Readers,
I'm pleased to let you know that starting in September, I will be moving to St. John's, Newfoundland to start a Masters degree in Ethnomusicology where I will be pursuing the Gaspe fiddle project full-time.
Although it will be tough to leave the Montreal-area and all my wonderful Gaspesian friends who live here, I know that acquiring some new skills and having the opportunity to pursue this project through academia will be a great way to promote and document Gaspesian music.
I wanted to thank everyone who has helped Brian and I throughout the past few years with this project. All the folks in Douglastown, Gaspe, Shigawake, and Montreal, your generosity has made everything possible.
I will be back in Gaspe at the end of July for a few weeks to visit friends, relax on the beach, and help out at the Irish Days (July 30-Aug 4).
See you around this summer.
Hey Glenn, that's awesome! Glad to hear that you're taking the plunge and makin it your main thing. Though too bad you probably won't be in Montreal next time I am.
ReplyDeleteI check out this blog from time to time and it always gets me. I listen to all the tunes, though I haven't tried any yet. I've been playing lots of fiddle but farming gets in the way.
I was thinking about going to the Festival Memoire et Racines with my friend Alec this year.. ever been? Think its worth it? He is doing a year of traveling around to fiddle festivals and camps and I told him about your project, I think he will be psyched.
See you down the line, Rafe
Oh yea, I met Rafe Stefanini in North Carolina, and he told me that he was named (or nick-named) after Rafe Brady the old fiddler (whose album I bought in the record store), completing the circle of Rafe fiddlers.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear from you Rafe and glad you are enjoying the tunes. Can't wait to hear you wail on some of them one of these days.
ReplyDeleteMemoires et Racines is great. Not a lot of jamming like Old-Time festivals, its more a performer-audience thing, but they always get great acts. Though I'm sure they'd love it if you brought some good old-time to the camp-out area.