I strongly believe that some the very best fiddlers in the world come from Ontario. ward allen. graham townsend ed gyurki chuck joyce. The list goes on and on.
Yer ignorant slur of Celtic and Cape Breton music also shows a complete lack of knowledge . Both styles were.around long before Mr Allen,and you . And what the hell would yer " US Library of Congress " know about Eastern Canadian folk music history ? It's one thing to be a fan but another to purposely mislead. Like I said he is a mighty fine musician and I am sure a real gentleman but to say he " wrote" the song and that he is a 'great man" . but never met . lol . .well . .get real pardner !
You reallly need to get yer history and facts straight .. this song, a variation of an old eastern Canadian ( Maritimes) jig/reel was being played loooong before Ward Allen came along . .and was popularized by the great Don Messer . .who I grew up watching on tv .. in the late 50's .... when it was an amazing lil box that showed black and white images . .and only had one channel ... also played in a small town country band then. It is NOT HIS SONG !!! Although he does play it very well.
@The1Bushman That is complete bullshit you idiot. Stuff that crap down your cod liver face. Messer made a mess of the song. Why can't you get over your envy of Ontario and the great music that came out of it. I will grant Winston Scotty Fitzgerald was a unique player. You are tone deaf as well. It's a polka tune BTW. I won't waste my breath on you.
@wardalien Your lack of class, and weak command of the English language is only matched by your total ignorance. Your "assumption " that I have any envy of anything that came . .or comes from Ontario is more proof of that. I just happen to know obviously a lot more about music history, and origins than you. But carry on with your little bit of glory on this little bitty spot here . .and . .another place you really need to research is the dif tween polka and reel sir
@wardalien I played, and sang in a band for many years . .I may have my faults . .but being 'tone deaf' is not one of them .. nor is being blind to reality . . as you so very obviously are. And I as well am finished wasting breath on you . . classless .. pathetic moron :-)
@groseliers And you forgot to bring what little class you were born with along as well. The opinion of people like you stay with me about as long as water stays on a ducks back you pitiful little wanna be. My heart goes out to the people that have to endure your presence in the real world . . they are saints for sure :-)
Such a great Canadian classic. Nobody plays it like Ward Allen. It was a sad day in music when he passed away. Many have tried to copy, but none have mastered.
Great respect for your research. I have recently seen this song described as a "French Canadian" piece, also not true. Ward Allen wrote this piece. He was born near London, Ontario though died in Hull, Québec. He won the 1953 Canadian Open Fiddle Championship in Shelburne, Ont. My grandfather played this tune accompanied by my mother on piano. Another classic of Ward's was "Back Up and Push". April Verch has an excellent youtube video explaining the different Canadian fiddling styles.
@cleoh08 His research is wrong . .and so are yer comments about Ward Allen "writing it" . .it was being played by old time "Cape Breton" fiddlers . .long before that, You idiots all think Canadian folk music history began in the 1950's ??? This has been a friggin country . .since 1867 .. and there was people here long before that . .and guess what ?? THEY had fiddles back then too !!!
Great - send me the link. i would like to hear it. thx for visiting. I want to start an International Maple Sugar day celebrating the sweetness of life and good fiddling. Any ideas are helpful :)
I learned this song 2 years ago I might post it on youtube. I'm 18 and my grandfather was a fiddler died when i was 7 so i dont remember him playing. But I'm learning the fiddle in his honor.
Ward Allen Was Indeed A Great Fiddle Player And Another Great Fiddle Player Is My Father In Law "Clarence Edward Bush" When He Plays "Maple Sugar" It Is In The Same Style As Ward Allen And He Just Turned 95 January 20th 2011
Jesus boys I'm crying my eyes out!! Back in the early 60's my Dad came home with a second hand record player and one record and it was Maple Sugar with Back up and Push on he flipside. He never had a lot to be happy about in his life but he was happy that day, I will always remember the look on his face. I haven't heard this tune for 45 years.
Been a long time since I been up da line with number nine binder twine, dontcha know, but this brings back a few memories! Setting out for goldeneyes on the Ottawa with the northern lights dancing overhead, Deer hunting in Torbolton, mountain biking in Kanata lakes, where has the time gone?
