Bowing Down Home Oral History Transcripts

File: farrellleo06-oh-liquor_M.mp3

Speakers:

LF – Leo Farrell

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

LF: There was lots of liquor on the Island, but no bars like there is today.

KP: I understand there was prohibition for a long time.

LF

File: oconnorattwood-oh-violence_M.mp3

Speakers:

AO – Attwood O'Connor

SB – Stanley Bruce

KP – Ken Perlman

KP: I've heard of lots of fighting at some of these parties. Noone ever says what anyone was fighting about.

AO: Actually, I don't think that a lot of them

File: cheverieomar06-oh-valedictory_M.mp3

Speakers:

OC – Omar Cheverie

RC – Randy Cheverie

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

OC: And the most enjoyment I got out of playin' the fiddle was for some of my dear friends that liked the way I played and appreciated that, and I could

Name of File: arsenaulteddy-oh-glasgow_M.mp3

Speakers:

EA-Eddy Arsenault

KP-Curator Ken Perlman

You just told us a story before about about coming to Glasgow on V-E day. Will you tell us that story?

EA That was about the biggest square dance I've ever played for ... They

File: mcpheehugh06-oh-contests_M.mp3

Speakers:

HM – Hughie McPhee

HM: The last one I was at – The three judges talkin', and one says to the other "The first fellow that plays a tune on the flats gets first prize." But nobody played anything on the flats (laughs). I knew this, I played

File: smithtony06-oh-mysterycontestant_M.mp3

Speakers:

TS –Tony Smith

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

TS: A fellow from up Bangor way – But that feller, he - One night they were having this here contest at the Forum, they used to have a lot of them at old the Forum in

File: robinsonpeter06-oh-tynevalleycontest_M.mp3

Speakers:

PR – Peter Robinson

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

PR: It was originally tagged as the PEI Fiddling Competition. I took over middle 80s.. Keith Milligan was a one time Premier [of the province]. He ran it; it was his pride

File: morrisseyjohnny-oh-learningtunes_M.mp3

Speakers

JM – Johnny Morrissey

JM The way I'd picked up tunes, I'd go to a dance, I'd hear a tune that I liked. And I'd take particular notice to that tune. And then when I'd go home I'd go to bed and the tune would be still floating

File: chaissonjj06-oh-learning_composingtunes_M.mp3

Speakers:

JC – JJ Chaisson

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP: Do you have a strategy for when you compose?

JC: A couple of different ways. I've woken up before with a tune just in my head, and you play it, you

File: hughesemmett-oh-learningtunes_M.mp3

Speakers:

EH – Emmett Hughes

EH: See then, the difference [between] then and now is you could jig reels and jigs and whistle them when you were 5 or 6 year old. See, now there's no -- A young person that that goes startin' to

File: doucettevictor06-oh-twists_M.mp3

Speakers:

VD – Victor Doucette

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP: How did you go about learning tunes?

VD: Just listen to Dad playing and others playing. Try to go back and figure out what they are doing. The

File: macleanclarence06-oh-learningtunes_M.mp3

Speakers:

CM – Clarence MacLean

KP: How did you go about learning tunes? Did you have them in your head?

CM: Yeah.

KP: Some fiddlers said they'd wake up in the middle of the night…

File Name: albertjoe06-oh-learningtunes.wav

Speaker: Joe Albert

You wake up sometimes in your sleep, and you whistle the tune that you heard before, and they tell you that the right thing to do when you wake up like that if you want to hear a tune is learn it before breakfast. Try and learn it before

File:

Speakers: maccannellneil-oh-lunch_M.mp3

NM – Neil MacCannell

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

NM There was lunch served always by the hostess. Just good old-fashioned home-baked bread, and biscuits and jam and that sort of stuff. And sweets, too many

File: mcpheehugh06-oh-togannyandfairy_M.mp3

Speakers:

HM – Hughie McPhee

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP: You told me a story about your ancestor Toganny McPhee.

HM: Oh yeah. What Toganny meant I don't know, it would be Gaelic for something, probably some kind