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August 17, 2010
ABC News "Weekend Window" Features Cape Breton
[Click
to watch video]

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July
23, 2010
Cape
Breton fiddler John Campbell dies in Boston at age 79
With the strong bow arm of a great dance player and an ear
for lilting tunes, John Campbell was one of the most revered
Cape Breton fiddlers. The Glenora Falls-born musician died
Thursday after several years of ill health at the age of 79
in Boston, his home since 1963... Read More
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July
22, 2010
Kinnon Beaton
releases new CD, Tunesmith
He’s closing in on 10 albums but Kinnon Beaton’s latest
recording project wasn’t about achieving any musical
milestone. “At the start I was planning to do (the CD) all
myself but as I started going over the tunes and practising
for it, I started realizing the CD is more about the tunes.
It’s not about doing another CD, it’s more of an awareness
of my tunes,” said the well-known fiddler from Long Point...
Read More
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May
26, 2010
Small halls
across P.E.I. tuning up for festival
Catherine MacLellan, Troy MacGillivray, Meaghan
Blanchard and Vishten are just some of the 100 well-known
East Coast artists who will perform in 27 different
community halls across the Island during the 2010 Festival
of Small Halls. A recent news conference held here
highlighted the 10-day festival to be held June 11-20...
Read More
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May
25, 2010
Fiddler
shares unique style
A well-known Cape Breton fiddler makes the trek to Nanaimo
for a concert and a workshop Friday (May 28). Mairi Rankin
developed a unique style through her immersion in Nova
Scotia’s rich musical culture. She performed as a solo
artist as well as a member of the Cape Breton Celtic group
Beolach... Read More
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May 12, 2010
Dwayne
and Duane — a dynamic duo
They share the same name and the same genuine love of music.
And now Cape Breton fiddler Dwayne Côté and Newfoundland
guitarist Duane Andrews will share the spotlight on a new
duo, self-titled CD... Read More
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April 5, 2010
Bow genius
15-year-old
fiddling prodigy from Cape Breton releases CD
Close to 200 fans, friends and musicians crammed into the
famed Doryman Beverage Room on Sunday because every once in
a while Cape Breton Island breeds a fiddler with a spark of
pure genius... Read More
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March
8, 2010
Congratulations to all ECMA
Nominees and winners!
Special nod goes to Cape Breton winners ANDREA BEATON
(Instrumental Recording of the year for 'Branches'), DAWN &
MARGIE BEATON (Roots/Traditional Group Recording of the Year
for 'Taste of Gaelic') and THE RANKINS (Director’s Special
Achievement Award).
The ECMA's were
handed out Sunday, March 7th at Centre 200 in Sydney, Cape
Breton. Next year's awards will be held in Charlottetown,
PEI.
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February 26, 2010
Beaton Sisters debut in China on their way to ECMA
by Dave Mahalik,
What's Goin' On Magazine

While
artists across the region are getting ready to take a trip
to Cape Breton for next weekend’s East Coast Music Awards,
Festival and Conference in Sydney, Dawn and Margie Beaton
are taking the long way to the annual event. The duo from
Mabou, whose debut album Taste of Gaelic is nominated for an
East Coast Music Award in the Roots Traditional Group of the
Year category, will be making their way to Sydney via China,
where they are performing as part of the Clipper 09-10 Round
the World Yacht Race... Read More
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February 25, 2010
Colin Grant soaks up styles
I’VE BEEN LUCKY enough to catch
Cape Breton fiddler Colin Grant on stage a couple of times
during trips across the causeway, including the CD release
bash for his self-titled debut at Celtic Colours in 2006,
and discovered he’s everything you could hope for from a
Celtic musician: energetic, adventurous, serious in his
study of music but always eager to have a good time on stage
and in the studio.... Read More
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January 20,
2010
Cape
Breton needs your help!
Hasbro (the game company) is asking people to vote on
which Canadian cities/communities should appear in their
upcoming Canadian edition of Monopoly.