You know, it's interesting what you say about this not being a tune "from the old country." I remember my great-grandmother talking in her thick accent about the old country, and assuming that she must have been from Ireland, or something. I later found out that she was actually from across the river in Windsor, ON. For some of us, this is the music our families brought over from the "old country."
Hearing Ward Allen play his own fiddle tune is just delightful. It's gotta be one of the happiest sounding tunes I've ever heard. Who could ever frown while listening to Maple Sugar? lol
i want to say how much i apreciate the playing of people like ward allen graham townsend and edgyurki i think most of todays players have to much classical influence in there music and therin lose the snap that the oldtimers had.
Thank you so much for posting this. I am a 60 year old from Winnipeg and I have heard many fine fiddle players from Winnipeg play this great tune, but I must say that your version is probably the best I have ever heard. You are a true craftsman and a great musician.
Thanks for postin this. I've just recently discovered this great tune and am learning it on the fiddle. Nothing better than playing along with Ward Allen, the master, himself. Merci beaucoup. Bill
My Dad (who lived near there in the late '30's and most of the '40's) told me this tune was composed by Ward at a kitchen party at a house (now gone) west of Staffa Ont. "First house on the Hibbert side of the townline on the Staffa road" is what he said.
My Goodness. Years when I hear this. BEAUTIFUL! I was listening to the 45 rpm on my jukebox of the late Great Ward Allen back to the sugar camp. He was the best. Thank sooooooooooooo much for posting this. God love ya.
Wow, thanks for posting! This is my very favourite fiddle tune. I heard it many times at kitchen parties while growing up back in Montreal and Gaspe area. It's the best!
Hi, Thanks for this wondreful video! We lived in Vermont 7 years, and tapped a few trees behind our house. We loved the sugaring, and the fiddling there, this tune especially.
i remember going out to my grammies camp when "the boys" were tapping the trees, and my little cousin and i would run around and drink the maple sap from the pails that hung from the trees. my grammie even painted a pitcure of us doing such. memories of the good ole days :)
I grew up in rural manitoba and this song has always stuck with me. I remember my grandpa trying to learn the fiddle with this song at 70. He passed on but I will always associate this song with him.:)
I'm from The Ottawa Valley and I heard Ward Allen play Maple Sugar so many times one Sunday afternoon at the Lakeside Hotel in Portage du Fort You could smell the Maple Sugar, Everyone who dropped in for a drink requested Maple Sugar and that day there were many who had a thirst for Ward's Fiddle music and a cold beer God Bless You Ward You were "The Greatest"
I would like to hear more of your valley tales. I sure like a beer at the Lakeside Hotel right now. Last time I was there it was loud rock and roll but those were different days. Portage was the biggest town in Pontiac county for awhile hey
Back in the good old days we spemt many a night on the Quebec side drinking and dancing at the Forest Inn, The Maple Leaf and many other hotels to numerous to mention.
Also did you ever attend the Dance Halls throughtout the Valley and March 17th at "The Douglas Hotel" I could tell you about many fun times all of Us had in the back seat outside the hotels and dance halls. Get me started and I could go on for hours LOL
@Delore1946 I'm not from the Ottawa Valley but I grew up on a sheep ranch in western North Dakota along the Sasketchewan boarder. The music was different but I can identify with your story --- I can tell that the people were the about the same. Take comfort, at least you seem to been able to save some of your cultural heritage up there. Can't really say the same applies anymore south of the boarder. I like playing Maple Sugar on the mandolin and I think I'll post it in a few days (<:
Hey I am up in the valley occasionlly myself. Shawville, Pontiac County. That is the Ottawa Valley or heaven on earth. I been all over Canada and you can take your Fraser river vallye and stuff it. The mighty Ottawa is King and Ward Allen played often in Gavan's hotel in Quio. NOw I like his daughter but Gail tried to cash in on it but Ward was a sweet soul.
