James Bay Fiddle

1 March - 30 June - Exhibition of James Bay Photographs and Video

2012-02-08T01:38:00.001-08:00

For anyone who is in Aberdeen between March and the end of June, please come along to the exhibition of photographs and videography from my visits to Wemindji and Moose Factory. The photographs will be up in the MacRobert Building Café, Kings College, University of Aberdeen.

1 March - Seminar at Aberdeen University

2012-02-08T01:37:00.001-08:00

On 1st March, I will be giving a seminar for the Department of Music in MacRobert Building, University of Aberdeen, from 4.00-5.00pm in MR055. Please feel free to come along to this if you are in the Aberdeen area!

The title/abstract are as follows:

The Cree Fiddlers of James Bay: Musical Traditions from the Days of the Fur Trade

James Bay fiddlers have a strong historical association with Scotland and their musical heritage is believed to be rooted in the traditions of Orcadian servants of the Hudson's Bay Company who travelled to the region from the late 1600s and accounted for almost eighty per cent of the Company¹s workforce. The fiddle was introduced to the region in the eighteenth century, and the Cree population embraced the instrument and its associated repertoire, re-shaping the music over time to produce a distinctly Cree style of playing. The transatlantic musical flow between Scotland and James Bay is a piece of Scotland's history which has received little attention in the past. This seminar will give an introduction to the fiddle tradition in terms of history, repertoire,playing style, and function, and will be illustrated by photographs,videography, and musical examples collected during fieldwork in the James Bay region in late 2011.

24-26 February - Paper presentation in Dublin

2012-02-08T01:35:00.000-08:00

From 24-26th February, I will be in Dublin at the annual International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) Ireland conference, which this year has the theme, 'Movement and Music'. The conference takes place at the Long Hub Room, Trinity College, Dublin, and I will be giving my paper, titled 'Scots of the Sub-Arctic: Musical Migration from Orkney to James Bay', at 12.25pm on Saturday 25th February. More information on the conference can be found here.

19 Dec - Final Post from Canada

2011-12-18T20:37:00.000-08:00

As I am leaving for Aberdeen today, this is going to be the final post from Canada. Many thanks to everyone who has been involved with the project over the last couple of months, especially for all the wonderful hospitality I received in Wemindji, Moose Factory, Toronto, and Winnipeg! Thanks also to everyone who has been following me - I hope the blog has been interesting to you.

Over the next few months I'll be working on an exhibition, public lectures, and writing up some of the research to be published. If you would like to be kept informed about these, please sign up to my mailing list here, or alternatively you can send me an e-mail to frances@franceswilkins.com. I will put up information on here about future publications and events once I have more details.

Meegwetch [Thank you]!

www.franceswilkins.com

18 Dec - Tunes in Mullins, Toronto

2011-12-18T20:26:00.000-08:00

Today was my last full day in Canada, and this afternoon was spent having some great tunes in Mullin's Irish Pub on Bay Street in Toronto. I'd mentioned the session, which was organised by David and Zsuzsa Wilson, to a few people, and they all showed up, which was great. James and Daisy Cheechoo were there with their daughter Treena and her husband Ron. Lawrence and Violet were also there, as well as Anne Lederman, Virginia Barter, Kelly Hayes, and Heather and Mark Bell. Thanks to everyone for coming along, it was great to see you all! and thanks to David and Zsuzsa for organising it.

It was great to hear tunes from James and Daisy, as well as Anne, Loretta (a great Irish concertina/flute/melodeon player), David and Zsusza, and others. Below are a few photos from the session:

James, Ron, Heather, Daisy, Mark, Violet, Lawrence, Treena, and Virginia at the beginning of the afternoon

Zsuzsa and Loretta

James, Anne, Daisy, Heather, Violet, and Lawrence

Violet, me, David, Loretta, Zsuzsa, Daisy, James, Treena, and Lawrence

(Photo by Virginia Barter)

www.franceswilkins.com

16 Dec - Around 'The Bay' and the Archives

2011-12-16T20:33:00.000-08:00

This week has been pretty intensive, and I've spent every day working in the archives, looking through old photographs, post journals, magazine articles, and biographical information on HBC workers. It has flown by, and I'm now at the end of my time here in Winnipeg. I head off very early tomorrow morning (flying out at 5.10am), and arrive back in Toronto at 8.35am. This weekend I'll be having a few last-minute meet-ups with people before catching my flight at 6.30pm on Monday. On Sunday there is a session happening at an Irish pub in Toronto, and I'm looking forward to seeing a few people there before I go.

Here are a few photos I took while I've been here over the last couple of days:

Waterwheel in the restaurant of 'The Bay', the very tired-looking department store of the Hudson's Bay Company, just next door to the HBC archives.

Restaurant inside 'The Bay'

Polar Bear outside the HBC Archives

Polar Bear Artist outside the HBC Archives

'Occupy Winnipeg' tent on the walk to the HBC Archives

Another 'Occupy' Tent on the way to the archives.

www.franceswilkins.com

14 Dec - Watching Films in the Archives

2011-12-14T17:20:00.000-08:00

I spent the morning today watching some very old footage from Moose Factory and the James Bay area. One of the films, which was shot in 1941, followed George McLeod, a dog sleigh handler, and his travels from Moose Factory to Hannah Bay to visit his trapline. The film was on reel-to-reel, with sound, and watching it involved visited a sound studio. It was quite a tricky process, which can be seen below:

Rewinding the film

The Reel-to-Reel table where the films were watched

Another reel-to-reel table for 33mm films

www.franceswilkins.com

14 Dec - BBC Radio Scotland Audio Diary

2011-12-13T19:07:00.000-08:00

For anyone who missed and would like to hear my audio diary from Wemindji, which was broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland's Culture Cafe, this can be accessed by following the link here.

www.franceswilkins.com

13 Dec - Winnipeg

2011-12-13T15:07:00.000-08:00

I've been in Winnipeg for the last couple of days, and will be spending every day this week at the HBC Archives, which are about a 20 minute walk from where I am staying here. I'm staying with a great family here, Noreen, Jill, Savannah, and Dillon, who I was put in contact with by fellow ethnomusicologist Kirk King, who is from Winnipeg. They have been looking after me really well and have been very helpful with the practical side of being here (drawing maps, finding the right bus timetables etc). I've been trying to pack in as much archive work as possible, and have so far uncovered quite a few interesting pieces of information about Moose Factory, but have a long way to go still in getting everything I need from the visit, and it's certainly a race against time as I only have until Friday afternoon and the archive is only open 9am-4pm each day.

I've also had the chance to meet Monique Giroux, an ethnomusicologist researching Metis fiddle playing here, and have a few more people to meet up with while I'm here. The weather is colder than Toronto, but not as cold as Moose Factory - probably on average about -10˚, which I'm told is pretty mild for this time of year, and there is very little snow on the ground at the moment.

Here are a couple of photos of the archives below:

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11 Dec - Audio Diary on BBC Radio Scotland on Tuesday

2011-12-11T03:57:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to say that an audio diary from my visit to Wemindji will be played on BBC Radio Scotland's 'Culture Cafe' this coming Tuesday 13th December.

