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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.
Under the
banner of Cape Breton Island, the Sydney Ports Authority has
taken advantage of the significant international marketing
opportunity that the Race offers and sponsored one of the
nine yachts in the race this year. As the Cape Breton
Clipper and its eight competitors make their way into port
in China, Dawn and Margie Beaton will be flying into Qingdao
to be a part of the festivities greeting them on March 2.
Participating in the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht
Race offers the opportunity for sponsors to organize and
host events in key business and tourism ports, to
participate in numerous networking situations, and to
leverage the significant media exposure that the Clipper
race generates throughout the world. The Beatons have a
played a role in many of the port activities up to this
point, including the kickoff to the race in Hull, England in
September, and a visit to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in October.
“Each port
of call brings new opportunities for Cape Breton businesses
best aligned with the industries of each country,” says Dawn
Beaton, who has seen first-hand how this works, having been
involved in three of the eight port of call events. “It’s a
chance to make new connections, and to present business
strategies to an audience of local companies, as will be the
case in Qingdao.”
The dinner
on March 2 will feature lobster from Atlantic Canada and be
capped off with music by the sisters from Mabou.
“The
entire evening gives the locals a great sense of the people
and culture that Cape Breton offers,” continues Beaton,
“with a hope that new business links will be forged with
economic benefit for Cape Breton businesses. It also
provides a tourism opportunity to invite tourists to Cape
Breton Island and see first hand, all that the music, people
and landscape have to offer!”
The Beaton
Sisters will return from Qingdao just in time to dive into a
jam-packed ECMA weekend schedule. It’s going to be a busy
time for the sisters, but they are looking forward to it.
“The
weekend promises to be a well-packed one, but certainly
attending the conferences as a self-managed artist will help
us and bring new insight into our own genre of music,” says
Dawn referring to the many music industry seminars, talks
and conferences that go on in the daytime during ECMA.
And as
helpful as these sessions will be for Dawn and Margie and
their career in music, they have already shown a willingness
to give back when they showcased this week at Rankin School
in Iona, as part of the Soundwaves series, with opening act
Maggie Beaton. The experience reminded Dawn of growing up in
Mabou and the impact these kinds of performances can have.
“We had
such an excited bunch of students in Iona with the
Soundwaves stage, I think we got through to them,” Beaton
says. “Having grown up with memories of visiting artists
coming to Mabou Consolidated, I can see the impact they had
on my childhood, and now fulfilling that role to this
generation is humbling. We knew the culture was strong at
Rankin School, and they only confirmed it for us with
dedicated step dancers of all ages, and many students taking
fiddle lessons from another local fiddler, Shelly Campbell,
so it’s safe to say that something is working there and the
preservation of the culture has a bright future. Reinforcing
that with these in-house school concerts will only aid that
and give direction for these kids.”
The full
schedule for Dawn and Margie during ECMA weekend includes
the CBMIC Presents Hometown Throwdown at Smooth Herman’s on
Thursday (March 4), followed by a set at the Celtic Colours
Festival Club stage in Membertou on Friday (March 5). On
Saturday (March 6), they will be a part of the CBC Cape
Breton radio broadcast Island Echoes taping and will later
appear at the ECMA house party, Orain Taigh at 42 Amelia
Street. The girls also have an official showcase on Sunday,
March 7 on the RBC Discovery Stage at the Capri Club.
“We’re
really looking forward to the Festival Club of Celtic
Colours at Membertou. We always look forward to the
impromptu jam sessions and great music and crew in October,
so having it in abundance in March just adds to the
anticipation of the weekend. We’re also playing at Orain
Taigh which is an intimate concert set in a house. It’s a
great fit with ECMA’s theme this year, and growing up in
rural Cape Breton, this is what we thrive on, a good old
fashioned house party!”
“It’s our
first ECMAs as nominated artists, so the build up, and
anticipation for us personally has been so riveting,” adds
Beaton. “And then on top of that, to be experiencing China
for the first time and returning to ECMA weekend with a
showcase every night and having a successful showcase in
Iona with the Soundwaves stage, well, it all feels like 20
years of enjoyable work is being rewarded!” |
