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MISCELLANY

Hs — 57

anada: A History of Can-
4 in Folk Songs — Allan
Volk minutes — 12”
Ways 3001 — $5.95 —Folk-
YS Records, which has more
Nadian music in its catalogue
i Nall other companies com-
ned, has one of the three best
YS in this recent release.
ff he 26 selections include In-
» Eskimo, a Jesuit hymn in
dj Jan style,” French Cana-
ty 1 songs and Prairie adap-
tions

of American cowboy

hy Other songs which might
Ve

been better chosen.

Re sour note is in the jin-
nc Pork, Beans and Hard

Sung by Middleton’s ar-

S it marched on the Metis
‘i Louis
fr a Meti

Riel in 1885.
s song should

been counterposed to

ah the notes should be given
Stter explanation.

ren eody will quibble about
°us program time, but

Style alters little in suc-

Mase, g
a)

7

|. 8toy
; tiven po

ec i r
outa ategories. The record

have been more inter-

€ if the odd field record-
ad been interspersed.
ly “luminous 22 page book-
histor; Meluded, providing an
cal outline of Canada in
won sation with the specific
€production
Tongly recommended.

Canada:
teneh ada: Game Songs of

is first

Canada — 10” — Folk-

14

— 28 mins. — $4.45:
f 18 children’s songs,

Y students of Jean-

teal Audet, director of Mon-

ecole de Phonetique

ced,

Ith

h € Singer
me

Ve
her] ee

‘On
heey? Th

Ade

A doz

0
Re, tous

— 2914 mins. — $3.50:

ork

?

» Milt Qkun, is a
Taduate and teacher in
who follows an
associated
Reng, These 11 English
French songs are a
undup of Canadian
Usic, ranging from New-

and French Cana-
an American cowboy
€ Tenderfoot, which

as Popular
8, ty,

career in

in Alberta.

Uplicate other record-
° of them French which
OWin te? Sung with a more

8 accent by Allan Mills.

Xts; only brief intro-
Son the back of the

production

M

excel-

Hamsworth — 10”
821 — 28 mins. —
€n songs from the
of Ontario and
Wo Wo of them in French
’ Hamsworth (both

welt J. LIL ALLL 0 i |i i

quite in character). His guitar
accomplishment is appealing,
and.there is an infectious vi-
tality to his smothered bari-
tone.

Best known are Donkey Rid-
ing, now a campfire more than
a shantyboy (logger) song; and
The Bad Girl’s Lament, a Ca-
nadian variant. of the Irish
regimental song which also
became St. James Infirmary
Blues. Aidel O’Boy, Ye Girls
of Old Ontario, Envoyone D’
L’Avant, The Jam at Gerry’s
Rocks, help to round out an
interesting collection.

Full song texts and explan-
ations are supplied, but no
translations of the French
songs. Reproduction excellent,
MARITIMES: GAELIC

Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton
Island is a pocket of Scottish
Gaelic culture which has en-
dured in isolation from the an-
cestral home since early settlc-
ment after 1784. Although no
longer isolated from outside
Canadian influences, the High-
land tradition continues full
blown in the music of the prov-
ince despite occasional Eng-
lish words and subtle touches
which set it apart from the
root source.

Nova Scotia Folk Music —
10” Elektra 23 — 23 mins. —
$4.45: Diane Hamilton, who
collected the nine songs and

egiht dance tunes, has preserv- -

ed the natural mannerisms,
even mistakes. At least one
contributor, Dan J. Morrison,
is a highly talented folk ar-
tist. ; :

One of the dances is a “Purist
a Buel,” (Mouth Music”),
where voice imitates instru-
ments when no pipes or fiddle
are available for dancing. Two
of the robust Milling Frolic
Songs are included.

The notes are generous and
informative, but omit song
texts. Reproduction excellent
for field recordings.

Songs from Cape Breton Is-
land — 12” Folkways 450 2
30 mins, — $5.95: Two pipers
tunes and ten songs (in Gae-
lic), mainly Milling Frolic
Songs. As above, they are an-
tiphonal, a soloist with choral
responses. Their healthy rustic
enthusiasm has haunting
charm, despite limited melodic
variation.

