Latest news with #traditionalMusic
CTV News
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Fiddle Festival proves traditional music alive and well in the Maritimes
The 76th annual Maritime Fiddle Festival is on at the NSCC Ivany Campus in Dartmouth, N.S., for two days of traditional music this week. The celebration started Friday and continues until the closing concert Saturday night. 'We like to promote and preserve our Maritime fiddle tradition,' said festival co-chair Diane Hicks. There are over 45 fiddlers competing at the festival, aged five to 85 or older, said Hicks. Amelia Parker has participated in the festival since she was six. 'It's something you work towards every year,' Parker said. 'I think it's great for the youth because it encourages everyone to take up the fiddle and keep the tradition going.' The festival includes seven fiddle classes, two step dance classes and two nights of music and dancing. Hicks said the festival started as a fundraiser for a church in Dartmouth in 1950. At 76-years-old, it is Canada's longest running old-time fiddle contest. 'It just grew and grew over the years,' Hicks said. Volunteers took over the festival after it grew too large for the church to manage. The Maritime Fiddle Festival has attracted notable fiddlers during its 76 years including Ivan & Vivian Hicks, Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy, April Verch, J.P. Cormier, Scott Woods, Shane Cook, and others. 'Bring your fiddle. Bring your dancing shoes. It's going to be a great time,' Hicks said.
CBC
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Inside the creation of a ji'kmaqn
CBC Indigenous reporter Sis'moqon goes to Eskasoni First Nation in Nova Scotia to learn about the ji'kmaqn and why this traditional musical instrument has been vital to the Mi'kmaw culture.
CBC
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
These Indigenous kids played a song to attract grizzly bears — and it worked
A group of Indigenous children played a traditional song with drums on Sunday at Metro Vancouver's Grouse Mountain, and ended up catching the attention of curious grizzly bears in the process. Six children from the Squamish First Nation were on a trip to the popular Grouse Mountain resort, which includes a grizzly bear wilderness sanctuary where tourists can get a glimpse of the reclusive creatures. While there, the children played a tune called the Grizzly Bear Song, which comes from one of the nation's hereditary chiefs, Ian Campbell. And in a moment that was caught on video, bears came out of the bush and up to the sanctuary fence to curiously examine the six drummers, whose traditional song describes their connection to nature and to the bears themselves. WATCH | Indigenous kids' drumming attracts grizzlies: Young musicians go viral after coaxing grizzlies with their Grizzly Bear Song 8 hours ago Duration 1:43 The video has since gone viral, and both the children and the group's co-ordinator say they're proud that the nation's heritage is now being shown off to a global audience. "It felt, like, really amazing ... I felt so blessed when they came really close to us," said Jonah Nahanee, one of the kids. "It's fun to sing with my culture," he added. The kids in the group range from 10 to 11 years old, and all of them expressed joy at the fact the bears seemed to want to listen to their songs. In the video, a bear comes close to the fence where the boys are singing and looks at them all in turn as they continue to drum. One of the boys, Thomas Jacobs, says it's the closest he's ever been to a grizzly. "I think we've been doing this for three or two years, and I just love singing for my culture," he told CBC News. 'I shed a tear' Jennifer Nahanee, Jonah's mother and the group's co-ordinator, says the drummers are called the Proud Little Warriors, and they have regular practices at least once a month. She said the kids — who've been learning the Squamish language and music for years — know more about the songs' meaning than she does. "I don't always know what the words mean, but I can definitely feel it in my Sḵwálwen — in my heart," she said. "And, you know, I shed a tear when they were singing up at Grouse Mountain, just because you know how proud I am to see how far they've come." Nahanee said that her video has racked up more than a million views, and she's gotten messages of support from people who speak Spanish and other languages. "I'm happy, you know, to get our language and our culture out there, let people know that we're still here, you know?" Nahanee said.