Only the
top 22 will make it on to the board. Cape Breton is on the
list of 65 cites/communities, but not doing too well so far
– as of yesterday, it's in 47th place. Montreal’s efforts
landed them the coveted “Boardwalk” space in the
international edition.
To vote
for Cape Breton, visit
www.monopolyvote.ca/en_CA/world, click Cape Breton on
the map (use the little square at the bottom left to move
the map over towards Cape Breton), add it to "my Cities" and
then Vote once every day!
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January 15,
2010
The inside track on The
Outside Track:
Mairi Rankin joins
U.K.-based band The Outside Track
Mairi Rankin is spreading her music here, there and just
about everywhere these days. The Mabou fiddler continues to
teach music and perform solo, she’s a member of popular Cape
Breton group, Beolach, and recently joined U.K.-based band
The Outside Track, which will perform during the renowned
Celtic Connections festival, which opens today...
Read More
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December 31,
2009
Cape Breton fiddler
remembered as a ‘beautiful player’
by family and friends
Cape Breton fiddler Dougie MacDonald was in the company of
friends, family and great music just hours before he died
Saturday in a motor-vehicle accident...
Read More
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November 30, 1009
Rankin
Family gets East Coast Music Association award
The group will be presented with one of the East Coast Music
Association's 2010 Honourary Awards in March.Rankin Family
members, from left to right, Heather, Jimmy, Raylene and
Cookie, are shown here in a file photo. The group will be
presented with one of the East Coast Music Association's
2010 Honourary Awards in March...
Read More
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Weekly Tune
Session at the Celtic Music Centre
Every
Thursday there will be an open tune session for musicians
and listeners at the Celtic
Music Centre in Judique
Where:
Celtic Music Interpretive Centre (Route 19, Judique)
When: Weekly on Thursday evenings
Time: 7:30 pm start
Admission: Free
Bar: Cash bar (19 years+ after 9:00 pm)
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November 14,
2009
Show
#49, a Gaelic Milling Frolic recorded in Whycocomagh, Cape
Breton, is now online...
Click to listen
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November 8,
2009
A big thanks to
the following people for their recent donations to
Cape Breton Live. Their donations help keep the shows online
for free!
Thanks to:
Christina Hendrickson (Kentucky), Michael McSheehy (Texas),
Roddie Ohandley (Nova Scotia), Natasha Mandryk (British
Columbia), John Hemmer (Texas), John Mackesy (California),
Gerard MacLellan (Massachusetts), Allen Feldman (New York),
Jody Gunn (California), Joanna Shipley (Vermont), David Cutting (U.K), Annette Buss (British
Columbia).
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October 31,
2009
Chafe’s first
music collection
Earlier this month, family and some of Canada’s finest
traditional musicians, including Ivan Hicks and Dwayne Cote,
gathered in a Sydney hall to cheer on the accomplishments of
one of the island’s most cheerful treasures...
Read More
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More new CD's
in the Online Store...
Celtic
Colours International Festival CD's from the years 2000-2008
Each
CD features artists who appeared at that year's festival.
Many contain previously unreleased material. Make sure to
check out Volume X (2006 CD), a double CD of entirely live
material recorded during the festival.
7 of the tracks were recorded by Cape Breton Live and have
been featured on past CBL shows.

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August 4, 2009
Gaelic culture runs deep in
'the other Eire-land'
Picturesque Cape Breton is home to some of Canada's most
stunning scenery. It's been a long drive along a craggy,
wave-thrashed coast, through the lush green landscapes and
wild lupine fields of the central Highlands. We've been
confused by Gaelic signposts and lost on little roads, but
what keeps us going is the thought of a wee dram of "uisce
beatha" to heal the soul... Read More
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July 27, 2009
Jerry
Holland’s legend will live on in his music
"Back in 1993 I performed at an international Celtic
music festival in Sweden. I got out of a taxi, on my way to
the concert, only to find a pipe band marching down the
street playing a tune I had written for my great friend
Brenda Stubbert. Imagine how surprised I was to hear a pipe
band in Sweden playing Brenda Stubbert’s Reel!" ...
