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Reviews Alberta Society of Fiddlers. 64 Fiddle Tunes Exciting singing from this trio, Sherryl Sewepagaham Commonly Played in Alberta. ASF-001. (Cree), Sarah Pocklington (Cree Métis) and Debbie Alberta Society of Fiddlers, 2005; Houle (Métis). The three musicians from northern fiddlealberta.netfirms.com Alberta all have vocal training that they use in the service of the unique sound they have created. Some This two-CD set is a remarkable accomplishment. of the songs are sung in Cree, some with vocables, Designed primarily as a pedagogical instrument, it is and all the themes derive from Native culture and also a documentary record of the basic corpus of history, evidenced by titles such as “Bill C-31 Blues” popular fiddle tunes extant among practitioners of and “Rez Sister”. traditional fiddle playing in Alberta at the beginning All three voices are robust and flexible. They can of the twenty-first century. In both respects it is an do most everything with their voices: produce snappy exceptionally valuable initiative. rhythms as well as the melody. In the song “Little Anyway, there are indeed sixty-four tracks here, Angel” they negotiate beautifully the large intervals featuring sixty-three different tunes (“Turkey in the characteristic of Plains music. The alto voice is par- Straw” is given in two different keys, D & G). We ticularly effective in “Maskawiwin”. In “Bill C-31 begin with “Angus Campbell” and end with “Whisky Blues” the low voice creates a walking rhythm bass Before Breakfast”. Most tunes are traditional (or at for this blues-style song, and in “Iskwesis” (“Little least anonymous) but a dozen are credited to com- Girl”) they have captured the rhythm, albeit with a posers, among them Don Messer and Wade Hems- quicker tempo, of the northern Tea Dance. The vocal worth. They are played by four fiddlers: Heather rhythms are frequently augmented with various hand Bourne, Bonnie Gregory, Bruce Blair, and Rod Ols- drums, rattles, finger-snapping and other sounds tad, each responsible for sixteen tunes and each dis- (such as sssh). There are tasteful touches of tradition- creetly accompanied by guitarist Cam Neufeld. I’m al flute in “Goodnight Song”. sure they have somewhat different styles—and, yes, The focused and intense vocal timbre is reminis- you can hear some differences if you concentrate cent of northern powwow singing, and at the same hard—but they each play the tunes impeccably and time, the sound tells us that they are modern women quite straight, so that you can easily hear the differ- who are not afraid to be heard. Their letter-perfect ence, for example, between a jig and a reel. diction adds to the strength of the message. Outstand- Obviously this is not a collection one sits down ing is the fluidity of their singing and the blending of to listen to at a single session, and of course the best the harmony the three have achieved. They don’t way to use it is to check on individual tunes as always adhere to Western harmonic traditions. Occa- needed. Now, just a minute, how does “Red River sionally their musical bridges move via unexpected Jig” go? And what about “Maple Sugar” or “Joys of chords, yet they stay absolutely together and con- Quebec”? And so it goes…I had a hard time thinking vince us that these new sounds are just right. of a fiddle tune I really like that isn’t here, but I did One of my favorite songs is “Maskwa’s Jour- come up with “The Keel Row”. Perhaps that isn’t ney”, the first song they created together. It uses call- played much in Alberta this days, or perhaps it never response form, and the three voices, singing with has been. I guess it’s really a pipe tune in any case. syllables, build waves of sound. I hope we will hear Well, I must ask Rod Olstad if he knows it, next time more from Asani.. I see him at an anti-government demonstration or a Lynn Whidden, Brandon, Manitoba Kubasonics concert. I believe he was the mastermind behind this project, and he deserves our admiration The Buccaneers. Road Trip, vol. 1. BMG001. Big- and thanks. note Entertainment Inc., 87 Tuscany Springs Way David Gregory, Athabasca, Alberta NW, Calgary, Alta. T3L 2N4; [email protected]; www.bignote.net; www.buccaneers.ca Asani. Rattle & Drum. AR 12. Ann Arbor Records Ltd., 49 Henderson Hwy., Winnipeg, Man. R2L 1K9; The Buccaneers are a Calgary-based trio consisting www.arborrecords.com; Asani, c/o 1671 Tomlinson of Rodger Leeder (vocals, mandolin, bass guitar, gui- Common, Edmonton, Alta. T6R 3E2; tar, and a familiar last name), Seán Sabraw (vocals, [email protected]; www.asani.org guitar, bass guitar, bodhran, mandolin) and Jim Sa- muelson (vocals, saxophone, pennywhistles, tambou- 26 rine, bones). Originally formed as a busking sextet in This