The Highland Heart of North America

[Nathan]

I've made reference to this in a few other posts, but I thought I would share some history with those among "the great rabble" who may not already be acquainted with the Highland culture and history of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia (Eilean Cheap Breatuinn, Alba Nuadh).

Although the Island was originally inhabited by the aboriginal Mi'kmaw (archaically referred to as Mic Mac) and has had successive waves of immigration by other groups, notably the Acadian French (from whom are descended Louisiana's cajuns), English, Lowland Scots, Afro-Nova Scotian and Irish: It is the Highland Scots who have had the single greatest cultural influence over the Island.

Some of the earliest non-French settlers on the island following the Seven Years' War were the Irish. Being Catholic, many of them married local French women and merged to form a rich music culture with plenty of Celtic Jigs and Reels. These people would get along well with the Highlanders that followed.

The overwhelming majority of the population, however, is made up of the descendants of the Scots who left the Highlands and Western Islands of Scotland in the years that followed the crushing defeat of the second Jacobite uprising at the battle of Colluden. This is, of course, the same stock that populated much of New Zealand, Australia, Virginia and North Carolina, but due to the density of the immigration and the isolation of the island, the story in Cape Breton is unique.

The Colony was named New Scotland (Nova Scotia) in 1632, but the first permanently settled Highland Scottish community on the Island was Judique which was settled by Michael Mor MacDonald (Big Michael MacDonald) in 1775. The story goes that he spent his first winter using his upside-down boat for shelter.

From that point on, Cape Breton was flooded by over 50 000 Highland Scots. A large community of MacNeils from Barra established the communities of Iona, Little narrows and Barra Head.

And many other areas in Cape Breton (and North Eastern Mainland Nova Scotia) were named after the places in Scotland from which the settlers came. They established Mabou, Inverness, Arisaig, Ben Eon, Loch Lomond, Glencoe, Aberdeen, New Aberdeen, Dunvegan and many other communities.

For many years, Scottish Gaelic (Gaidhlig) was the most common spoken language in Cape Breton and there are still more than 2000 native Gaidhlig speakers on the Island. Gaelic culture became so dominant that many non-Scots learned Gaelic rather than English.

Although it has been threatened, Gaidhlig has enjoyed a revival and measures have been taken to protect it and the population of fluent speakers continues to grow.

The local Gaels preserved more than just the language. They preserved much of the traditional way of life of the Hebrides and some of the traditions they maintained were lost to Scotland and have now been reintroduced thanks to airplanes, the internet and cultural exchanges that have been going on across the Atlantic from this Island to the home Islands and back again.

Traditions that were maintained in Cape Breton include fiddling, Scottish step dancing and solo dance piping. Not to mention spinning, weaving, Highland cuisine and whiskey making.

Cape Breton Scottish step dancing is a hard shoe, close to the floor, percussive dance stye that originated in Scotland and has close relatives in Irish hard shoe, other types of Canadian step dancing (French Canadian, Ottawa Valley etc...) American clogging and even tap dancing, although the experienced eye can tell the difference among these similar styles immediately.

The solo piping tradition is a subtle difference. In Scotland, much of the piping tradition was maintained through the British Army due to the prohibition of much of Highland culture outside of the military due to the "pacification of the Highlands".

As a result of this military piping tradition, the phrasing of strathspeys and reels were altered or "dragged out" to suit marching rather than step dancing.

Pipe bands, like all single instrument ensembles, understandably discourage individual interpretation of the music and encourage a uniformity and faithfulness to the written tune in order to avoid a cacophony of 80 pipers playing variations on the same theme concurrently. They also have a tendency to play down to the weakest pipers' skill level. This is not a criticism of pipe bands. Were it not for the pipe band tradition, much of the piping tradition surely would have been lost, and especially after the World Wars, there was a rich tradition of military/pipe band piping in Cape Breton as well.

Aside from this, however, there is a piping tradition that closely parallels the fiddling tradition. Lively strathspeys, marches, jigs and reels are organized into sets and performed by one piper for group dancing. The pipers are distinguished by how they put their own individual expression on the tunes. Much like the fiddlers, there is freedom to customize ornamentation and alter tunes slightly which can add freshness and excitement when done tastefully and to musical effect.

The fiddle tradition involves a lively up-driven bow and techniques that echo the drones, grace notes and burls (called cuts by local fiddlers) of the pipes.

Fiddle and dance contests are discouraged as there is fear among many that the traditions will be lost as competitors bring in tricks and elements from other styles in order to "wow" the judges. The maintenance of the authentic style from generation to generation is considered to be of paramount importance. This wariness toward competition does not extend to Highland dancing or pipe band traditions in which competition is normative.

There are rich traditions of Gaelic song and story telling and I should also note that a piano style evolved as well. Pianists typically accompany fiddlers and pipers, but many can play the tunes as well. Highland guitar has also more recently emerged.

The Celtic culture of Cape Breton is very much alive and well. Whenever I watch videos or documentaries about the Outer Hebrides, I am struck by how similar the cultures are to the present day.

This post has been more than long enough, so I'll leave you with a few links if any of this has fostered an interest to hear and see more.

Barry Shears Cape Breton Piping
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8xLPVzqAdw

Cape Breton - Highland Heart of North America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vVZp8b2-cg

A taste of Cape Breton (beautiful video, worth watching, but I don't recognize the music as local)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C2rtnWzhAg

Slainte Mhath (Some excellent piping by Bruce MacPhee)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD7ZV8HMja0

Cape Breton Fiddle by Mairi Rankin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l66t3vTFc08

Buddy MacMaster performs Neil Gow's Lament
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny2beJky_KM

E ho ro mo mhaighdinn lurach (milling frolic - these are called waulking songs in Scotland)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-HrcTd-Rjg

Rodney MacDonald (Nova Scotia's current Premier) step dancing as a youth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-vvG87DPZc

See also: Natalie MacMaster, Andrea Beaton, Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald, Angus Chisolm, Alasdair MacGillivary, Mary Jane Lamond, Joe Neil MacNeil, Beolach, The Rankin Family, Ashley MacIsaac, Dave MacIsaac, Troy MacGillivary,The Barra MacNeils, Glenora Distillery, Dan R. MacDonald, John Allen Cameron...