'Culture Cafe' will be on air from 13:15-14:00 GMT (07:15-08:00 in Canada), and can be heard live here. The programme can also be heard online for up to a week after the show is broadcast here.

www.franceswilkins.com

10 Dec - Music and Dinner with the Cheechoos in Oshawa

2011-12-10T21:19:00.000-08:00

This weekend I've had a fleeting visit to Toronto before I head off early tomorrow morning to Winnipeg where I'll be doing research at the Archives of Manitoba (where the HBC archives are held) for the next week. This evening I was invited to a pot-luck supper and music in Oshawa, with the Cheechoo family and friends. James and Daisy Cheechoo were there along with Treena, Ron, Lawrence, and Violet. I took the train out there (which takes just under an hour), and was met by Ron. We then went to the church hall where the event was taking place. The supper was delicious, and afterwards I went up on stage and had a few tunes with James and Daisy. Later, I played a fiddle tune with Lawrence accompanying on guitar and then a couple of solo concertina pieces. The concert was really fun and there was a good selection of music - fiddle pieces, Christmas carols, folk songs. Below are a couple of photos from the evening:

Lawrence Cheechoo and Violet Chum

Treena, Daisy and James Cheechoo

Tomorrow I'm up very early to catch the plane to Winnipeg, where I should be arriving by about 9.30am.

www.franceswilkins.com

8 Dec - Leaving Moose Factory

2011-12-09T07:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (8th December), I left Moose Factory by Ski-doo taxi to Moosonee. It was strange to leave the place as it has all become very familiar over the last couple of weeks. I walked over the the Moose Cree Complex, which houses the supermarket ('Northern'), the health centre, restaurant, pharmacy, and band council offices, and said goodbye to a few people. There was even a chance for a quick last tune with Victor Weapenicappo in the health centre (see below). Clayton gave me a lift to the taxi-rank next to the Ecolodge, and the journey across to Moosonee took about fifteen minutes. The ski-doo taxi was a great experience. The ski-doo has a covered sleigh attached to the back of it where I sat and looked out behind me while I was being towed down the river. It was quite a bumpy ride, and I could see areas around me where the ice was stacking up on top of the river. In Moosonee I met up with Les Jolly and his wife Sandra, and we went for lunch and an interview at the restaurant there. It was great to hear Les's story, and to also hear more about his father, Thomas Jolly Sr, who I met in Moose Factory, and who used to play for the dances on the island in his younger days.

A quick tune in the Moose Cree Complex with Victor Weapenicappo and Thomas Jolly Jr. before heading off

View from the Ski-doo Taxi leaving Moose Factory Island

View from the Ski-doo taxi on the approach to Moosonee

A Ski-doo Taxi sleigh in Moosonee

Many thanks to everyone in Moose Factory who helped me with my research and made my stay so enjoyable!

www.franceswilkins.com

7 Dec - Last Day in Moose Factory

2011-12-07T22:24:00.000-08:00

Today has been my last day in Moose Factory, and it has been difficult to get everything done before I leave here. This morning I met up with Barbara Cheechoo and her partner Logan, and had a really interesting time hearing about the music and dancing. Barbara is the daughter of the fiddler Sinclair Cheechoo, who used to travel to many places along James Bay playing music in the old days.

This afternoon I had a walk over to the hospital, where I met up with Greg Spence, who was involved in organising the fiddle event, and who is also on the committee for the annual 'Cree Fest' which takes place in the area. Greg is very interested in building musical connections between Moose Factory and Orkney, and I gave him one of the Orkney Folk Festival CDs which I had picked up from the festival office while I was in Orkney in September.

The rest of the day has been spent doing a few last things and getting ready to leave tomorrow. This evening, Lynn and Clayton, who I've been staying with, gave me an amazing coyote fur hat and below are some photos of me with them dressed up for winter (with hat).

Lynn, myself, and Clayton with hats, parkas, and mittens

Logan and Barbara

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6 Dec - Winter Transport around Moose Factory

2011-12-06T20:51:00.000-08:00

Temperatures continue to be very low - around -23˚ but dropping to below -30˚ at times, and the ski-doos have been travelling to and from Moosonee for the last few days. I've been meeting up with various people here and trying to do the last few things before I leave on Thursday. Today, Rita Cheechoo and her partner Brian took me along to the Hudson's Bay Company staff house and blacksmith's shop to look around, and I also got the chance to video some ski-doos driving along the ice road (the Moose River) towards Moosonee. Below is a short video of some of the winter transport I've come across over the last couple of days:

Just one more full day left here before I head back down south to Toronto, and on to Winnipeg. I'll be meeting up with a few people tomorrow and then going to Moosonee on Thursday to have lunch with Les Jolly, the fiddler, and his wife, before catching the train to Cochrane in the early evening.

www.franceswilkins.com

4 Dec - Fiddle Event and Church Music

2011-12-04T20:49:00.000-08:00

The event last night went really well with a screening of the 'Fiddlers of James Bay' film to start with, then some short presentations. After that, there was music and dancing from a variety of people including Les Jolly on fiddle, Susie Cameron on bagpipes, the Tiny Tots square dance group, led by Barb Cheechoo, and more singers and dancers. It was a good atmosphere and I got to take part in a couple of dances including the 'Duck Dance'. The event was filmed by 'Goose Call Productions', and the comperes Phoebe Sutherland and Gitchie Cheechoo did a great job introducing the various acts. I played a couple of sets of tunes. The first set was on the fiddle, the first time I've played a fiddle in a concert. I was accompanied by Thomas Jolly on guitar, and people seemed to enjoy it (phew). Then I played a couple of tunes on the concertina - James Bay Doings, written by Sinclair Cheechoo (his daughter, Barbara, was in the audience, and was very pleased that I was playing it), and the Wemindji Bridge Reel written by Bobby Georgekish.

Today I was invited to go to the church and play a couple of pieces with Lynn Cheechoo, who I am staying with in Wemindji (with her husband Clayton and two children). Lynn is a great singer, and I accompanied her singing a Cree hymn. Later on I played a Shetland tune, 'Da Day Dawn', which she accompanied, during the communion. Below are some photos from the last couple of days:

Tiny Tots dancing

Les Jolly on Fiddle

Thomas Jolly on Guitar

Rita and Lynn and members of the audience

Refreshments

More refreshments

Playing Music with Lynn Cheechoo at the Anglican Church

I don't have much time left in Moose Factory, and the last couple of weeks have gone incredibly quickly. I have a few more people to visit over the next few days, and am leaving on the train from Moosonee on Thursday evening for Cochrane, then on to Toronto on Friday. I have a short stop-over there, and leave early on Sunday morning to fly to Winnipeg where I'll be for just under a week. The ski-doos have started travelling over to Moosonee across the river, which is now iced over, so it looks like I'll get to ride on a ski-doo taxi on Thursday. They leave from just outside the Cree Village Ecolodge, and take about 10 minutes to cross over the river.

www.franceswilkins.com

3 Dec - Photos from around Moose Factory

2011-12-02T23:41:00.000-08:00

Temperatures have remained low today, and it is incredibly dry weather at the moment, the snow is like powder, and it has also been sunny for most of the day. This lunchtime I was at the Cree Interpretive Centre with Minnie, which was interesting to visit, and I have been busy getting ready for the presentation and music night tomorrow. Below are a few of the photos I've been taking over the last day or two:

Ski-doo with Sleigh outside the Northern Store, Moose Factory

Thomas Jolly's Gas Bar, Moose Factory

Old Fashioned Heating System near Hospital, Moose Factory

Old Burger Van?!

Anglican Church (in use), Previously the Roman Catholic Church

Black Bear, Cree Cultural Interpretive Centre

www.franceswilkins.com

1 Dec - Music at the Cree Village Ecolodge

2011-12-01T22:02:00.000-08:00

Last night I was out at the Cree Village Ecolodge with some of the Cheechoo family, and after having a meal there, we set up in the dining room and had a few tunes - this was myself, James and Daisy Cheechoo, and Victor Weapenicappo. It was great fun, and there were quite a few people around listening after the kitchen closed. We played for a while, and then in the end everyone took part in the Kissing Dance, a traditional James Bay dance where people dance around the room in a line, the person at the front of the line choosing someone from the floor to get up and dance until everyone is on the floor. Then the fiddle is chosen (by having a scarf placed around his neck), and gets up on the floor and plays music while the rest of the party dance around him.