Read More
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July 2009
New CD's in The Online Store...
Dawn
& Margie Beaton: A Taste of Gaelic
Andrea
Beaton: Branches
Robbie & Isaac Fraser: Everything Old Is New
Again
Brenda Stubbert: Endless Memories
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July 18, 2009
Brenda Stubbert celebrates milestone birthday;
music world mourns loss of Jerry Holland Sr.
“When the
other school children would go out to play at recess, Brenda
Stubbert would usually head for the piano at the back of the
classroom. I realized early on that instead of paying
attention to a lesson, she would often be silently ‘jigging’
tunes in her head. She was just full of music!” My uncle Pat
MacLean, from Fraser Avenue in Sydney Mines, taught Brenda
Stubbert when she was a student at Bras D’Or Junior High
School.... Read More
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July 17, 2009
Sad News from Cape Breton
CBC News
Cape
Breton fiddler and composer Jerry Holland passed away last
night after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 54.
Jerry,
originally from Boston, travelled to Cape Breton as a boy in
the summer with his family. He moved to the island
permanently in 1975. He performed publicly for the first
time at age six — a year after he started to learn the
fiddle. He performed on the John Allan Cameron Show from
1974-1977, and played stages around the world. Over the
years, Holland earned a reputation as one of the finest
composers and players of Cape Breton-style music.
Jerry will be
greatly missed.
Remembering
Jerry Holland: Memorial Service & Celebration
Click here for information
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Cape Breton Live
IN CONCERT:
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Join the Cape
Breton Live band on July 19th for the closing concert of the
week-long Whycocomagh Summer Festival.
The Cape Breton
Live band is:
- Howie MacDonald (fiddle, piano)
- Brenda Stubbert (fiddle, piano)
- Wendy MacIsaac (fiddle, piano)
- Kenneth MacKenzie (pipes, fiddle)
- Kate Quinn (vocals)
- Tyler Key (vocals)
- Patrick Gillis (guitar)
- Cheryl Smith (percussion)
Time: 7:30 pm
Venue:
Whycocomagh Education Centre, Whycocomagh
Tickets: $10, Children 5-12 years: $3.00,
Children
under 5 years: Free
Information: 902-756-2617
or
email
the festival
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July
14,
2009
VISHTEN live on CBC Radio
Celtic/Acadian group
VISHTEN,
recorded live on May 23, 2009 at the Harbourfront Jubilee
Theatre in Summerside PEI. Visit CBC Radio's
Concerts on Demand to listen.
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July
14, 2009
Cape Breton voted third-best island in world
SYDNEY
(CP)— Cape Breton has been voted the third-best island in
the world by readers of Travel + Leisure magazine. The
island jumped seven spots from its No. 10 ranking in 2008
and maintained its title of best island in the continental
United States and Canada for the second year in a row.
The
edition of Travel + Leisure featuring its 2009 awards will
appear on news stands in August. Readers of the magazine
rated Bali as the world’s best island, followed by the
Galapagos.
Vancouver
Island, in 10th, was the only other in Canada to make the
Top 10.
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June 2009
Cape Breton Live: Take 01 now available on
iTunes worldwide.
CAPE BRETON LIVE: TAKE
01
Compilation CD featuring 13 live
tracks from various shows
(Released: June 2006)
Track
listing & sound clips
Physical copies out of print

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'Natalie
MacMaster & Friends' TV Special reairing June 16th
Tuesday,
June 16 at 9:00 pm ET (Bravo TV Canada)
A special concert, filmed in front of a live audience,
showcasing Natalie's exceptional talents and her
genre-crossing collaborations. Featuring the Cape Breton
Live band; Andrea Beaton, Glenn Graham, Howie MacDonald,
Troy MacGillivray, Cheryl Smith as well as singers Buddy
MacDonald and Kate Quinn. Recorded live at the Rose Theatre,
Brampton, Ontario (2006).
