Farewell Cyril

Dear Readers,

Our friend Cyril Devouge passed away peacefully this past weekend at the hospital in Chateauguay.

He was a good friend and wonderful teacher in the full sense of the word. As much as he taught me about fiddle music, getting to know him also taught me much about leading a joyful life and the importance of family, friends, music, and laughter. I'm hoping some of these lessons are captured in the stories and jokes we have posted of our visits with Cyril in previous months. I know Brian, Brigid, and I will really cherish the memories we had with our sessions at Cyril's seniors home. We will be posting more tunes and stories from Cyril as I go through all the recordings I have.

His tunes have been some of the most popular on this site and I'm glad that so many people are listening to them and the files where I teach his tunes.

Cyril (Right) cracks a joke. Denzil and Dorothy laugh.

On our last visit with him, I told Cyril how popular his tunes were here and that people had really been enjoying them and had begun learning them. The sense of pride this gave him was clear and palpable in the room. Brigid's husband Jimmy then told Cyril that he had kept his music alive for 100 years and that we were working to keep it alive for another 100. This remark really touched Cyril and as he often did, he shed a few tears of happiness. Knowing that his tunes were not going to be lost really seemed to give him a sense of contentment.

I wanted to say to the readers that in my mind, Jimmy's use of the word "we" includes all the people who have been listening to and learning from Cyril's tunes and stories, so thank you.

Here is another video of Cyril playing for his good buddy Hermas Réhel to step dance to. All I can say about this video is that it is old-time fiddle culture at its finest.



Farewell Cyril, we'll miss you.