Below is a short video clip of us playing Ragtime Annie earlier in the evening:

Victor Weapenicappo, Frances Wilkins, Daisy and James Cheechoo

When I was in Orkney in September, I picked up a copy of the Orcadian to bring out with me after seeing a great photo which Kim Foden had taken when she was in Saskatchewan of people reading the paper there. I've been showing people the paper, which they've been finding very interesting. Below is a photo of James Cheechoo reading The Orcadian at the Cree Village Ecolodge

The temperature has really plummeted today, and it felt like it was around -15˚ this morning when I went outside. It has been impossible to ignore the alarming news about the housing crisis in Attawapiskat, a Cree community quite a way north of here on the west coast of James Bay where the Red Cross have been called in. This news item doesn't seem to have reached the UK, but more details can be found on the CTV website here.

www.franceswilkins.com

30 Nov - Weekend Fiddle Event Poster

2011-11-30T13:10:00.000-08:00

Please find below details of the event which will be taking place on Saturday in Moose Factory - this will include a short presentation and music and dancing from local artists. If you happen to be in the Moose Factory area on Saturday, please come along!

www.franceswilkins.com

29 Nov - Recording James Cheechoo

2011-11-29T22:47:00.000-08:00

This evening I went over to visit James and Daisy Cheechoo to hear their stories about the music and dancing in the old days. Afterwards, James played a few tunes on the fiddle including a very old version of Soldier's Joy. This is the way fiddlers used to play the tune in Moose Factory, and you can see and hear James playing the tune in the video below:

It was a great evening, and at the end we did some dancing including the Otter Dance and the Kissing Dance with James playing the fiddle. I tried some step-dancing, and James even got up to do some dancing.

Learning to Step-dance with James Cheechoo

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29 Nov - Youtube Clip of Barbara Cheechoo Step-dancing in Moose Factory

2011-11-29T09:43:00.000-08:00

I've just found this great clip on youtube of Barbara Cheechoo step-dancing in Moose Factory. I haven't met Barbara yet, but hope that it will be possible to meet her before I leave. She is a fantastic step-dancer, and leads dance-groups on the island. More videos can be found on her channel here.

www.franceswilkins.com

28 Nov - Tunes in the School with James and Daisy Cheechoo

2011-11-28T23:06:00.000-08:00

Today has been another busy day playing music, and it has been a great opportunity to get to know more of the James Bay repertoire and play with different musicians. In the afternoon I went over to the high school with James and Daisy Cheechoo to play to the grade 8-10 students. James is a great fiddler, aged over eighty, who plays in the old James Bay fiddle style, and his wife Daisy is an excellent spoons player. Below is a photos of us with some of the pupils in the classroom:

Before we left for the school, Daisy and James showed me their amazing moose-hide mittens. The mittens come from Waskaganish on the east coast of James Bay, and are lined with rabbit and beaver fur. They also have intricate beadwork and embroidered flowers on them. In the photo below Daisy is wearing a beaver fur hat along with the mittens and a scarf she knitted. The mittens and hats are incredibly warm, perfect for -40˚ temperatures.

Later this evening I met up with Victor Weapencappo, who is a great fiddle player from Moose Factory. We spoke for a while about the fiddle tradition, and he gave me some very valuable insights into the style of playing and dances which go with the fiddling. We then went over to his niece Marilyn McLeod's house and had a jam session in the basement with her husband, Darrell (Robert McLeod's grand-son) on guitar, and there was a bit of step-dancing too from some of the audience members! The photo below was taken at the end of the session, at about 10pm.

With Victor Weapenicappo and Darryll McLeod

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27 Nov - More Snow and Ski-doos

2011-11-27T23:00:00.000-08:00

There was a big storm last night, and this morning there was a thick covering of snow the ground. We had planned to go along to the Anglican church to the 11am service, and headed out through the snow to the church, which is situated a few streets away near to the river. The original Anglican church which dates from the 1850s, St Thomas, is no longer in use, and the congregation now meet in what used to be the Catholic church. Unlike Wemindji, where the singing is unaccompanied, here there is an organist and also guitar accompaniment, and the singing is a mixture of English and Cree hymns. At the end of the service I was asked if I would bring my concertina along next week and join in with accompanying the hymns.

After the service, Minnie took me to GG's, which is the main store on the island apart from the Northern (supermarket). GG's is a bit like a department store and sells just about anything that you might need including food, stationary, clothing, electronic goods, toys, and tools. On the way to the shop, I saw ski-doos being driven around for the first time. They are very fast-moving, and are driven along the roads and also along narrow tracks. They are the first vehicles which are driven over the river once it is frozen (cars are driven across once the ice is thicker), and during the winter months people can drive them right up to James Bay and along the coast.

A mîkiwâm with upturned boat

Street scene while walking over to GG's

This evening I met with some of the Cheechoo family to play some tunes - piano, guitar, fiddle, drum, and concertina. It was a great combination, and I enjoyed having the opportunity to learn some more of the James Bay repertoire. There were a few Scottish tunes among the music we played, including Big John McNeil, and they were interested to hear that the tune was written by Peter Milne, who was from Aberdeenshire.

Tomorrow I'll be going to the school in the afternoon with James and Daisy Cheechoo to talk about the project and demonstrate some of the Scottish and James Bay fiddle tunes.

www.franceswilkins.com

26 Nov - Tunes

2011-11-26T16:36:00.000-08:00

The last couple of days I've had a busy time meeting people and have been playing tunes with a couple of the fiddlers who live in the area. There is a strong tradition of jamming at home, and it has been good to hear some James Bay tunes and learn about some of the older fiddlers who used to play in Moose Factory such as Robert MacLeod and Clarence Louttit. There appears to be a strong connection with Scotland/Orkney, not only with regards to the music, but also in terms of language. Older people say 'boy' here a lot, in a similar way to Shetland, and 'give us a tune' is an expression which used to be commonly used by people here.

I was really pleased to be told (by two different people) that my concertina playing sounds similar to Inuit button box playing. When I played Willafjord, a Shetland tune from the arctic whaling days, someone immediately pointed out that the tune and the way I play it, is in the Inuit style. I would definitely like to meet some of those box players from up north one day!

On Monday I've been asked to visit the high school for half an hour to talk about my research project and play some music to the grades 8-10. Later in the week, next Saturday, there will be a public event taking place at the youth centre with fiddling, dancing, singing, and a drum group. This is associated with my visit to Moose Factory, and is an event for the local community aimed at promoting the heritage society (and Moose Factory musical heritage in general). It will be recorded and is due to be broadcast on BBC Radio Orkney and some of the local networks.

www.franceswilkins.com

24 Nov - Hudson's Bay Company Relics

2011-11-24T21:37:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to get to know a bit about the different areas of Moose Factory Island, especially the places where the Hudson's Bay Company operated. Today, we went for a long walk around the historical sites, which helped me to get an idea some of the places and relics left by the Company. As you can see from the photos, the weather has become milder again and much of the snow has melted - back up to around 2˚ celsius.