You yourself are a hero for being selfless enough to create and post your tribute. My dad was born on Calumet Island in 1905 and by the grace of God I still have a half-dozen Ottawa Valley fiddle tunes predating WWI in my mind that he used to play. I remember visiting Pembroke as a kid in the early 60's and realizing the fierce pride everyone felt in Ward Allen and Maple Sugar. I still feel that today! I regret any offence having been taken, because certainly, none was intended. God bless!
my grandmother was one of 11 kids born at Dunraven on Calumet island in 1900. She married J.J. Gilchrist from Vinton. P.Q. in 1925 and had five children by 1934 the middle of the depression. His name was known as Shanty Jack Gilchristand he was a walking boss for the GILISS LUMBER company at 27yrs of age in 1907 responsible for over three hundred men.
Why I'm telling you this I'm not completely sure but I'm from the valley myself.
Would that be Donny Gilchrist the dancer.Now there is another valley legend. Calumet island is great. Is Dunraven near the old mine on the south side looking over at Byrson? tell us more. thx
I had posted this to put down the US absorption of his tune as peopleat CliffTop WVirgina seem to think it is there tune but I see there are fogs in my own country as well. shame! Ward Allen is not the only forgotten element that truly makes us Canadian. Try Reg Hill, Mac Beattie and the whold Ottawa Valley music and I don't mean a CBC crap or Canadian Music Hall of Fame (or better Shame)
I certainly have nothing against Winston Scotty Fitzgerald but the modern batch of idiots who play celtic crap might as well jump into the North Atlantic and jig squid. You know all that Celtic crap is jazz, it is current knowledge that the 'colonies' preserve the best of the motherland and so we Canadians have really THE old tyme music. americans, love them, distort everything due their original rebellion or revel in a post revolutionary "Contradance' ethanasia.
The point I tried to make (without success with you, sir)is that as Winston Churchill said: "No man ever enhanced his own (or anyone else's) dignity by standing on it". Ward Allen is a Canadian icon of the first order. So too are Winston Fitzgerald, Reg Beauvette, Andy Desjarlais, Buddy McMaster, Calvin Vollrath, Eddie Poirier - the list is wonderfully endless. None of the above-mentioned fiddlers are in need of praise at anyone else's expense. They stand perfectly well on their own merit.
It's a pity that this tribute to Ward Allen had to be sullied by the gratuitous denigration of other peoples' fiddling styles. "Nouveau fiddling of today aka Celtic or Cape Brettonish?" You, my dear sir, are in desperate need of some study of Canadian folk musicology. That particular "nouveau" music is older by at least two centuries than Ward's genre. As the old American country tune says: "When ya start slingin' mud, you're losin' ground!" God bless!
The best version on the planet. I am striving to get it all.I am verey happy to see this man get his due credits. I grew up in NS with the tunes of the likes of Ward Allen,Don Messer and Ned Landry etc. these were unique players and composers.
I go overboard stressing the fact that this was a unique tune composed by Ward Allen in the best tradition of old timey music. Often people here in the US will play variations of the the song and say 'Hey this was a song brought over from the old country' but that is not true. The fact is old time music is still evolving as it is a people's music, work music and dance and fun music, like real folk music.
I just started learning this tune for a classic country band. Hard to believe you guys are so punk about it. Rock and Roll!
Bobladavies 2 weeks ago
I strongly believe that some the very best fiddlers in the world come from Ontario. ward allen. graham townsend ed gyurki chuck joyce. The list goes on and on.
99sco 2 weeks ago
OK I'm gonna believe YOU cause I love good fiddling
Jm01394 1 month ago
Took me all of five minutes flat to learn it, but will take decades to master it (if ever) with his kind of touch. :D
freethoughtmusic 1 month ago
@freethoughtmusic can u sendme what key this is in is it A ?? guitar chords gcgcarpen@gmail.com thanku
MrGcarpen 3 weeks ago
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@freethoughtmusic can u sendme what key this is in is it A ?? guitar chords gcgcarpen@gmail.com thanku
MrGcarpen 3 weeks ago
Yer ignorant slur of Celtic and Cape Breton music also shows a complete lack of knowledge . Both styles were.around long before Mr Allen,and you . And what the hell would yer " US Library of Congress " know about Eastern Canadian folk music history ? It's one thing to be a fan but another to purposely mislead. Like I said he is a mighty fine musician and I am sure a real gentleman but to say he " wrote" the song and that he is a 'great man" . but never met . lol . .well . .get real pardner !
