Re: Kelly Russell(Newfoundland, Canada) : do you this fiddler
Hi Bert, wonderful to hear that you were able to see Kelly Russell- he is certainly amazing and one of our best. And that he was playing some Emile Benoit would make it even sweeter!
Newfoundland has an extremely strong Irish influence, though you will find English and French as the other major influences. Depending on where you are on the island you will find also find Scottish, Portuguese, Spanish and others.
From what I understand, and I hope one of our fiddlers will jump in here if I'm wrong, is that Emile Benoit was from a French region of the west coast of the island that had a myriad of traditional influences, Breton, Acadian and Scottish so his music reflects much of this.
At the recent Folk Festival, I did see that Kelly Russell has a book of Newfoundland Fiddle music. I think there are actually two books now but the most recent has Rufus Guinchard and Emile Benoit tunes. You should be able to find them at:
Re: Kelly Russell(Newfoundland, Canada) : do you this fiddler
cuthail has it basically right, though it is in fact the first book of the Kelly Russell Collection that is Emile and Rufus, the most recent book is "All the Rest" featuring a bunch of more obscure fiddlers.
If you're interested, there are Emile Benoit and Rufus Guinchard solo CDs available, though only ones recorded when they were very old -- their older, better recordings never made it to CD and are long out of print. Fiddler Christina Smith has made a lot of nice recordings, and done great work collecting tunes from older Newfoundland musicians. The bands Mahers Bahers and A Crowd of Bold Sharemen play a lot of interesting old tunes. And there's a really nice album called Island to Island which is half Newfoundland, half Irish, and 100% superb playing.
Re: Kelly Russell(Newfoundland, Canada) : do you this fiddler
Kelly Russell did explain at the Grand Rencontre that Emile Benoit hailed from the west side of Newfoundland. He also played a number of Rufus Guinchard pieces.
I was sorry to hear from Kelly's wife that the region is losing it's traditional dancers, and we hope they can keep the movement going until the pendulum swings it back into more popularity (like contradancing in the USA).
Liz Carroll and John Doyle brought standing ovations each time I saw them and danced to them at this past weekend's festival...
I think they prove that Irish music doesn't have to be quiet and/or pedestrian.
Re: Kelly Russell(Newfoundland, Canada) : do you this fiddler
Traditional Newfoundland music is from a mixed bit of this and that influence but I'd have to say that on my part of the island it's mostly Irish influence. You'll also find French Acadian influences on the "French shore" part of the island with a misture of Scots, Spanish and Welsh music. Kelly Russell is indeed a very talented fiddler and I can remember going over to his fathers place and having "the skipper" as Mr. Russell was referred to as telling us stories and building boats. Kelly was playing with the wonderful grand band at the time along with the likes of Ron Hynes and Glenn Simmons, two other very influential newfoundland musicians. It's a terribly sad fact that Newfoundland is slowly losing it's traditional music but fear not for there are a few who are realising that we need to keep our traditions alive. Our music is not pure ITM but it certainly has a flair all it's own.
Re: Kelly Russell(Newfoundland, Canada) : do you this fiddler
You do realize there are other Parises, right?
Back to the subject of Newfoundland traditional music, I should have mentioned a lovely new recording of older accordion players from the northwest portion of the island (and one from Labrador, I think) called "The Four Stops". There's also a very nice recording from a few years ago of accordion player Vince Collins from Placentia Bay. And of course, the great Minnie White (though like Rufus and Emile, most of her recordings never made it to CD).
Kelly Russell(Newfoundland, Canada) : do you this fiddler
Kelly Russell(Newfoundland, Canada) : do you this fiddler
I have seen yesterday this fiddler at the festival "la grande rencontre" in Montréal (Liz Carroll was also invited at this festival). He's an excellent fiddler and he played some tune composed by Emile Benoit. Does anyone know if the Newfoundland trad music has an irish influence or scottish influence (like the Cape Breton music).
Thanks,
Bert
# Posted on August 28th 2006 by Ticasse
Re: Kelly Russell(Newfoundland, Canada) : do you this fiddler
Hi Bert, wonderful to hear that you were able to see Kelly Russell- he is certainly amazing and one of our best. And that he was playing some Emile Benoit would make it even sweeter!
