The Glengarry Strathspey

From Glengarryceltic

Although the fiddle was still being played in Glengarry in the mid seventies, the music was not the Celtic style of the past. The GS&RS was formed by Allan MacPhail to revive the music of their ancestors - the Celtic/ Glengarry music. Allan asked some fiddlers known to him (and related to him) and of course the wives got into the picture as well. The group was an immediate success and played throughout our area, in the states, and in Cape Breton where the tartan jackets are still remembered and the fiddlers’ talents respected. Their first record sold out quickly as did the second. Their willingness and ability to play slow airs and “church music” made them popular at the Kirking of The Tartan, where they still play each year. In addition, when the school board refused to sponsor the fiddle lessons at the high school, the GS&RS stepped in and they have been doing so ever since. They sponsor a fiddle workshop each year which attracts fiddlers from Ottawa and the states as well as our local fiddlers. For the past several years, they have presented bursaries to budding fiddlers at G.D.H.S. graduation and have helped out young fiddlers who went down to CB to study their Celtic style. Other groups now play Celtic music, but it was the influence of the GS&RS which caused the rebirth and helped promote the popularity the music now enjoys.