The1Bushman 2 months ago
You reallly need to get yer history and facts straight .. this song, a variation of an old eastern Canadian ( Maritimes) jig/reel was being played loooong before Ward Allen came along . .and was popularized by the great Don Messer . .who I grew up watching on tv .. in the late 50's .... when it was an amazing lil box that showed black and white images . .and only had one channel ... also played in a small town country band then. It is NOT HIS SONG !!! Although he does play it very well.
The1Bushman 2 months ago
@The1Bushman That is complete bullshit you idiot. Stuff that crap down your cod liver face. Messer made a mess of the song. Why can't you get over your envy of Ontario and the great music that came out of it. I will grant Winston Scotty Fitzgerald was a unique player. You are tone deaf as well. It's a polka tune BTW. I won't waste my breath on you.
wardalien 1 month ago 2
@wardalien Your lack of class, and weak command of the English language is only matched by your total ignorance. Your "assumption " that I have any envy of anything that came . .or comes from Ontario is more proof of that. I just happen to know obviously a lot more about music history, and origins than you. But carry on with your little bit of glory on this little bitty spot here . .and . .another place you really need to research is the dif tween polka and reel sir
The1Bushman 3 weeks ago
@wardalien I played, and sang in a band for many years . .I may have my faults . .but being 'tone deaf' is not one of them .. nor is being blind to reality . . as you so very obviously are. And I as well am finished wasting breath on you . . classless .. pathetic moron :-)
The1Bushman 3 weeks ago
@The1Bushman.. Go back to the bush man....you forgot to bring your brain with you.
groseliers 3 weeks ago
@groseliers And you forgot to bring what little class you were born with along as well. The opinion of people like you stay with me about as long as water stays on a ducks back you pitiful little wanna be. My heart goes out to the people that have to endure your presence in the real world . . they are saints for sure :-)
The1Bushman 3 weeks ago
This song always bring tears to my eyes. My father who has learned violin by himself played this song beautifully. He passed away in 96 at 75.
macao2009 8 months ago
A great tune. It got a lot of airplay years ago on WWVA Wheeling by DJ Lee Moore the coffee drinking nighthawk. I love it.
BirdogL19 9 months ago
Such a great Canadian classic. Nobody plays it like Ward Allen. It was a sad day in music when he passed away. Many have tried to copy, but none have mastered.
727ed4390 10 months ago
Great respect for your research. I have recently seen this song described as a "French Canadian" piece, also not true. Ward Allen wrote this piece. He was born near London, Ontario though died in Hull, Québec. He won the 1953 Canadian Open Fiddle Championship in Shelburne, Ont. My grandfather played this tune accompanied by my mother on piano. Another classic of Ward's was "Back Up and Push". April Verch has an excellent youtube video explaining the different Canadian fiddling styles.
cleoh08 11 months ago
@cleoh08 His research is wrong . .and so are yer comments about Ward Allen "writing it" . .it was being played by old time "Cape Breton" fiddlers . .long before that, You idiots all think Canadian folk music history began in the 1950's ??? This has been a friggin country . .since 1867 .. and there was people here long before that . .and guess what ?? THEY had fiddles back then too !!!
The1Bushman 2 months ago
Cool. Where do you live? Can you scan a copy and send it me? BTW I am back in tthe Ottawa Valley now. Gidday eh.
wardalien 11 months ago
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DaftMusicFangirl 11 months ago
Very good.
727ed4390 1 year ago
Great - send me the link. i would like to hear it. thx for visiting. I want to start an International Maple Sugar day celebrating the sweetness of life and good fiddling. Any ideas are helpful :)
wardalien 1 year ago
I learned this song 2 years ago I might post it on youtube. I'm 18 and my grandfather was a fiddler died when i was 7 so i dont remember him playing. But I'm learning the fiddle in his honor.