Fur press with anchor and two canons from HBC ships of the past

The HBC staff house, built 1850

St Thomas Anglican church - completed in 1885

www.franceswilkins.com

23 Nov - Visit to the Moose River

2011-11-23T21:41:00.000-08:00

Today has been quite a relaxed day, which has been great and has given me some time to catch my breath. At lunchtime Rita (who has been helping organise my visit) and her partner Brian took me and Minnie down to the Moose River where they showed me where the Hudson's Bay Company ships used to sail up the river and anchor alongside the island. The ships always brought boxes of goods with them which were traded with the Cree people, and left loaded with furs which had been bought from the Cree at the Company post. Below is a photograph of the river today, having recently frozen over:

Later on this evening, Minnie and I went over to visit a local musician, who has a fiddle which I can borrow while I'm here. We ended up playing a few tunes together, and his father, who is 88, came in while we were playing and joined in on the fiddle and guitar. It was a great night, and we arranged to go back at the weekend to play some more tunes with his brother and another fiddler form Moose Factory. They had an amazing collection of instruments in the house, including an accordion which I tried to play a tune on (see below).

Trying a tune on a Piano Accordion

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22 Nov - Tour of Moose Factory and Visit to the HBC Sites

2011-11-22T20:58:00.000-08:00

The last few days has been very busy, and it's great not to be travelling anymore! When I arrived in Moosonee, Minnie (who I am staying with when I am here) advised me to get a taxi to the airport as quickly as possible to catch the helicopter across to Moose Factory. Most of the year, it is easy to get across to Moose Factory because boats run throughout the summer and autumn, and in the winter the ice in the river is completely frozen so that cars can drive straight across on an ice road to and from the island. However, during freeze-up and break-up of the ice, which usually last around 2-3 weeks each time, neither of these options are available and people have to take a helicopter across the island. Only six people at a time can be taken over to the island, and the flight takes just five minutes. I just happened to be on a train with around 300 passengers, many of whom were travelling on to Moose Factory, so when I arrived at the station there were a lot of people trying to get to the airport as quickly as possible to get on a list for a flight across. This was even more urgent as the flights stop when it gets dark, at around 5pm. The train arrived at Moosonee at 2.30pm, so this didn't allow for much time.

Taxis seems to be like gold-dust in Moosonee, and it took a long time to find one which had a spare seat. When I arrived at the airport (actually a portacabin which the helicopter company owned), there were lots of people queuing up to get on a list for the helicopter. After a lot of waiting I finally boarded a flight and headed over to Moose Factory. I was met by Minnie Sutherland, who I'm staying with here for the first few days, on the other side. Minnie has been a great tour guide for the last couple of days, and has been showing me around the island and introducing me to people here. There is a lot of history in Moose Factory as the settlement dates back to the late 1600s, and this, and the fact that it is an island, is quite a contrast to Wemindji.

The island is very picturesque, and there are some interesting sites here. Hudson's Bay Company history is still prevalent, and today Minnie took me on a tour of the area of the island where the post was set up. This included the fur press and the graveyard, and below are some photos from the visit:

Minnie Standing near the Moose River (currently freezing over)

Original Fur Press - Used to Flatten Fur Before it was Transported

Gravestone of Alexander MacDonald, Factor in Moose Factory

'Sown in Corruption, Raised in Glory!'

Gravestone of Peter McKenzie of Assynt, Scotland

Chief Trader with the HBC

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21 Nov - Arrived in Moose Factory!

2011-11-22T06:39:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to say that I've arrived in Moose Factory! The journey up was long, but very picturesque - and temperatures much lower in Cochrane - down to -21 degrees over the night I was there. Here are some photos:

On the Train up to Cochrane

Early Morning View from the Station Hotel in Cochrane

Waiting at the station in Cochrane

View from the Helicopter to Moose Factory

And here is a short clip of the Polar Bear Express arriving in Cochrane yesterday morning!

www.franceswilkins.com

20 Nov - North to Cochrane

2011-11-20T20:14:00.000-08:00

Today I've spent most of the day on the train - 11 hours in total to get from Toronto to Cochrane! it's been a very round-about way of getting from Wemindji to Moose Factory, as you can see on the map below:

Wemindji and Moose Factory really aren't that far away from each other, but because I don't have a car (I could have driven from Wemindji to Cochrane and caught a train), and because Air Creebec no longer flies from the east to the west coast of James Bay, this surprisingly seemed to be the most straight-forward option at the time of booking. I think if I do it again, I might look into flying to Val-D'or and taking a train (thus cutting out about half the distance).

The train journey to Cochrane went very quickly, and it was great to be able to sit in the dining cart for most of the time drinking tea and doing work. When I arrived in Cochrane, I checked straight into the hotel, which is conveniently located inside the train station. There's a lot of snow around here at the moment, and I went out for a walk. The temperature is down to about -15 degrees, and felt the coldest it's been since I arrived in Canada. I've also been told by my host in Moose Factory that the river has frozen over and I'll be taking a helicopter over to Moose Factory tomorrow. This will be a first for me, and although the ride is only five minutes long, I'm looking forward to the experience - I've been told the views are really good from there!

www.franceswilkins.com

19 Nov - Back in Toronto

2011-11-19T14:32:00.000-08:00

The last two days I've been in Toronto, and had a really interesting time walking around the city with Heather, a friend from the contradance band workshop, yesterday. We took a look inside some of the shopping malls, and saw some interesting sites including some bagpipes being used as a fashion accessory in one shop (see below), and some very impressive Christmas decorations in the Eaton centre in the Downtown area of the city. We also walked around the University of Toronto campus, which has some very impressive buildings and amazing rooms and courtyards inside some of the colleges.

We also passed by the Department of Music, and saw that there was a World Music day-long set of workshops taking place today for music teachers and which was free for visitors to go along to. It sounded like a good opportunity to get to know the music department a bit more and learn something, so we went along this morning and took part in the workshops for much of the day. There must have been nearly 100 participants, and the morning was taken up with Namibian four-part harmony singing led by Scott Leithead, and the early afternoon session was Columbian singing led by Alejandro Zuleta. The sessions were very interesting in terms of community singing, and they gave me quite a few ideas about teaching World Music at a practical level.

Bagpipes as a fashion accessory?!

Heather in one of the University of Toronto's Colleges

Christmas Reindeer in the Eaton Centre

More Christmas Decorations in the Eaton Centre

Another Reindeer...

Tomorrow I start my journey north to Moose Factory, and have stocked up with various food items which might be useful for when I arrive. The total journey time by train is over 16 hours over two days.

www.franceswilkins.com

17 Nov - South to Montreal and on to Toronto

2011-11-17T18:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the plane finally arrived - this time considerably larger than the one I flew up in, and I had a comfortable flight down to Montreal. The views from the plane over James Bay were stunning, and it was interesting to see all the islands along the coast.

Air Creebec flight arriving in Wemindji

Saying goodbye at the airport - Dorothy, Katherine, and Sara

View of James Bay from the Plane

I arrived late into Montreal, and took the 10.10am train to Toronto, where I am now. I've just checked train times, and it seems that I can go up to Cochrane on Sunday and then on to Moose Factory on Monday.

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16 Nov - Interview on Cree Radio Network

2011-11-16T09:04:00.000-08:00

If anyone would like to listen to my interview with Luke MacLeod on Cree Radio Network this morning, please follow the link here. This is in English with Cree translation. Something I forgot to mention on the interview was that this research has been made possible by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Foundation for Canadian Studies in the UK who have provided funding for the project.

www.franceswilkins.com

15 Nov - Flight Cancelled!

2011-11-15T19:19:00.000-08:00

Having thought I would be in Montreal by now, I now find myself in Wemindji for another day! the plane didn't show up this lunchtime as scheduled, and I spent the afternoon phoning into the airport every half hour to see if anyone knew what had happened to it. Eventually, it transpired that the plane (which seemed to have had wheel problems) had to stop in Chisasibi, and there won't be any flights now until tomorrow. I've postponed my arrangements by a day, but unfortunately as the train to Moosonee doesn't run at weekends, I'll have to wait until Monday/Tuesday next week to catch the trains north from Toronto and Cochrane. It's disappointing to be missing the first weekend in Moose Factory, but I'll still be there for 2 weeks so hope that I'll be able to make up for lost time once I arrive.