Notes and partial texts are
supplied. Reproduction fairly
good. However, this costs $1.50
more for only one more minute
and less variety than the El-
ektra above, which is a better
a NATIVE INDIAN

The original Canadians are
divided into a number of cul-
tural regions, although general
similarities of Asiatic origin
and development exist. Music
is still wedded to dance, with
little differentiation into non-
dance musical forms. _

Canadian Plains Indians —
12” Folkways — 38% mins. —
$5.95: This recording of the
Assiniboine, Blackfoot, Blood
and Cree peoples of Alberta

|Wide selection of Canadian folk
Music now available on records

HIS is the third and con-
Cluding part of a compre-
“asive survey of Canadian
Music available on commercial
gs. The first part was
Mublished in the June 1 issue
€ Pacific Tribune, the sec-
in the June 15 issue.

xt beg
FRENCH and ENGLISH

ad

provides an instructive com-
parison with other Indian mu-
sic reviewed in earlier articles
The Cree music, in particular,
has greater melodic interest,
while a striking transitional
acculteration is apparent in
the War Song. English words
are set to a melodic and rhyth-
mic structure which is wholly
Indian.

Musical instruments are few
— hand drum, bass drum,
rattle, a simple whistle
but their. very simplicity serve
to accentuate the great virtu-
oso complexity and express-
iveness of the Plains vocal tra-
dition.

This splendid package was
well and intelligently anno-
tated by Ken Peacock of the
National Museum. There is cne
discrepancy: selection 9 on
side 1 is missing. Although
directed to a fairly restricted
market, this is a valuable and
entertaining eye-opener to
any who care to investigate.

Eskimos of Hudson Bay And
Alaska — 12” Folkways 444
— 45 min. — $5.95: This con-
sists of 18 field recordings by
Laura Bolton. The Eskimos
possess a common ethnology
and language from Alaska
right across Greenland, dist-
inct ‘from other North Ameri-
can Indian peoples. Neverthe-
less, (although Asiatic simil-
arities seem to be more ob-
vious in the Eskimo music)
their musical culture is, broad-
ly speaking, comparable to the
more southerly peoples.

This collection is a compre-
hensive survey of Eskimo cul-
ture. Although directed to
pecialized taste, it is recom-
mended to any who have al-
ready developed an interest—
or want to. :

MISCELLANEOUS

Radio Program II: “Raw-
hide” — 12” Folkways 86-2 —
46 mins. — $5.95: Not music at
all, of course, but the “Raw-
hide Little Theatre .Play-
house,” four examples of con-
temporary Canadians by the
inimitable Max Ferguson. He
supplies all the voices (up to
14 on a program) for his paro-
dies and satires.

The programs are: Wuther-
ing Heights, So To Speak, The
Nymph and the Lump (a satire
on soap opera banality), and
The Defense of Rawhide (Fer-
guson’s reply to McCarthyite
witch hunters). Clever stuff,
valuable for entertaining your
guests, but it doesn’t wear too
well.

Ed McCurdy: “Canadian
Folk Songs” — 10” Manhat-
tan — 25% mins. — $1: With
one or two exceptions, not
Canadian folk music at all.
Poorly recorded although how
poorly is hard to tell through
the thick smokescreen of sur-
face noise.

All these recordings are
available at the People’s Co-
op Bookstore, 337 West Pen-
der Street, Vancouver 2, B.C.

N. E. STORY

Lassie, the dog shown here with Tommy Rettig, is the

star of the CBC television series by the same name. A
new series of the popular show can be seen on CBUT.

Film adaptation of

Te local showing of the So-

viet film based on Nikolai
Gogol’s satirical comedy, The
Inspector General, is of con-
siderable interest to movie
and theatre goers alike.

Opening this coming Mon-
day, November 19, the film
will run all week at the Cam-
bie Theatre, 635 West Broad-
way. The production (in
Soveolor) features the Moscow
Art Theatre, long famous for
the style of characterization
demanded.

The Inspector General is
one of the most famous and
popular of all Russian plays,
its characters having served
for over a century as tests of

y in city

good acting.

Essentially the plot turns
on mistaken identity. An im-
poverished traveller from St,
Petersburg is mistaken for a
high government official in a
small provincial town he is
passing through. The corrupt
local officials, typical of the
tsarist bureaucracy, outsmart
themselves in their rush to
ingratiate themselves with the
Supposed investigator.

Only the accident of for-
tune — considering the vic-
lousness of tsarist censorship
— saved the play from sup-
pression perhaps until 1917.
Enchanted with the play’s
humor, the tsar himself in-
tervened on its behalf.

~—

Gogol. <£ satirical comedy...

“The INSPECTOR GENERAL

(REVIZOR,R)
with THE MOSCOW ART PLAYERS |.
~A Mosfilm Studios Prod. in

TOMO Moeeooeradreccecceecee

CAMBIE THEATRE

635 West Broadway
ONE WEEK COMMENCING

MONDAY — NOVEMBER 19TH

TWO SHOWINGS EACH EVENING
at 7 P.M. and 9 P.M.

.

SOVCOLOR

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-
.
.
@eesesee

NOVEMBER 16, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 13