AlesandroMoon 1 year ago
Ward Allen Was Indeed A Great Fiddle Player And Another Great Fiddle Player Is My Father In Law "Clarence Edward Bush" When He Plays "Maple Sugar" It Is In The Same Style As Ward Allen And He Just Turned 95 January 20th 2011
Delore1946 1 year ago
Jesus boys I'm crying my eyes out!! Back in the early 60's my Dad came home with a second hand record player and one record and it was Maple Sugar with Back up and Push on he flipside. He never had a lot to be happy about in his life but he was happy that day, I will always remember the look on his face. I haven't heard this tune for 45 years.
yabbut51 1 year ago
Been a long time since I been up da line with number nine binder twine, dontcha know, but this brings back a few memories! Setting out for goldeneyes on the Ottawa with the northern lights dancing overhead, Deer hunting in Torbolton, mountain biking in Kanata lakes, where has the time gone?
Spartreeman 1 year ago
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I grew up listening to my grandmother play this awesome song & she did it justice!!!!
She never did learn to read music,she played always by ear! Amazing song...
smhebb79 1 year ago
I grew up listening to my grandmother play this awesome song & she did it justice!!!!
SHe never did learn to read music,she played always by ear! Amazing song...
smhebb79 1 year ago
Just to let you all know, their great music lives on in the Pembroke area, The biggest fiddleing contest and guitar picken town...
scarletrunner100 1 year ago
Great fiddle tune that makes a Germans heart swing and he feels he is back in beautiful Montreal chez Liette
luneda2 1 year ago
I lived in Vermont for 7 years, and loved this song, as well as many others popular there. This takes me back, and with pleasure.
Thanks
MMISSOURICLEM 1 year ago
You know, it's interesting what you say about this not being a tune "from the old country." I remember my great-grandmother talking in her thick accent about the old country, and assuming that she must have been from Ireland, or something. I later found out that she was actually from across the river in Windsor, ON. For some of us, this is the music our families brought over from the "old country."
notthebrightestbulb 1 year ago
Hearing Ward Allen play his own fiddle tune is just delightful. It's gotta be one of the happiest sounding tunes I've ever heard. Who could ever frown while listening to Maple Sugar? lol
donpdn 1 year ago
I bought my ex a fiddle and made him learn this tune, I didn't care what else he learned as long as this was the first tune he learned on the fiddle
dilltoe 1 year ago
i want to say how much i apreciate the playing of people like ward allen graham townsend and edgyurki i think most of todays players have to much classical influence in there music and therin lose the snap that the oldtimers had.
99sco 1 year ago
great song, i liked this growing up my grandpa used to play in for me, my dad did to, both great fiddlers, great vid and great music!
riverunner17 1 year ago
Thank you so much for posting this. I am a 60 year old from Winnipeg and I have heard many fine fiddle players from Winnipeg play this great tune, but I must say that your version is probably the best I have ever heard. You are a true craftsman and a great musician.
shackster49 1 year ago
@shackster49 actually it is not the film maker playing the song supoosed to be ward allen
riverunner17 1 year ago
Thanks for postin this. I've just recently discovered this great tune and am learning it on the fiddle. Nothing better than playing along with Ward Allen, the master, himself. Merci beaucoup. Bill
olmmbill 1 year ago
the ottawa valley seemed to produce prob the finest crop of fiddlers of anywere must have been something in the maple sugar.
99sco 1 year ago
My dad Slim Clark named me Wilf Carter Clark after you know who ...W.C.
MistyMountaineers 1 year ago
thanks for this song my son is just learning it and uses this for listening how it "should" sound.
One proud Mother:)
nutpop3 1 year ago
I just relised that I danced to this in the openig ceremonies ! Canada has some of THE BEST fiddling music !
iza31011 2 years ago
They did a cover of this at the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics!
atomicbolt 2 years ago
Not only fine performance by the one who wrote this legendary song, but the best back up playing you can find too.
wqpeb 2 years ago
My Dad (who lived near there in the late '30's and most of the '40's) told me this tune was composed by Ward at a kitchen party at a house (now gone) west of Staffa Ont. "First house on the Hibbert side of the townline on the Staffa road" is what he said.
lotsofcases 2 years ago
That house must have had fine water and air in it!
Not to mention drinks besides plain water.....
wqpeb 2 years ago
this song is the exact song we marched my grandpa in tht box. very very good song. RIP Elmer Leo Roy your legacy lives on in all of us.
randomdustyshelf 2 years ago
My Goodness. Years when I hear this. BEAUTIFUL! I was listening to the 45 rpm on my jukebox of the late Great Ward Allen back to the sugar camp. He was the best. Thank sooooooooooooo much for posting this. God love ya.