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15 Nov - Last Day in Wemindji, Interview on Cree Radio

2011-11-15T10:13:00.000-08:00

Today is my last day in Wemindji, and started with a very tasty cooked breakfast at the Maquatua Inn with George (the melodeon player), Fred, Dorothy, Katherine, Linda, and Clara. I had a radio interview with Luke MccLeod at the Cree Radio Network in Mistissini at 10am, which will be broadcast a couple of times this week (including tomorrow morning at 7.30am) on the Cree Health Show. For anyone who is interested, this can be heard online here - in the UK, the show will be at 12.30pm.

On Sunday, Linda (Dorothy's sister) cooked up a delicious roast beaver in the tipi, and we spent the afternoon sitting in the tipi watching it cooking over the fire. The floor is now covered in fir boughs, which we collected on Saturday morning. They are the traditional flooring for a tipi, are very comfortable to sit on, and have a very good scent. Below are some photos:

Technology in the Tipi - Beaver Cooking with Katherine and Dorothy on their phones and electric lighting.

Fred, Katherine, Dorothy, and Linda inside the Tipi

The Tipi from Outside - With Electric Lighting!

I'm off in 20 minutes to the airport, flying back to Montreal, and should be arriving at about 7.30 tonight. Then I'll be taking the train to Toronto tomorrow, and heading up to Moose Factory on Thursday and Friday, eventually arriving there on Friday afternoon.

www.franceswilkins.com

13 Nov - Fiddling and Dancing Weekend

2011-11-13T20:30:00.000-08:00

This weekend has been incredibly busy with lots of fiddle music and dancing on Friday evening and yesterday afternoon and evening. The main fiddlers were Bobby Georgekish from Wemindji and James Stewart, who came over from Chisasibi yesterday for the event. There was a lot of dancing and a great atmosphere at both events which were busy with people of all ages. It's very rare for dances like this to take place apart from at weddings, and there have been suggestions that the community start holding regular events such as these in the future. Here is a short clip of some of the music and dancing which took place over the weekend:

On the Saturday I went up and joined the musicians for some of the afternoon and evening, and at one point during the evening was asked to play Soldier's Joy (a favourite tune in Wemindji) a few times on Bobby's fiddle. The musicians were very friendly and it was great to be able to play along with a few tunes as well as join in with the dancing and socialising.

David Kakabat (guitar), Bobby Georgekish (fiddle), James Stewart (fiddle)

with David Kakabat, Bobby Georgekish, James Stewart, and Roy Ratt

Photo by Katherine Scott

Playing The Soldier's Joy on James Stewart's fiddle

Photo by Katherine Scott

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11 Nov - First Day of Winter

2011-11-11T22:14:00.000-08:00

Today has really felt like the first day of winter. The temperature has plummeted, I was out with my mittens and parka on for the first time, and there was a lot of snow fall during the afternoon.

The weekend has also just started with an evening of dancing at the community hall, and some of the older musicians were out playing for the dance, which was great to see, including 70-year-old Bobby Georgekish who I interviewed last week. The night was a great success and really fun. There were a lot of people there including many of the children from the school who all remembered me from my visit there last week. The events tomorrow start at 2pm and go on until midnight, and there are fiddlers coming from Chisasibi, the next settlement north from here (about 3 1/2 hours' drive), and Eastmain (about 3 1/2 hours south).

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10 Nov - BBC Radio Scotland Interview

2011-11-10T17:17:00.000-08:00

If anyone would like to hear this interview, please follow the link here. This is a five minute clip of the interview on its own.

www.franceswilkins.com

9 Nov - Interview with George Kudlu, Inuit Melodeon Player

2011-11-09T22:00:00.000-08:00

Today I had a great meeting with George Kudlu, a member of the only Inuit family living in Wemindji. George was raised in a place called Salluwit which is the second most northerly Inuit community in Quebec and has a population of about the same size as Wemindji. George is actually half-Scottish. His father, a man called Harry Ford, who was from somewhere in Scotland (George doesn't know exactly where), worked for the Hudson's Bay Company in Salluwit and married and started a family with George's mother. He was called up in the early 1950s when George was five years old, and was sent to fight in Korea where he was killed. George knows very little about the Scottish side of his family, but is very interested in the connection. He plays the melodeon, and used to sing Country and Western songs on stage in the past.

George taught me a couple of tunes which we are planning on playing on Saturday during the fiddle get-together which is being organised. He also played one or two Inuit tunes while I was there. Below is a clip of him playing a couple of tunes - the second is an Inuit lullaby which his mother used to play to him when he was very young. Many of his family play music, mostly the melodeon, which is the main instrument of choice among the Inuit along with the Jew's harp. Among the Cree, people tend to play fiddles, guitars, and (in the past) drums. George sometimes step-dances at the same time as playing the melodeon.

This evening the Grand Chief, Matthew Coon Come, visited Wemindji and gave a 2 hour presentation in the community hall. He has been a key negotiator for the Cree with the Quebec government, particularly regarding the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement following the immense hydro-electric development which took place in the 1970s, resulting in thousands of acres of Cree hunting ground (totalling an area the size of England) being flooded and turned into reservoirs by Hydro-Quebec. Quebec's government see a lot of opportunity in Northern Quebec for extracting natural resources, and much of Coon Come's presentation was about the inevitability of development and the need for negotiations with the Quebec government to make sure that the Cree nation profits from the changes which will take place.

My time in Wemindji seems to be quickly coming to an end. I have five more days here, and am hoping to interview a few more people before I leave. On Friday evening there will be a dance night on at the community hall where three local dance groups will be performing. Then on Saturday there is a fiddle event with visitors from Chisasibi and Eastmain during the afternoon and evening. I'll then have a couple more days before flying out on Tuesday afternoon, back to Montreal and then on to Moose Factory via Toronto and Cochrane.

George in his kitchen

Next to a Polar Bear rug/wall hanging in his house

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8 Nov - Fiddlers of James Bay Film and Presentation at the Community Centre

2011-11-08T20:39:00.000-08:00

Today was taken up mostly with preparing for this evening's showing of the film, 'The Fiddlers of James Bay', which is a short (half-hour) documentary about the fiddlers Ray Spencer (from Chisasibi) and Bob McLeod (from Moose Factory) who are taken over to Orkney to perform some concerts with the Strathspey and Reel Society. It gives a good idea of the musical tradition in James Bay and the similarities and differences between the two places, both musically and culturally. The audience really enjoyed the film, and afterwards I gave a short presentation on my research project and what I'm hoping to learn about during my stay in the James Bay area. Dorothy translated everything for me, and people stayed around at the end so it was great to chat to a few of them about the music which has taken place here.

One person I spoke to told me that there is a man from Aberdeen, Tom Waddon, who lives in Chisasibi, the next town north from here, and then phoned him up so that I could speak to him (and also invite him to the music event which is happening this Saturday in Wemindji). It was very interesting to speak to him, and I soon found out that his father lives in Bridge of Don, which is less than a mile from where I live in Aberdeen! Tom told me that he was half Canadian and was born in Canada, but went back to Scotland as a child and was raised in Cruden Bay (just south of Peterhead), and then moved back to Canada, married a Cree woman, and had a family. He was very happy to speak, and said that I should visit if I am in Chisasibi (unfortunately his grandson is playing ice-hockey in Chisasibi this weekend, so it is unlikely that he'll be able to travel down for the event in Wemindji).

