MuchMusic.
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Deterritorialization for
Radio and Much Music
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The single and video to Fare Thee Well Love are examples
deterritorialization.
The title and subject matter of the song suggests a bygone era, and
the melody conforms to that of a typical folk ballad or Gaelic
song.
However, the recording provides a contemporary easy listening
arrangement for the song that easily transcends any regional style.
There are no fiddles in the recording, and the piano provides
surface melodic accompaniment along with an oboe, while the
bulk of the sound is characterized by a thick synthesizer patch and
a highly processed drum kit.
The video is neutral with respect to location and era except for the
colour scheme, which is brown and white, suggesting an old
photograph.
None of the band members play instruments in the video and only
appear as singers. Video Clip
Reterritorialization of
Image
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While the hit single contained no regional references, the band parlayed
this success into future successful recordings and performance tours by
promoting their traditional Maritime roots.
They appeared on MuchMusic and performed live at the 1994 Juno
awards, each time performing a song in Gaelic.
Their live concerts continued to feature sets of fiddle tunes with step
dancing, while they continued to record traditional Cape Breton music
along with maritime folk standards.
Their first major label release North Country was preceded by a release of
the single “Rise Again,” a Cape Breton anthem about overcoming
hardship. Video Clip
Once again though, the instrumentation on “Rise Again” featured the
synthesizer, piano, oboe combination that was so successful on “Fare
Thee Well Love,” and avoided any sonic reference to Cape Breton music.
The band identity therefore had clear roots in traditional Maritime
culture, but their music was skillfully packaged to better fit standard radio
formats.
More Signings
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Following the success of the Rankin Family with EMI,
the other major record labels began scouring the East
Coast for other potential success stories.
Record industry lore began to spread regarding the
untapped wealth of musical talent in Eastern Canada.
Over the next few years, each of the major record
labels operating in Canada signed East Coast acts:
The Barra MacNeils (Polygram)
Lennie Gallant (Sony)
Great Big Sea (Warner)
Ashley MacIsaac (Universal/A&M)
Natalie MacMaster (Warner)
“Delocalized Regionalism” Great Big Sea
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The Newfoundland band Great Big Sea first gained attention for their
energetic live show consisting of Irish and Newfoundland folk songs as
well as derivative original music.
Initially a mainstay of the Atlantic university pub scene, the band
benefited from the Canadian recording industry’s brief interest in East
Coast music during the 1990s.
The marketing campaign made every effort to juxtapose the musicians
with their Atlantic, neo-Celtic roots.
Television interviews and music videos were shot next to the Atlantic
Ocean, and the first major label release Up displayed pictures of an
accordion, a fiddle, and an old broken bridge on the CD cover, which was
lined on its right side with a picture of the sea.
The album largely contained a mix of traditional and original songs.
However, the album’s first single was a “Celtic” cover version of the song
“Run Runaway” by the British glam-rock band Slade. Video Clip
The follow-up album Play featured a similar treatment of the popular
R.E.M. song “It’s the End of the World As We Know It.”
The popularity of the original versions of these songs allowed the music
to become deterritorialized as part of an international pop repertoire.
“Delocalized Regionalism” Others
Other East Coast acts applied the same strategy
of reterritorialization of style and image, and
deterritorialization of musical content.
 The Cape Breton band The Barra MacNeils
released John Sebastian’s “Darling Be Home
Soon” as their first single on their first major
label release Closer to Paradise
 The Newfoundland band The Irish
Descendants released Donovan’s “Catch the
Wind” on their breakthrough release Gypsies
and Lovers.
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Delocalized Regionalism
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The combination of deterritorialized sound and reterritorialized image was
the perfect national (and international) marketing strategy
Music could be played on standard radio but image still reinforced exotic,
rural, backward, Scottish roots
This strategy was not aimed at increasing the appeal of this music for a potential
American audience.
None of these cover recordings received widespread distribution or radio play in
the United States.
Rather, the decision to record recognizable pop standards was aimed at a national
Canadian market.
The artists increased their national marketability by releasing deterritorialized pop
hits.
Yet the stylistic aspects of the original versions of these songs were transformed to
fit a reterritorialized ideal of Atlantic Canadian culture.
In the process, the lyrical content and the semiotic associations of the original
releases were nullified, and the songs were refashioned as East Coast Celtic songs,
with their implications of a rural seaside setting, party atmosphere, and quaint,
simple lifestyle.
Local Labels
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Local independent labels also signed agreements with major labels
for marketing and distribution, as well as some artist development.
Groundswell Records, which managed a small catalogue of East
Coast acts including Rawlins Cross and Laura Smith, signed a
distribution arrangement with Warner Music Canada.