MrSuperfriends 2 years ago
Wow, thanks for posting! This is my very favourite fiddle tune. I heard it many times at kitchen parties while growing up back in Montreal and Gaspe area. It's the best!
kitsilanogal 2 years ago
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Automouse2 2 years ago
Hi, Thanks for this wondreful video! We lived in Vermont 7 years, and tapped a few trees behind our house. We loved the sugaring, and the fiddling there, this tune especially.
M. MISSOUIRI CLEM
MMISSOURICLEM 2 years ago
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personally find this version a bit too smooth and straight.
if he put in more marcato on part A, it would sound much more alive. also, he needs to tune all his strings a quarter of a tone sharper.
marmagot 2 years ago
STFU!!! WARD ALLEN IS MY HERO!!!
gadimus 2 years ago 2
i remember going out to my grammies camp when "the boys" were tapping the trees, and my little cousin and i would run around and drink the maple sap from the pails that hung from the trees. my grammie even painted a pitcure of us doing such. memories of the good ole days :)
318artillery 3 years ago
i could play this songg! soo awesome i have my talent from my late grandpa! =]
Guitarsinger27 3 years ago
I love chording to this song. :-) It's so much fun, especially when you have a good fiddler playing it.
sunshinejoys 3 years ago
there is also a version of this tune sung in english its beautiful
vincenz55 3 years ago
As for me, I live just south of Ottawa so I know a little bit about the region north of the river.
Massey207 3 years ago
I think the National Anthem of the Pontiac should be County of Pontiac by Ronnie Trudeau. It sure seems to be the unofficial anthem.
charlievilleCom 3 years ago
rockin video bro t h x
buckbuck666 3 years ago
I grew up in rural manitoba and this song has always stuck with me. I remember my grandpa trying to learn the fiddle with this song at 70. He passed on but I will always associate this song with him.:)
blastedwpg 3 years ago
I haven't heard Ward in a while. They just had a groove that is really remarkable!!!
theoldlefthander 3 years ago
I am learning to play the fiddle and I can only deam of doing it this well. Canadians are great.
pxtcarola 3 years ago 5
That is my all time favorite rendering and recording of the tune. I could listen to it for hours.
hucktunes 3 years ago 7
I'm from The Ottawa Valley and I heard Ward Allen play Maple Sugar so many times one Sunday afternoon at the Lakeside Hotel in Portage du Fort You could smell the Maple Sugar, Everyone who dropped in for a drink requested Maple Sugar and that day there were many who had a thirst for Ward's Fiddle music and a cold beer God Bless You Ward You were "The Greatest"
Delore1946 4 years ago 12
I would like to hear more of your valley tales. I sure like a beer at the Lakeside Hotel right now. Last time I was there it was loud rock and roll but those were different days. Portage was the biggest town in Pontiac county for awhile hey
wardalien 4 years ago
Back in the good old days we spemt many a night on the Quebec side drinking and dancing at the Forest Inn, The Maple Leaf and many other hotels to numerous to mention.
Also did you ever attend the Dance Halls throughtout the Valley and March 17th at "The Douglas Hotel" I could tell you about many fun times all of Us had in the back seat outside the hotels and dance halls. Get me started and I could go on for hours LOL
Delore1946 3 years ago
@Delore1946 I'm not from the Ottawa Valley but I grew up on a sheep ranch in western North Dakota along the Sasketchewan boarder. The music was different but I can identify with your story --- I can tell that the people were the about the same. Take comfort, at least you seem to been able to save some of your cultural heritage up there. Can't really say the same applies anymore south of the boarder. I like playing Maple Sugar on the mandolin and I think I'll post it in a few days (<:
Mandolin1944 1 year ago
@Delore1946
aprilwinesue 1 year ago
Hey I am up in the valley occasionlly myself. Shawville, Pontiac County. That is the Ottawa Valley or heaven on earth. I been all over Canada and you can take your Fraser river vallye and stuff it. The mighty Ottawa is King and Ward Allen played often in Gavan's hotel in Quio. NOw I like his daughter but Gail tried to cash in on it but Ward was a sweet soul.
