Bowing Down Home Oral History Transcripts

File: hughesemmett06-oh-agriculturalpractices_M.mp3

Speakers:

EH – Emmett Hughes

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

EH: At that time there was as much trade as there was using money. The farmers mostly always went to Clarke [Clarke's General Store in Mount Stewart] in the Spring of the

File: macdonaldhilda-oh-womensrole_M.mp3

Speakers:

HM – Hilda MacPhee MacDonald

GM – George MacPhee (Hilda's nephew)

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP: And how old were you when you started playing for dances yourself?

HM: Oh, I never played at very many dances.

File: mcpheehugh06-oh-familyorigins_M.mp3

Speakers:

HM – Hughie McPhee

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

HM: I guess it started, probably started when Wolfe was in Quebec. In Wolfe's Army, they had a pipe regiment and my great, great uncle was a piper there with him. His nephew, Archie

File: mcpheedan-oh-origins_M.mp3

Speakers

DM – Dan McPhee

DM There was, I don't know how many shiploads of McPhees came from the Hebrides and settled here. They bought a Lot which was 20,000 acres, and that extended from this shore here to south shore just east of Souris. And there was

File: dauschmidtkathryn06-oh-philosophy_M.mp3

Speaker:

KD – Kathryn Dau Schmidt

KD: I figure everybody can learn something, can learn enough to have fun at it. And that's the first thing, to have fun. And the second thing is, you have to have a lot of people who just enjoy fiddling

File: macintyrestewart-oh-origins.mp3

File

SM – Stewart MacIntyre

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

SM: The MacIntyres came to the Island, well around 1800. I haven't been able to find out exactly when – They came around 1800. My grandmother was a Stewart, she was indeed related to

File: macinnisbillyjunior06-oh-musiccareer_M.mp3

Speakers:

BM – Billy MacInnis Jr

BM: When I started playing fiddle, that was my first instrument. And then to make a long story short, I recall gettin' up one morning and finding a guitar in the house. And I didn't know my Dad played

File: macdonaldfrancis-oh-ancestry_M.mp3

Speakers:

FM – Francis MacDonald

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

FM Yeah, we try to maintain a family tree back five generations, anyway.

KP How far back have you – Oh, you have traced it back five generations?

FM Yes, as

File: maccormackfrancis06-oh-gettingstarted_M.mp3

Speakers:

FC - Francis MacCormack

FM: I was the youngest of eleven, there was eight boys and three girls, and we all played the fiddle. And if I hadn't learned to play the fiddle my father would have shot me (laughs). When I was too

File: wilsonteresa-oh-lordmacd_M.mp3

Speakers:

TW – Teresa MacPhee Wilson

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

TW Back years ago they used to have fiddlers' contests

KP Yeah.

TW And you had to be able to play Lord MacDonald's Reel before you were

File: macintyrestewart-oh-farmlife_M.mp3

Speakers:

SM – Stewart MacIntyre

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP: If you lived on a farm when you were young about how many hours a day would you be working?

SM: There was really no such thing as as hours, it was sunrise

File: biggarjackie06-oh-contests_M.mp3

Speakers:

JB – Jackie Biggar

KP – curator Ken perlman

JB: Cape Breton's got Buddy MacMaster, we had Elmer Robinson. They tell me Elmer Robinson and Bill Harvey - Bill Harvey played the fiddle too up in this area. They went to

File: macleandanny-oh-lumberwoods_M.mp3

Speakers:

DM – Danny MacLean

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

DOM – Donny MacLean (Danny's son)

DM: But I did learn tunes in the lumber woods. That's mostly where I did learn them. I spent a lot of time in the lumber woods.

File: cheveriecharles-oh-radio.mp3

Speakers:

CC – Fr. Charlie Cheverie

CC: Way back on PEI when radio came about, in the late 20s and early 30s, then you'd be speaking of hearing tunes from Sydney, Nova Scotia, and Antigonish. And the fiddlers in those days were were

File: woodrichard06-oh-olderfiddlerspart2_M.mp3

Speakers:

RW – Richard Wood

RW: When I was 11 – 9 I should say, a lot of my best friends were 60 really, and 55. Every second night I'd be goin' to a place where there would be a benefit or a ceilidh and meetin' up with these older