Halifax-based distribution company Atlantica Music signed a
national distribution deal with EMI
New EMI-sponsored record label called Latitude Records to find
and develop local artists.
This represented a high point in the development of the East Coast
music industry, and there was great anticipation over who would
be the first artist to sign with Latitude.
Damhnait Doyle
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As if to further add to the perception of a vast wealth of unspoiled
East Coast talent, Latitude Records first signed a junior employee
of Atlantica Records named Damhnait Doyle
She was purportedly overheard singing in the mailroom.
Doyle was to be developed as an “alternative pop” singer, but her
clearly regional name and fairytale rise from obscurity provided
just enough of a regional identity to appeal to the new market for
East Coast music.
By 1997 however, Atlantica, along with Latitude, had folded,
owing thousands of dollars in sales revenues to local artists.
The Latitude artists, including Damhnait Doyle, were briefly
picked up by EMI Canada before eventually becoming
independents again.
The New Economy?
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The development of a music industry in Atlantic
Canada beginning in the 1990s was perceived by many
as a potentially lucrative economic sector
Particularly in Cape Breton and Newfoundland where
the coal, steel, and fishing industries had recently
collapsed.
Local musicians hoped for record deals and highprofile performances, while tourism vendors eagerly
anticipated waves of new tourists who would come in
search of the music.
Government agencies fuelled this speculation by
providing funding for industry initiatives. In Nova
Scotia, much of this was directed to Cape Breton.
Another Boom Bust
The expected economic boom never materialized.
 In fact, the East Coast recording industry replicated a
twentieth-century pattern of industrial boom and bust
that characterized the ship building, coal, steel, and
fishing industries.
 Each of these industries relied heavily on government
subsidy and corporate investment from outside of
Atlantic Canada that dried up once profits proved
scarce.
 The music industry followed suit, and there are
warning signs that Nova Scotia’s offshore oil industry
may suffer the same consequence.
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Fiddling still thriving
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Along with the hopes for a wave of economic prosperity arising
from the music industry, came a fear that commercialization of
Cape Breton music would result in the dilution or eradication of
its traditional roots.
This also never materialized. In fact, the opposite occurred: a
renewed interest in Cape Breton fiddling with more youth than
ever picking up the fiddle bow.
In fact, Cape Breton fiddle music became part of a global Celtic
revival where Celtic musics in various forms attained an
unprecedented degree of international popularity.
“Celtic” Renaissance
The deliberate focus on Celtic music in
Atlantic Canada was understandable
considering how easy it was to align this
musical genre with tourism marketing
initiatives.
 In addition, the 1990s witnessed worldwide a
rise in popularity of various musics
collectively termed “Celtic.”
 Riverdance, Titanic soundtrack, Braveheart
Soundtrack, Afro Celt Sound System, Celtic
Tides CD etc.
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Ashley vs. Natalie - Cape
Breton Fiddle Stars
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On the surface these two Cape Breton fiddlers share a number of
commonalities.
Both were born in the early 1970s (MacMaster in 1972 and
MacIsaac in 1975)
Both from small towns in Inverness County on Cape Breton Island
(MacMaster from Troy, and MacIsaac from Creignish).
Both began playing the fiddle at a very young age and signed
recording and distribution deals with major Canadian record labels
in the 1990s.
Both fiddlers incorporate popular music styles into their fiddling
performances, but also retain certain traditional elements in their
shows, including fiddling while step dancing.
Despite these similarities, the two fiddlers maintain vastly
different public personae, and have embarked on completely
divergent career paths.
Ashley Discovered
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Ashley MacIsaac first came to national attention in the mid 1990s,
following a remarkable series of events.
In 1992, he was contacted by the American theatre director Joanne
Akalaitis after she and her husband, composer Philip Glass, had seen
MacIsaac perform at a Cape Breton square dance.
Akalaitis and Glass were collaborating on a new production of Georg
Buchner’s Woyzeck and wanted MacIsaac to perform as part of the play.
A few years after his performance in Woyzeck, MacIsaac visited New
York again, and he contacted Philip Glass while he was there.
Glass invited MacIsaac (and his fiddle) to a dinner party for a surprise
guest who turned out to be the American pop star Paul Simon.
Simon was so impressed with MacIsaac’s fiddle playing that he invited
MacIsaac to play on a recording that Simon was producing for his wife,
singer Edie Brickell.
When news of this reached back to Atlantic Canada, a media frenzy
resulted.
Freakish Genius
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QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Ashley MacIsaac’s good fortune fueled the notion of an untapped wealth of
musical talent on Cape Breton Island.
This was a true Cinderella story: a young, raw, musician was discovered in his
remote “natural habitat” by a world-famous and well-connected New York City
composer who then graciously invited the fiddler into the inner sanctum of the
musical elite.