sound recording represents the story of a fami- Winnipeg in 1997, The Buccaneers celebrated their ly’s life in the Native American Church (“NAC”). first decade with a new album, Road Trip, vol. 1 (pre- Three generations of the Denny family have worked sumably there will be more!). The CD was recorded to establish and develop this peyote-centered church at Ma-Me-O Recording Studio and produced by The on the Rocky Boy Reservation, Montana. The NAC Buccaneers and Miles Jackson, who contributed voc- stresses both song and eating of the peyote to achieve als, piano, keyboards, accordion and all the engineer- deep religious experience, and the songs are central ing and mastering. As a note for those who prefer to the spread of the ceremony across North America. their music live, The Buccaneers tour extensively in The CD notes tell the story of how their family Canada, and have performed at over 150 schools efforts to spread the NAC often faced opposition across the country. from other community members. Other traditional Half of Road Trip’s eight songs are traditional, music and beliefs live on, such as the well- including “The Klondike Gold Rush”, “L’Arbre Est established Plains music traditions embodied in the Dans Ses Feuilles” and “I’se the B’y”. These last two Sun Dance and the powwow. Indeed, the Rocky Boy feature rollicking performances, and hold up well to Reservation has a well-known powwow drum group. repeated listening─ this is particularly impressive for After initial reluctance to record the songs, the Denny “I’se the B’y”, which sometimes seems too well family realized the value of recorded song to carry known. More recent compositions include the open- the NAC message. ing track, “Our Own Backyard” (written by the band In contrast to the detailed information on the members), “Saskatchewan Sea” (J. Summach), James family, there are no notes on what makes this music Keelaghan’s “Red River Rising”, and the sixth track so mesmerizing. It consists of a small water drum and (see below). “Red River Rising” struck me as the rattles. Both are played with a light rapid beat, and tightest performance on the disc, with a wonderful the beating of the two instruments is synchronized. drive to the drums and bass and some fine guitar so- Melodic contours, sung with easily remembered los and fills. The vocal harmonies are crisp on this vocables, undulate around a fixed pitch. After a track, as they are throughout the disc. “call” by lead singer Denny, he is joined in harmony One of my first impressions upon hearing the by Primeaux. Denny and Primeaux have achieved a disc was that it seemed kind of─well, juvenile. It pleasing blend, and sing with ease. Because NAC wasn’t until a visit to the Buccaneers’ website that I services continue throughout the night, this effortless discovered that Road Trip is intended “specifically vocal production is necessary. There are four sets of for children and their families, but enjoyable for all” songs during the service: opening, midnight water, (an informal, haphazard study confirmed its effec- dawn water, and the closing song. Each song is sung tiveness─a shame it’s not mentioned on the CD it- four times. self). On a related point, the arrangements are pitched Whether you are a member of the Native Ameri- rather high for most adults to sing along with (pre- can Church or not, this recording is worthwhile for its sumably they are for younger voices, but perhaps it’s intrinsic music value as well as its deep roots in a vestige of the group’s busking days, or simply a North American Native music history. comfortable range for the singers). Finally, the Buc- Lynn Whidden, Brandon, Manitoba caneers’ website doesn’t mention Road Trip at all under Music─instead, click on Shop, where it ap- The David Grisman Experience. DGBX. ACD-65. pears above a notice for the upcoming (and pre- Acoustic Disc, P.O. Box 4143, San Rafael, CA selling) Buccaneers EP and their two earlier discs. 94913. www.acousticdisc.com In the interests of full disclosure, I must mention that track 6 of Road Trip (“The ‘Segwun’ is Steamin’ David Grisman is a well-known figure in the world of Again”) was written by Rodger Leeder’s father, CFM American bluegrass, and it’s hardly surprising that Reviews Editor (and in this context, my boss) John this, his most recent recording, contains a wealth of Leeder. It may not be the politically correct thing for expertly-played, vibrant music with that characteris- a reviewer to say, but here goes: nice work, John! tic sound of blended mandolin, five-string banjo, Paul Guise, Winnipeg, Manitoba fiddle, guitar and acoustic bass. As one would expect from Grisman, there is plenty of skilful mandolin Clinton Denny with Gerald Primeaux, Sr.

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