Out fiddling around
Can a village be musical? After spending the evening at the Rollo Bay Fiddle Festival, the question no longer stands unanswered. Very simply, yes. The village of Rollo Bay, PEI has a family that keeps the sound of the fiddle alive. Not just the fiddle, either; guitar, mandolin, djembe, even the Highland pipes on certain occasions.
The Festival, which runs for a full weekend in mid-July is in its 32nd iteration. The grounds have improved over the decades, and the clientele has grown to a fully international one, with satisfied listeners coming for a huge three-night sleepover complete with concession stands, a RV ground and multiple concerts and dances. The crowd also spans the decades, if not the century. On stage and in the bleachers I counted members from diapers to canes, fully eighty years without exaggeration.
The stage featured “name artists” which means that you have at least one CD in circulation and a regional or national award, but the family I mentioned earlier was everywhere. From grandfather to son to grandson with cousins and brides and babies that could barely lift the fiddlecase, the stage was a living tableau of the Chaisson family. After all, the festival is in one of their back fields. But, the difference is that they’re all multi-talented.
There wasn’t a mention of a tune title during the evening; it all comes back to the talent. Believe me, no two fiddlers sound exactly alike, but there wasn’t a single person on the stage that didn’t belong (not counting the anonymous stepdancer that found the rear stage door near the end ot the evening and came and went without recognition (or applause). The concert ran for over three hours, and the sound quality was excellent (although a gag for the people in front of me, that seemed to be there for all the wrong reasons, would have been a plus).
I hadn’t been to the festival for about fifteen years. I think the next visit will have to come a bit sooner, if only to keep track of all the new talent coming up through the ranks.