The story proved hard to resist for the local press.
Adding to this powerful rags to riches narrative trope was the fact that MacIsaac
was and is rather unique for a Cape Breton fiddler.
His young age of eighteen was not in itself unusual for a fiddler, but his prodigious
talent, commanding presence, and individual sound was remarkable for such a
young musician.
His fiddling technique is also quite idiosyncratic in that MacIsaac plays lefthanded but with a right-handed fiddle. In other words, his fiddle is conventionally
strung for a right-handed bowing arm, but MacIsaac plays with the fiddle on his
right shoulder and bows with the left hand, and therefore essentially learns all of
his fiddle tunes backwards.
This unusual playing technique reinforced MacIsaac’s persona as a rough,
unrefined, and perhaps even freakish genius, an image which directly contrasted
that of Natalie MacMaster.
Natalie MacMaster
Quic kT i me™ and a
T IFF (Unc ompres s ed) dec ompres s or
are needed t o s ee thi s pi c ture.
Natalie MacMaster’s talent was well known on Cape Breton from the
time she began excelling at her fiddle studies.
 She was used frequently by the Nova Scotia Tourism industry as part of
its Celtic marketing strategy in the 1990s.
 Her picture was featured frequently in the provincial tourist guides, and
she was a frequent performer in government-sponsored campaigns.
 Two of these, the “Coast of Difference” and “Sea Sell” productions were
touring musical variety shows that placed MacMaster’s fiddling front and
centre.
 MacMaster’s obvious beauty, refined demeanor, and wholesome image
combined to create the perfect marketing character for Nova Scotia
tourism.
 She provided pure, traditional, family entertainment which, despite her
potential sex appeal, deliberately lacked any overt sexuality.
 Her persona symbolized conservative family values and resulted in
appearances in effective television advertising campaigns for Tim
Horton’s Donuts, Farmer’s Dairy milk, and General Motors Pontiac
automobiles.
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Ashley MacIsaac’s Image
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Initially, perfect persona for the record industry
Anything but wholesome and traditional.
He did often perform in a kilt, but augmented this
traditional dress with t-shirts and toques more typical
of the 1990s grunge rock scene.
Music industry could rally behind a grungy, rock
fiddler
First major label release Hi! How Are You Today a
major success with Sleepy Maggie becoming an
international hit single
Features traditional fiddle tune with dance groove
Pop Fiddling
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Ashley MacIsaac’s career eventually
turned sour
Many critics claim that he took the music to
unwanted places
However, Natalie MacMaster was and is
just as inventive with her combination of
fiddling and other styles such as flamenco,
bluegrass, rock, etc.
Deterritorialization of sound welcomed
Deterritorialization of image not!
MacIsaac’s Sexuality
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Unlike Natalie MacMaster, Ashley MacIsaac’s public persona would
ultimately be tied to his sexuality. The record labels knew how they could
market a grungy rock fiddler, but a promiscuous gay fiddler was another
problem entirely.
He had been officially “outed” in Frank magazine in 1995, but
MacIsaac’s sexuality became a media obsession following a controversial
interview with Patricia Hluchy that was published in Maclean’s magazine
in 1996
The article titled “Ashley’s Indiscretion” was a singular piece of
sensationalist journalism that castigated MacIsaac for his outspokenness
regarding his sexual practices, while at the same time dwelling on
MacIsaac’s public comments.
Backlash against MacIsaac had more to do with the disjunction between
his open sexuality and the generic public conception of a Cape Breton
fiddler.
The excitement over MacIsaac’s music was built not only on its novelty
but on the idea that he was taking the tradition in new musical directions.
His homosexuality, however, destroyed the manufactured masculine,
Folk, Scottish identity normally associated with a male Cape Breton
Natalie’s wholesome
image
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MacMaster’s career could be described as a slower and more
steady ascent, devoid of any sensationalized media scrutiny. In
fact, she is adored by the mainstream press.
Where Ashley MacIsaac presented a dangerous, threatening
countercultural public persona, Natalie MacMaster offered a safe,
conservative, and sexually neutral image.
In addition, despite the slick musical arrangements and
professional marketing campaigns used to sell her music, there is
far less deterritorialization associated with Natalie MacMaster’s
pop-culture product.
Her music and image remain firmly tied to Cape Breton, and her
public identity relies on this perceived authenticity, combining
rural roots and traditional values.
Recipe for a fiddler’s
success
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Deterritorialization of sound results in
wider access to music industry marketing,
national radio playlists, and acceptance
into pop culture
 Reterritorialization of image reinforces the
traditional, roots of the music
 Music industry requires this combination to
be able to sell the music
 Atlantic Canada not represented as
modern, urban, industrial, educated