I was also told me that the drum used to be the main accompanying instrument for fiddle before the guitar was introduced in around the early 1970s. In Old Factory, the drum was always used to accompany fiddle music and dancing, and drummers were so popular that people would paddle out to where they were fishing in the bay and bring them back to Old Factory when they wanted them to play for a dance. Old Factory consists of a couple of islands just off the coast where the population were relocated to by the government of Quebec in the early twentieth century. People lived on the islands until 1959 when the population decided to relocate themselves to the place where Wemindji is today.

Here are some photos from tonight's event taken by Katherine Scott:

Working on the Powerpoint

Talking with Audience Members

Clara (Dorothy's sister) with Dorothy Following the Event

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7 Nov - BBC Culture Cafe Tomorrow

2011-11-07T12:55:00.000-08:00

Just a quick reminder that I'll be appearing on BBC Radio Scotland's Culture Cafe tomorrow afternoon to speak about the project and research into Orkney/James Bay musical connections. I'll be on air from around 13:40 (UK time), which is 08:40 (Ontario/Quebec). You can listen to the programme online here, and it should also be available for up to a week afterwards here.

www.franceswilkins.com

7 Nov - Music Photos from the Elementary School

2011-11-07T11:08:00.000-08:00

I've just been sent some photos from my visit to the elementary school, which took place last Tuesday. I saw all the grades up to the age of around 11, and some of the children tried out playing a few notes on the concertina. There was some dancing too, and some of the students showed of some great steps while I was playing! All photos were taken by Eleanor Cowan.

Showing how far the concertina can be stretched

Children dancing to the music

Vincent, one of the teachers, encouraging schoolchildren up to dance

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5 Nov - Saturday afternoon walk

2011-11-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

Today was probably the least busy day I've had since I arrived in Wemindji. In the late morning I went out for a long walk with Katherine and Dorothy. We drove out along the Wemidji access road to 'Kilometre 11' (most places along the road are described as being at 'Kilometre ...' and there are large signs up along the road giving this information every second kilometre). There is a cabin here, and a path which goes down to a lake. The cabin is going to be used by the community of Wemindji for cultural activities, and is very close to a large lake for canoeing.

Katherine and Dorothy in front of the lake at 'Kilometre 11'

After that we walked up a very rocky hill and came across a vast amount of lichen on the way - below are photos of some of them. Katherine gave me the names of each plant, and I was particularly interested in seeing the 'British Soldiers' (probably named because of their red 'coats').

Reindeer Lichen

Reindeer Lichen (not snow)

Reindeer Lichen up close

Umbilicaria lichen (used in times of famine to make soup)

British Soldiers (or Pixie Cup Lichen)

Below is a photo of the Wemindji access road. This is about 100 kms long, and leads out form Wemindji to the James Bay Highway, which is about 620 kms (388 miles) between Mitagami and Radisson. There are no towns on this highway, and only one place to buy fuel! It's the longest service-free stretch of road in Canada.

]

The Wemindji Access Road (looking towards Wemindji)

View from the top of the hill, looking south-west

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4 Nov - Interview on BBC Radio Scotland's Culture Cafe on Tuesday

2011-11-04T07:28:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to say that I'm being interviewed live on BBC Radio Scotland's Culture Cafe next Tuesday afternoon about my trip to James Bay and Wemindji. I'll be on air from 13:15 (UK time), which is 08:15 (Ontario/Quebec). You can listen to the programme online here, and it should also be available for up to a week afterwards here.

3 Nov - Interview with Bobby Georgekish

2011-11-03T20:39:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days I've had a few interviews with people, two yesterday and two today. These were with Rod and Lisa Brant-Francis, the minister and his wife, who know a great deal about the James Bay region, having lived for a few years on the west coast of the bay before moving here a couple of years ago. They both lead the singing in the church, which is all a capella and mostly in Cree (they have hymn books which have been translated from English into Cree syllabics), and Lisa can read the syllabics, so was showing me how this is done. It looked very complicated, and she said that it took her about four years to get to grips with them.

After that I went to visit Denise Georgekish, who is the wife of the late Fred Georgekish, a very important member of the community in his time and active musician (fiddler, guitarist, gospel singer, step dancer) writer, and member of the church. He died about twenty years ago of leukaemia, when he was only in his early forties. It was really interesting to hear from her about her husband, and the music he'd played when he was alive. He'd played a lot at wedding dances (where most of the fiddle music takes place), and also at home. He was a member of a musical family, and both his brothers - who are still alive - play the fiddle as well. Today, I met up with one of the brothers, Bobby Georgekish, who is well known in the town, but because to his age and failing sight hardly plays in public at all any more. He came around to the house where I'm staying and brought his fiddle along with him. He doesn't know any English, so Dorothy came with him to translate. It was a great afternoon, and he played quite a few tunes on his fiddle. I asked Bobby about where the fiddle might have come from, and he believed that it came with the ships of the Hudson's Bay Company to Old Factory, the island where the community were based before they relocated to Wemindji in 1959. He didn't know any names of any of the people who might have brought the fiddle over, but talked about some of the older fiddlers who he saw playing in Old Factory. A lot of what he played were well known Canadian and American tunes which he would have mostly picked up from listening to records, so there weren't really any obvious links between what he played and the music to Orkney/Scotland. He had a great style and sense of rhythm though, and he played a variety of tunes, one of which he wrote himself - a great tune called the Wemindji Bridge Reel.

Here, he's playing one of the favourite tunes in Wemindji, 'The Soldier's Joy', which is usually heard throughout weddings dances as the main tune of the night:

As well as Bobby, I interviewed Dorothy's brother and sister, Fred and Marion, about their musical family and background. Marion enjoys step-dancing and their father and uncle were both fiddle players. They also had another relative who played the accordion, so grew up listening to older members of the family playing music. Here is a photo of us in their kitchen following the interview:

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2 Nov - Comments - problem solved!

2011-11-02T14:56:00.000-07:00

I've now worked out why people couldn't leave comments before, and have fixed the problem - apologies to anyone who had trouble with this! It should now be working.

www.franceswilkins.com

1 Nov - School Visit and Cree hymns

2011-11-01T20:46:00.001-07:00

Today I was kept busy in the local primary school where one of the staff, Eleanor Cowan, had asked me to visit and play music to all the classes. During the morning I had quite a few groups of classes to entertain. They were very curious about the concertina and enjoyed trying out the instrument and a lot of them danced to the music as well. In the afternoon I had one more class visit, and this evening I've been at the ACW - Anglican Church Women, who meet every Tuesday evening to do various craftwork with Lisa, the minister's wife. Tonight they agreed to sing some Cree hymns for me, which I recorded. A lot of them are translations of well know hymns at home, so it was interesting to hear them. Below is a clip of the women singing - they are Dorothy, Clara, Marion, Queenie, Stella, and Lisa

Tomorrow I'll be meeting up with the minister, Rod, and his wife Lisa in the morning, then going over to the 'Multi-Service Day Centre' in the afternoon. There is one very old man there who I've been told used to play the fiddle. In the evening I'm hoping to make contact with a couple of musicians by going to visit them with Eleanor Cowan from the school. The fiddle event is being organised for a week on Saturday and next week we'll also be having an evening where the film, 'The Fiddlers of James Bay', will be shown and I'll be giving a presentation. On Wednesday night Dorothy is organising a get-together with local musicians at the community hall.

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31 Oct - Halloween!

