Remembering Cyril

Readers,

A year ago today, we said goodbye to a good friend and lover of fiddle music, Cyril Devouge of L'Anse-á-Brillant, Quebec.

Today, I wanted to share some snippets of a visit Brigid, Brian, and myself had with Cyril for Thanksgiving in October, 2010. We had a nice surprise when we arrived.  Cyril had called up his good friend and outstanding Chateauguay Valley fiddler, Neil MacKay to join us as well as his daughter, Trena Devouge. This was the first time I had met Neil and we have since shared some great times playing music together.  It was also the first time I had met Trena and we've since become friends.  She has helped us out a lot here sending us tunes, pictures, and giving us invaluable info about Gaspesian culture.

Hear Cyril talking about playing with Roland White and Cyril's old horse

Here is Neil playing Cy's favourite tune, the Winter Reel, on my fiddle.

Here is the four of us playing Roland White's tune with Cy joining us on the mouth organ.

On the last tune, we played it in the key of D to match the key of Cy's mouth organ.  On the fiddle, this tune is played in G.

Cy really helped me out with this music and is the person responsible for sorting my bowing out, giving me lots of pointers during our visits. The three clips today really give a sense of what a vibrant character Cy was right up until he was 95. I often think about Cy and his stories and jokes still give me a chuckle whenever I think of them.