Since 1997, Celtic Colours International Festival has brought a world of performers and visitors to Cape Breton every October to share a rich and varied cultural history, set against the stunning backdrop of the island’s vibrant autumn foliage.
In 2020, due to restrictions on travel and large gatherings, the festival is sending the music of its artists out to the world via free live-streamed concerts instead of hosting intimate shows in the halls, churches and theatres of welcoming Cape Breton communities. From Oct. 9 to 17, Celtic Colours International Festival at Home presents a nightly series of concerts featuring live performances by favourite Atlantic Canadian artists from the Membertou Convention Centre, as well as pre-recorded sets by musicians from across Canada and the British Isles.
Each show will stream at 7:30 p.m. through the Celtic Colours website and on the festival’s YouTube channel produced in partnership with NovaStream and Soundpark Studios. There is also a pair of later 10 p.m. Festival Club showcases on the Saturdays, Oct. 10 and 17, inspired by the regular late-night sessions at the Gaelic College in St. Anns where anything can happen.
While they are free to watch, there is an option for viewers to make a donation to support the festival and its artists, and each night’s concert will be preceded by a 30-minute pre-show highlighting its community partners and the Cape Breton vistas which remain a vital part of the festival experience.
“We were probably better positioned than almost all other festivals, in the sense that we’d been doing live streaming since 2011,” says festival artistic director Dawn Beaton, who’d announced in May that organizers were moving to an online model for this fall after consulting with provincial health authorities. “So this isn’t a stretch for us necessarily.
“We’ve had thousands of views per show every night, from all corners of the globe. ... We could never have predicted this current scenario, but it was the foresight of (festival co-founder) Joella Foulds who made the call back in 2011 that this would benefit the festival, benefit the artists and it would benefit Cape Breton Island to showcase the beauty that’s here.”
Naturally, Cape Breton artists are front and centre for Celtic Colours at Home, and October’s lineup doesn’t disappoint, with fiddlers Ashley MacIsaac, Howie MacDonald, Brenda Stubbert, Joe MacMaster, Dwayne Cote, Glenn Graham and Rodney MacDonald, Andrea Beaton and Shelly Campbell.
Beloved Cape Breton groups the Barra MacNeils and Beolach are also on the schedule, along with Gaelic singer Mary Jane Lamond, songwriters Gordie Sampson and J.P. Cormier, and pianist Hilda Chiasson. There will also be dancing, highlighted by the skilled footwork of Harvey Beaton, Melanie MacDonald, Gerard Beaton, Amanda MacDonald, Jenny MacKenzie and Sabra MacGillivray.
From over the Canso Causeway comes Nova Scotian fiddler/pianist/composer Troy MacGillivray, Pictou County singer-songwriter Dave Gunning, Juno Award-winner Old Man Luedecke, Prince Edward Island trio Vishten and Scottish Gaelic singer Cathy Ann MacPhee, who will all perform live and in-person from Membertou. Pre-recorded performances will include Ontario singer-songwriters James Keelaghan and Kaia Kater, Quebec’s E.T.E., and returning Celtic Colours favourites from overseas, Irish singer/flautist Nuala Kennedy, Isle of Man group Mec Lir and Scotland duo Corrina Hewat and David Milligan.
While the majority of these names will be familiar to devotees of Celtic Colours — as well as many around the world experiencing the festival for the first time via the live stream — there will also be a selection of emerging talents making their festival debut on the stage at Membertou Trade and Convention Centre. The Fare Thee Well — a new trio featuring Rosie MacKenzie and Shannon Quinn — Eskasoni musician Shawnee Paul, Inverness County singer-songwriter Steve MacIntyre and Mi’kmaq fiddler Morgan Toney, originally from We’koma’q First Nation, will all bring fresh songs and sounds to the nightly shows.
Beaton is excited for Toney’s debut, after watching him hone his craft and share his heritage onstage with a performance of the Mi'kmaw Honour Song as well as exploring the worlds of piping and Gaelic singing. The Waycobah musician is featured in the Celtic Colours Right at Home opening concert from Membertou on Friday, Oct. 9, along with Creignish kitchen devil Ashley MacIsaac, brothers Ryan J. and Boyd MacNeil from the Barra MacNeils, Stoney Bear Singers, pianist Chaisson and francophone/Celtic performer Mary Beth Carty.
“Here’s someone that looks at his own culture and is investing in that, and is learning about other cultures in the same breath," she says of Toney. "He’s kind of leaps and bounds ahead while quite young; he’s composing his own tunes, he’s being inventive with different styles and approaches to performing.
“I can see a lot of similarities between him and Ashley, and they’ve been liking each other’s posts on Facebook, so I knew I had to make this happen.”
Celtic Colours’ Artists in Residence program also continues this year in streaming form, maintaining a 20-year-tradition. Troy MacGillivray hosts a family reunion with siblings Kendra and Sabra MacGillivray, while Nuala Kennedy presents a trans-Atlantic collaboration with fiddler Tara Breen, guitarist Tony Byrne and dancer Siobhan Butler. Their concerts are destined to be something special, as the MacGillivrays and Kennedy and her partners have been spending months online together, connecting digitally to create one-of-a-kind programs.
For further information on this year’s Celtic Colours artists, and the schedule of shows, visit celtic-colours.com.