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June 12, 2009
Michael Hall
releasing first fiddle music recording
Over the past few years Michael Hall has made his mark on
the world of Cape Breton fiddle music. Unlike so many of
today’s young players, he didn’t grow up on this island
surrounded by friends, neighbours and relatives who played.
Originally from New Brunswick, he spent a lot of time
playing the accordion while growing up, but even there the
influence of the Cape Breton music seeped into his mind and
soul and he was hooked.... [Read More]
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June 5, 2009
Donald Angus has to make A-list of Island greats
DAN MACDONALD, The Cape Breton Post
When you
list the prominent fiddlers this island has produced over
the years, you quickly come up with an A-list, the best of
the best, agreed by all to be the top figures in their
field. High on that list will be the name of
Donald Angus Beaton.
Over the
years he was a blacksmith, a taxi driver and the mail
driver. He married Elizabeth MacEachern — a noted pianist in
her own right — and together they raised a family of nine,
all of whom played fiddle, piano or danced. Donald Angus is
likely best known as the fiddler who personified the Mabou
Coal Mines style.
Renowned
for a driving style and great lift, Donald Angus was
considered the perfect player for dancing, attracting large
crowds. And he and Elizabeth played for a lot of dances,
concerts and house parties in a career that spanned a
half-century.
The new CD
on Donald Angus and Elizabeth Beaton, Live at the House, was
taped in the 1970s, on a Sunday afternoon when Fr. John
Angus Rankin and Collie Beaton had arrived for a visit. The
CD gives us nine cuts consisting of jigs, strathspeys and
reels. It’s only 48 minutes of playing, but this is all
typical Donald Angus.
Last week
I received a second item commemorating the man and his
music. It’s a musical documentary DVD called Donald Angus
Beaton: His Life & Music. In it are some prime examples of
his playing skills, along with pictures and film clips taken
at various times in his career. For those who may not have
known him personally, this is an insight into his life and
music. For those of us who had the chance to hear him often,
this is a DVD full of memories.
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May 16, 2009
Blas
festival’s ‘Scots Embassy’ to strengthen links with
Canadians
Innovations to forge Highland ties with Nova Scotia’s Celtic
Colours event - The Blas
festival launched its programme yesterday and declared it
was to have its own “Scottish Embassy” which will strengthen
its links with the Celtic Colours International Festival in
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The programme for the September
festival was revealed at Glen Ord Distillery in
Ross-shire... [Read More]
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March
19, 2009
The Irish are Coming!
Bridging the Atlantic with Culture and Music
As preparations continue for the thirteenth annual Celtic
Colours
International Festival, organizers are excited to announce
that this
year's festival will focus on the strong ties and influence
of Irish
music and culture. Over the past 12 years, the Festival has
offered a
wide range of music from Celtic nations around the world...
[Read More]
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March
13, 2009
The East Coast Music Awards original TV broadcast is now
available online
at:
http://www.cbc.ca/eastcoastmusic/
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February
20, 2009
Cape Breton To Host ECMA 2010
HALIFAX —
The annual East Coast Music Awards has announced that Cape
Breton will play host to the event in 2010.
The East
Coast Music Association confirms the awards gala, festival
and conference will be held in Sydney from March 4 to March
7, 2010.
Ian
McNeil, chairman of the event, says Cape Breton’s bid
received strong support from key local businesses, the Cape
Breton Regional Municipality and Enterprise Cape Breton
Corporation.
Meanwhile,
the 21st ECMA awards show and conference will be held
February 26-March 1, 2009 in Corner Brook, Newfoundland.
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February 5, 2009
We are coming back!
Thanks to Marc
Paquette at SOCAN, we have worked out a tariff that will allow us to pay
a reasonable fee to SOCAN to stay online. In the next
week we will be getting the shows back online so stay
tuned...
We still intend
to make the shows available at no charge to all but will be
relying on your donations to keep us afloat. So if you
listen, please donate what you can, when you can!
Thanks for
all your support and for the many emails we received while
we were 'offline'.
~ The Cape Breton Live Crew
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