The Music Cape Breton Vignettes is a composition featuring the music one can sample during the Celtic Colours Music Festival held annually on Cape Breton Island. Each fall the communities on Cape Breton host concerts that feature the music that is an important part of the cultural milieu found on the island. These concerts feature a range of traditional musicians from across North America, Scotland and Ireland. Not only the music is special but the fall colours found here are a special feature of the festival as well. The light, the colours, the music, and most of all the people make this a wonderful experience. The first movement features the reel Balquhidder Lasses. Recent trips to Scotland have featured stays on the shores of Loch Voil found within the Braes (Hills) of Balquhidder. This area of Scotland is the home of the clan McLaren, my wife Martha’s family name and thus the dedication. Tweed-Side is a traditional air that has its roots in the Borders Region of Scotland. The Tweed River is the current border between England and Scotland and has been contested for centuries. This air is a lament for the love of two people who find themselves separated by a border not of their choosing. The third movement features a march, King of the Faeries. This is a popular march performed by many of the island’s fiddlers. It has its roots in an 18th-century Jacobite tune called Bonny Charlie which celebrated the rebellious prince of the 1745 Jacobite Uprising in Scotland. According to folklore the song is used to summon the Faerie King. If you play it three times in a row during a cèilidh, the king must appear. However, the king will decide whether or not he likes the cèilidh; if he does, he joins the revelry. If he doesn’t, he will cause mayhem. The third repetition of the tune in this version features an island tradition of turning marches and strathspeys into reels by a change of tempo and the dropping of the dotted rhythms found in the original melodies. The work concludes with the popular Island jig, I Lost My Love. A fitting companion to the air Tweed-Side included in this composition. Duration: 7:06