2011-11-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

Last night, I was invited to judge the adult fancy dress competition for halloween, so went down to the ice hockey arena where the competition was taking place. Yesterday was the first time I was in the arena, and it was a really impressive building! Ice hockey is a very important game over here, and every community in the James Bay area has an arena which also doubles up as an ice rink. Wemindji has two very good teams, once of which recently got as far as the regional ice hockey finals.

There were a lot of people dressed up last night and the rink was packed with spectators. There was a men's and women's competition, and also competitions for the best couple, the scariest, most entertaining, overall best, and more. It wasn't just about fancy dress - each competitor, who was on the ice, had to do a dance whist they were being judged, and the better the dancing the higher the marks they received. The dancing was to recorded music - fiddle tunes and modern dance music, but people definitely seemed to prefer dancing to the fiddle music. Here is a short video of some of the contestants

And here are a few photos:

Mr Black and Partner

Hunter

Beetlejuice

Old Hag

Mr and Mrs Trapper (with dead rabbit)

Obama and his Bodyguard

Devil and Zombie

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30 Oct - Feast of Goose, Bannock, and Moose Stew

2011-10-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

Today has been another mild and sunny day, and has been busy! This morning I went to the local Anglican church with Katherine, and met Dorothy, Marion, Fred, and Linda there. The minister and his wife (Rod and Lisa) were keen for me to play some music during the service, so I took my concertina and ended up giving a 20 minute concert after the sermon. The acoustic were really great, and the congregation seemed to enjoy hearing some of the Shetland (and other) tunes!

In the afternoon, we went over to the tipi again and helped with cutting up some more tarpaulin for the outside. We stopped at the shop on the way to buy some supplies for tomorrow, and also some sweets to give out for halloween tomorrow. It was a really calm day, and I took the opportunity to take a photo of Dorothy by the river, just outside the shop:

Marion then prepared a goose which had been shot last spring by her brother-in-law (in goose season - this is a time when the whole of Wemindji take a couple of weeks off to go hunting), and we sat around in the tipi with her, Dorothy, and Fred, and watched as the goose cooked. It was a lot of fun hearing stories and drinking tea. Marion also made some 'bannock on a stick' over the fire. See below for a short video clip of the cooking:

Once the goose and bannocks had been cooked, we went inside and had a big feast with them and some delicious moose stew and blueberry cake for pudding. The goose was incredibly tasty, and really good with bannock and dipped in the gravy, and the moose tasted a bit like beef, but not at all chewy. Marion had also found some more fiddle music for me to listen to - Anthony Awashish (from Mistissini), Ned Landry (from New Brunswick), Harry House (Chisasibi), and Clarence Loutit (Moose Factory).

Tomorrow we're having a planning meeting in the morning to discuss how the next couple of weeks will take shape, and also the possibility of a fiddle evening, perhaps on Friday night, with invited guests from Chisasibi and Eastmain. In the afternoon I'll be going around to play some music at the after-school club, and I think there is a halloween event in the evening.

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29 Oct - Winterising a Tipi

2011-10-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

This afternoon was spent with Dorothy, her two sisters (Marion and Linda), brother (Fred), and brother-in-law, and Katherine winterising their tipi. This involved cleaning up the inside, taking down the material on the outside of the tipi and replacing it with tarpaulin cut up from large gravel bags. It was a very sunny day and not particularly cold, and a lot of the snow has melted. The tipi is the place where people normally do their cooking, and there is a fire pit in the middle which people will sit around. Pots and meat are hung above the fire to cook, and this is far preferable to cooking food in a kitchen - bannocks, moose, beaver, goose, are roasted on the fire, and tea is made here too. Most families will have a tipi next to their house, and they also have them out on the land near their hunting lodge to use them when they are there.

View upwards from the inside of the tipi - before work has begun

Dorothy outside the Tipi - New tarpaulin being put up

Top of the tipi without tarpaulin covering it

Winter Layers of Tarpaulin covering Tipi

View of the sunset over houses on our walk back

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29 Oct - Wedding Dance in Wemindji

2011-10-29T18:29:00.000-07:00

The wedding dance last night was a lot of fun, and there were quite a few people there - probably about 250-300 in total. The dance took place in the community hall to a band consisting of David Ratt on fiddle (possible the main fiddle player/performer in Wemindji at the moment) with a backing band of electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and bass, with drum machine. The dance went on from about 10.30pm until late - we left at 1.30am and it was still going on. Most of the dancing was done by the wedding part and their families, but other people joined in later in the night. The fiddler played a small selection of tunes (perhaps only around 5 or 6 in total), and the favourite tune is Soldier's Joy, which was constantly being played throughout the night. Other tunes included St Anne's Reel, Boil em Cabbage Down, and Orange Blossom Special. Below are some photos of the dance:

David Ratt on Fiddle

Bass Player

Wedding party dancing

Spectators

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28 Oct - First Day in Wemindji

2011-10-28T18:25:00.000-07:00

The weather has really changed from yesterday, and the first snow is now on the ground. This is meant to be quite early - snow doesn't normally fall until later in the year in November/December, and winter lasts until the end of May. This afternoon I went for a walk with Katherine up a small hill on the edge of the town which has views across Wemindji towards James Bay

Wemindji roof-tops and river with James Bay in the background

Snow falling just outside Wemindji

Typical Canadian scene?!

Katherine Scott on the Walk

Things have moved on quite a bit since yesterday, and I have been busy starting to organise my schedule with Dorothy and others. There will be a planning meeting on Monday morning which I'll be attending, and a few things will be organised here with regards holding events to do with the project and making the best use my time here. I've also been asked to go into the after-school club on Monday to play to the children there (they apparently love to step-dance), and on Tuesday I'll be going into the school to introduce myself to the classes and play some music too. I've been told that these would be really good as the children will tell their parents that I'm around, and that might lead to speaking to them myself. Music is still learnt in the family here, and most fiddlers and dancers will learn at home from older relatives.

I'm just off to a wedding party tonight - there is going to be dancing and fiddling from around 10pm until late. Tomorrow I've been invited to help winterise a tipi, so looking forward to seeing the inside of one - there are quite a few here, and they are used by people for cooking in (especially meat which has been hunted), which is much preferable to cooking in a kitchen as the meat has a better flavour.

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27 Oct - Arrival in Wemindji

2011-10-27T20:10:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to say that I've arrived in Wemindji! The plane was a 20-seater, but was incredibly smooth - I didn't even notice taking off/landing a lot of the time (we did this about 4 times as were hopping from one village to the next up to Wemindji). There were no cabin staff - just a pilot and co-pilot, who gave us some safety information and opened the door for us each time we got out.

I arrived in Wemindji at about 12.30pm and was met by Dorothy Stewart and Katherine Scott who showed me around the town and to the house I'm staying in (which is incredibly comfortable). There is a modern building for the chief and council which overlooks the town, a school for around 300 children, a sports centre with swimming pool, gym, and sports hall, and wellbeing centre with excellent concert hall and reception rooms for parties and weddings, a traditional arts centre, two large shops, and a shopping centre and petrol station.

I've been told there is a wedding happening tomorrow and I've been invited along to the dance in the evening - there is meant to be a band playing with step dancing, and I've been told that it should be fine to record the event.

This afternoon Katherine took me on a walk along the river. The weather is surprisingly mild, but can change very quickly - sunny one minute, snowing the next. Here are a couple of photos of down by the river:

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26 Oct - Montreal

2011-10-26T16:28:00.000-07:00

Here is a short clip of my train journey between Toronto and Montreal yesterday. As you can see it was great weather for much of it. Outside the cities the landscape is incredibly flat, as can be seen in the footage.

