After last years’ August (2019) MFC I had the pleasure of visiting David Kaynor at his family home in Maine. David had been a special surprise guest at camp and while he was in Maine we shared tunes on his front porch. We played mostly Swedish tunes, and this is a beautiful one from Dave I recorded. I hope you enjoy. Sheet music is available on the website: Skänklek efter Lars He’en
Virtual MFC Time Machine
A Step Back in Time with Don Messer
“When we were in our twenties searching out the old-timers who played for the country dances in Maine, all the fiddlers said their idol was Don Messier. For many decades he kept the fiddle tradition alive and crystallized the regional “downeast” or “Canadian” style of fiddling. He was an inspiration to them and they all aspired to be as good. I always admire how he took the local fiddling, dancing and singing traditions from the Maritimes and created a variety show around fiddle tunes. His Canadian broadcasts were avidly picked up by Mainers. He was an enormous influence throughout Canada and Maine. Here is a link to some of his shows.”
Fearless leader, Doug
Canadian Reel
A note from Doug:
This is a dance tune we played for many years, along with The Dominion Reel. It works great and is an intermediate level classic. This tune was first collected by Smokey Mckeen, Greg Boardman, John Gawler, and Bob Childs around 1976 when visiting maritime folklorist -tune collector Gale Huntington in Cape Cod. He played it for them on a button accordion.
I think it is on the OGG Folkways recording from 1978. — Douglas Protsik