Bellows & Bows is an excellent introduction to and sampler of traditional instrumental dance music across Canada, which has generally been performed on fiddle and, since its invention in the mid-nineteenth century, on the accordion. Successive waves of immigration have introduced and shaped the music, which has also evolved along regional lines. Scottish music was particularly influential across the continent – not only in terms of specific tunes, but also in terms of the adoption of such fundamental musical forms as jigs, reels, and hornpipes. Most folk music scholars and aficionados are aware of Scottish influence in Cape Breton; it is far less known that the fiddle music now played among First Nation Canadians in the Prairies and among the Métis was introduced as early as the eighteenth century by Scots-born employees of the Hudson Bay Company. In the twentieth century immigrants from Eastern and Northern Europe also brought fiddle- and accordion-based music with them.
Traditional dance music flourished across Canada as an expression of local community life until the middle of the twentieth century. It has survived since then through such activities as concerts, contests, and jam sessions, often under the auspices of provincial fiddle associations, and continues to be disseminated via broadcasts and recordings.
Via text and two companion CDs, Bellows & Bows offers a survey of Canadian players and styles organized by region. Moving clockwise through the provinces, we get sections on Newfoundland/Labrador, the Maritimes, Québec, Ontario, the Prairies, British Columbia, and the Northern Territories. The traditional instrumental music of each area is briefly portrayed and illustrated by the work of several musicians, each of whom is depicted in a photo, described in a capsule bio, and has a selection on one of the two companion CDs. A total of sixty musicians are so represented in the volume, ranging from well-known recording artists such as Winston Scotty Fitzgerald, King Ganam, and Graham Townsend, to players recorded by folklorists decades ago and otherwise little known outside their own communities.
Although not explicitly stated in the front matter, the work is obviously a collaboration. Sherry Johnson of York University is listed as “producer,” which suggests that she may have also served as organizer and editor. There are roughly twenty contributors in all, each a specialist in the music of a particular Canadian region. Some of the contributors are accorded thumbnail photos and capsule bios in an appendix. Among the better-known contributors, aside from Johnson, are fiddler-scholars Anne Lederman and Lisa Ornstein.
If there is a weakness to this project it lies in the selection and presentation of musical material, which ranges from the sublime to “of folkloric interest only,” and from very-well reproduced to oddly-edited or barely discernable (in some instances, static or competing party noise makes it difficult to hear the artist’s playing). Assuming that the main purpose of this volume is to draw in newcomers to the field, greater care might have been exercised to obtain selections that would present each region at its best and most accessible. This said, I felt that the recordings selected for the Prairies section were particularly strong and interesting.
All considered, Bellows & Bows provides an admirable introduction to the wealth of traditional instrumental music that Canada has to offer, and makes a significant contribution to the study of traditional fiddle and accordion playing in North America.
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[Review length: 557 words • Review posted on October 3, 2017]