I haven't had a chance to see much of Montreal, but had a quick look down into the 'metro' area, which was impressive! Montreal has the largest underground complex in the world, miles and miles of shopping malls which have been developed beneath the city. This area is called the 'Underground City' (or in French 'La Ville Souterraine'), and there are more than 120 entrances to the area from outside. It really says something about how severe the winters get here! It was quite daunting going down into the place - it is on a few different levels, and lower down is the metro system. It looked incredibly easy to get lost down there if you didn't know your way around. There aren't just shops in the complex - I noticed the entrance to one of the universities there too. Here are a couple of photos:

I'm up early tomorrow (about 4.30am) to catch my flight to Wemindji, and I'm due to arrive there around midday (12.30pm). Wemindji is a community of just under 1300 inhabitants, mostly Cree, and was previously named Old Factory by the Hudson's Bay Company. Wemindji, from wiimin uchii in Cree, means 'Red Ochre Mountain', and is 1400 kms (870 miles) north of Montreal, the nearest major city. The community's website can be found here.

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25 Oct - Winter Clothing

2011-10-25T20:04:00.000-07:00

I've been asked to post up a photo of myself in the winter clothing I bought the other day. Here is a photo just taken of me with parka coat, winter boots and mittens on!

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25 Oct - Quebec Maps

2011-10-25T08:28:00.000-07:00

Here are some maps of where I'll be going for the next 2 1/2 weeks. I'm currently on the train to Montreal, then I'll be flying up to Wemindji (please see below). I've just been told that the weather is going to be terrible for the next few days. The flight up there is nearly 5 hours, so I'm hoping that it's not going to be too rough a ride! A weather forecast for the James Bay area can be found Here - it looks like the snow is going to start falling tomorrow, so there may be a covering up there by the time I arrive on Thursday afternoon.

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24 Oct - Last couple of days in Toronto

2011-10-24T13:13:00.000-07:00

I'm now coming to and end of my few days in Toronto, leaving for Montreal tomorrow by train (about 6 hours), and then on to Wemindji on Thursday. I'll be taking a plane from Montreal, and the flying time will be nearly five hours! I'll be met at the airport by Dorothy Stewart, the Director of Community Services and person who has been helping me organise my visit to the area, and Katherine Scott, an anthropology PhD student who is in Wemindji conducting fieldwork. Last time I looked, the temperature was on average between 0˚C (high) and -4˚C (low), and I'm told it's getting colder up there.

I've had a really interesting couple of days in Toronto speaking with people involved in traditional music performance/research. Yesterday I met up with Anne Lederman, who gave me some really useful information and advice on First Nations and Canadian fiddle playing, the Canadian repertoire, travelling up north, and the James Bay region. I then had a couple more meetings today, one with PhD researcher Daniel Laxter, who has done a large amount of archive research into music and musicians in the fur trade, and another with the director of the Institute for Canadian Music, Professor Robin Elliot. Both meetings were very helpful for finding out more about the history of music in Canada and publications and other researchers in the field.

I now know that the Red River settlement, where many Orcadians were settled during the fur trade, is in fact modern-day Winnipeg (I'm sure I should have known that a long time ago!), and also that the only real outside influence in James Bay was from the Hudson's Bay Company, unlike other parts of Canada where the North-West Company (the rival fur-trading company based in Montreal) was also present, and in the great Hudson's Bay area where there were also whalers. It sounds like James Bay was historically very remote apart from the direct contact with HBC ships, but I'm looking forward to finding out more when I get there.

Unfortunately my plan to buy a cheap mobile phone so that I could be easily contactable has been scuppered. I checked at one of the mobile phone shops, and their network coverage ends 153 miles south of the southern tip of James Bay! (see here for a network coverage map)

22 Oct - Playing for a contradance in Toronto

2011-10-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I went to an excellent dance band workshop run by Anne Ledereman with about 20 musicians - mostly fiddles, and also guitar, piano, flute, and banjo. We ran through about 15 sets of tunes, mostly Canadian but with a few from Scotland, Ireland, and Quebec as well. It was great to get the opportunity to play Canadian tunes as a lot of them I've never heard played in Scotland at all. In the evening, the contradance took place in a church hall in the East end of Toronto. We played from around 7.30-10.30pm with a quick break at 9pm.

Fellow band members Heather Bell (on fiddle) and Sara Van Hamme (flute)

The Back Row

Band Leader Anne Lederman

Next to the Christmas tree - Taken by Sara Van Hamme

Contradancers - taken by Sara Van Hamme

22 Oct - Mountain Equipment Co-op

2011-10-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who suggested I visit the Mountain Equipment Co-op in Toronto. What a great shop! I managed to find everything I was looking for, and all at reasonable prices. Parka coat, winter boots, mittens, thermals, and socks. I'm now hoping I'll get them all onto the plane ok...!

21 Oct - Visit to Royal Ontario Museum

2011-10-22T05:21:00.000-07:00

A very interesting visit to the ROM yesterday with Celtic studies student Kelly Hayes. The museum was very reminiscent of the British Museum - collections of material from most corners of the globe including an impressive section on Egypt which included human, cat, hawk, and crocodile mummies.

The Canada section was in two parts - European history (with a number of mentions of famous Scottish settlers) and First Nations history, with an incredible collection of clothing and beadwork, and which screened 'Nanook of the North' in one corner. There were also some very long reconstructions of canoes which you can see below.

Also more Hudson's Bay Company influence as I walked through the streets....

It was great to meet up with David Wilson, professor at the University of Toronto's Department of History, later in the day to talk about the project, music, tunes, Scotland, England, and Ireland.

21 Oct - Arrival in Toronto

2011-10-21T09:57:00.000-07:00

I've now arrived in Toronto after an 18 hour journey from Aberdeen via Amsterdam. I've been wandering around the city this morning taking in a few sights. Below is a photo of the plaque outside the 'Bay' department store of the Hudson's Bay Company, which I walked past when I was in the Downtown area.

It's good to see some Scottish scenery here too - below is a billboard I passed on a bus-stop!

20 Oct - James Bay project description

2011-10-20T07:09:00.000-07:00

For a better idea of the project I will be working on in Canada, please see my abstract below:

Scots in the Sub-Arctic: Musical Fingerprints among the Cree Fiddlers of James Bay

James Bay fiddlers have a strong historical association with the Orkney Islands and their musical heritage is believed to be rooted in the traditions of Orcadian servants of the Hudson's Bay Company who travelled to the region from the late 1600s. The fiddle was introduced to the region in the eighteenth century, and the Cree population embraced the instrument and its associated repertoire, re-shaping the music over time to produce a distinctly Cree style of playing.

This transatlantic musical flow between Scotland and James Bay is a piece of Scotland's history which has not been studied in depth before. The project will combine ethnomusicology fieldwork (fieldnotes, field recordings, videography, interviews, and photography) with archive and library-based research to piece together the Cree fiddle tradition in terms of repertoire, playing style, history, and musicians.

10th Oct - 20th October 2011 start date for James Bay project

2011-10-10T10:14:00.001-07:00

Dear all, welcome to my blog. This is where I'll be posting news and information on my upcoming musical/research visit to Ontario and Quebec. I'll be flying out to Canada on 20th October for 2 months, travelling to Toronto, then on to Montreal, Wemindji, Moose Factory, and Winnipeg. My schedule is as follows, so if you happen to be in any of the places I'll be visiting when I'm there, please get in touch!

20-25th October - Toronto
25-27th October - Montreal
27th Oct - 15th November - Wemindji
15-16th November - Montreal
16-17th November - Toronto
18th Nov - 8th December - Moose Factory
9-11th December - Toronto
11-17th December - Winnipeg
17-19th December - Toronto

This project is funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Foundation for Canadian Studies in the UK.