Newfoundland has an extremely strong Irish influence, though you will find English and French as the other major influences. Depending on where you are on the island you will find also find Scottish, Portuguese, Spanish and others.
From what I understand, and I hope one of our fiddlers will jump in here if I'm wrong, is that Emile Benoit was from a French region of the west coast of the island that had a myriad of traditional influences, Breton, Acadian and Scottish so his music reflects much of this.
At the recent Folk Festival, I did see that Kelly Russell has a book of Newfoundland Fiddle music. I think there are actually two books now but the most recent has Rufus Guinchard and Emile Benoit tunes. You should be able to find them at:
http://www.pigeoninlet.com/collect.htm
or try http://www.obriens.nf.ca/
PS I think Kelly is fiddler for the Irish Descendants these days, so you should check them out too if you get the chance.
# Posted on August 28th 2006 by Cailin Rua
Re: Kelly Russell(Newfoundland, Canada) : do you this fiddler
Kelly's an amazingly lively player - recently saw him at NAFCO in Aberdeen. Good fun at sessions too!
# Posted on August 28th 2006 by Ron P
Re: Kelly Russell(Newfoundland, Canada) : do you this fiddler
cuthail has it basically right, though it is in fact the first book of the Kelly Russell Collection that is Emile and Rufus, the most recent book is "All the Rest" featuring a bunch of more obscure fiddlers.
If you're interested, there are Emile Benoit and Rufus Guinchard solo CDs available, though only ones recorded when they were very old -- their older, better recordings never made it to CD and are long out of print. Fiddler Christina Smith has made a lot of nice recordings, and done great work collecting tunes from older Newfoundland musicians. The bands Mahers Bahers and A Crowd of Bold Sharemen play a lot of interesting old tunes. And there's a really nice album called Island to Island which is half Newfoundland, half Irish, and 100% superb playing.
# Posted on August 28th 2006 by Sol Foster
Re: Kelly Russell(Newfoundland, Canada) : do you this fiddler
Kelly Russell did explain at the Grand Rencontre that Emile Benoit hailed from the west side of Newfoundland. He also played a number of Rufus Guinchard pieces.
I was sorry to hear from Kelly's wife that the region is losing it's traditional dancers, and we hope they can keep the movement going until the pendulum swings it back into more popularity (like contradancing in the USA).
# Posted on August 28th 2006 by vonnieestes
Ps
Liz Carroll and John Doyle brought standing ovations each time I saw them and danced to them at this past weekend's festival...
I think they prove that Irish music doesn't have to be quiet and/or pedestrian.
# Posted on August 28th 2006 by vonnieestes
Re: Kelly Russell(Newfoundland, Canada) : do you this fiddler
Traditional Newfoundland music is from a mixed bit of this and that influence but I'd have to say that on my part of the island it's mostly Irish influence. You'll also find French Acadian influences on the "French shore" part of the island with a misture of Scots, Spanish and Welsh music. Kelly Russell is indeed a very talented fiddler and I can remember going over to his fathers place and having "the skipper" as Mr. Russell was referred to as telling us stories and building boats. Kelly was playing with the wonderful grand band at the time along with the likes of Ron Hynes and Glenn Simmons, two other very influential newfoundland musicians. It's a terribly sad fact that Newfoundland is slowly losing it's traditional music but fear not for there are a few who are realising that we need to keep our traditions alive. Our music is not pure ITM but it certainly has a flair all it's own.
# Posted on August 29th 2006 by newfie percussionist
Re: Kelly Russell(Newfoundland, Canada) : do you this fiddler
"Newfoundland, Canada" is like saying "Paris, France", except I don't know of any other place called Newfoundland.
# Posted on August 29th 2006 by oldstrings
Re: Kelly Russell(Newfoundland, Canada) : do you this fiddler
You do realize there are other Parises, right?
Back to the subject of Newfoundland traditional music, I should have mentioned a lovely new recording of older accordion players from the northwest portion of the island (and one from Labrador, I think) called "The Four Stops". There's also a very nice recording from a few years ago of accordion player Vince Collins from Placentia Bay. And of course, the great Minnie White (though like Rufus and Emile, most of her recordings never made it to CD).
# Posted on August 29th 2006 by Sol Foster