wardalien 4 years ago
Hey let's keep the dialogue happening. Isn't it great that we even care enough to listen to Ward Allen or other fiddlers?
wardalien 4 years ago
You yourself are a hero for being selfless enough to create and post your tribute. My dad was born on Calumet Island in 1905 and by the grace of God I still have a half-dozen Ottawa Valley fiddle tunes predating WWI in my mind that he used to play. I remember visiting Pembroke as a kid in the early 60's and realizing the fierce pride everyone felt in Ward Allen and Maple Sugar. I still feel that today! I regret any offence having been taken, because certainly, none was intended. God bless!
schreiber48 4 years ago 4
my grandmother was one of 11 kids born at Dunraven on Calumet island in 1900. She married J.J. Gilchrist from Vinton. P.Q. in 1925 and had five children by 1934 the middle of the depression. His name was known as Shanty Jack Gilchristand he was a walking boss for the GILISS LUMBER company at 27yrs of age in 1907 responsible for over three hundred men.
Why I'm telling you this I'm not completely sure but I'm from the valley myself.
mjgilch 3 years ago 2
Would that be Donny Gilchrist the dancer.Now there is another valley legend. Calumet island is great. Is Dunraven near the old mine on the south side looking over at Byrson? tell us more. thx
wardalien 3 years ago
I had posted this to put down the US absorption of his tune as peopleat CliffTop WVirgina seem to think it is there tune but I see there are fogs in my own country as well. shame! Ward Allen is not the only forgotten element that truly makes us Canadian. Try Reg Hill, Mac Beattie and the whold Ottawa Valley music and I don't mean a CBC crap or Canadian Music Hall of Fame (or better Shame)
My license plate says "In science we Trust"
wardalien 4 years ago
I certainly have nothing against Winston Scotty Fitzgerald but the modern batch of idiots who play celtic crap might as well jump into the North Atlantic and jig squid. You know all that Celtic crap is jazz, it is current knowledge that the 'colonies' preserve the best of the motherland and so we Canadians have really THE old tyme music. americans, love them, distort everything due their original rebellion or revel in a post revolutionary "Contradance' ethanasia.
wardalien 4 years ago
I dont know about you but im tired of these pseudointellectual bible thumpers telling
you what to say. Let them read their canadian musicology crap, ill bet theres no mention of ward there. But I admit I love to hear them whine.
charlievilleCom 4 years ago
The point I tried to make (without success with you, sir)is that as Winston Churchill said: "No man ever enhanced his own (or anyone else's) dignity by standing on it". Ward Allen is a Canadian icon of the first order. So too are Winston Fitzgerald, Reg Beauvette, Andy Desjarlais, Buddy McMaster, Calvin Vollrath, Eddie Poirier - the list is wonderfully endless. None of the above-mentioned fiddlers are in need of praise at anyone else's expense. They stand perfectly well on their own merit.
schreiber48 4 years ago
It's a pity that this tribute to Ward Allen had to be sullied by the gratuitous denigration of other peoples' fiddling styles. "Nouveau fiddling of today aka Celtic or Cape Brettonish?" You, my dear sir, are in desperate need of some study of Canadian folk musicology. That particular "nouveau" music is older by at least two centuries than Ward's genre. As the old American country tune says: "When ya start slingin' mud, you're losin' ground!" God bless!
schreiber48 4 years ago 4
The best version on the planet. I am striving to get it all.I am verey happy to see this man get his due credits. I grew up in NS with the tunes of the likes of Ward Allen,Don Messer and Ned Landry etc. these were unique players and composers.
Many thanks for this.
Dave
bigkaise 4 years ago 2
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peakfiddler 4 years ago 2
I go overboard stressing the fact that this was a unique tune composed by Ward Allen in the best tradition of old timey music. Often people here in the US will play variations of the the song and say 'Hey this was a song brought over from the old country' but that is not true. The fact is old time music is still evolving as it is a people's music, work music and dance and fun music, like real folk music.
wardalien 4 years ago
real talent always comes thru u should post y o u r version _)=+
buckbuck666 4 years ago
Luv this piece. Took me all one winter to learn to play it and I certainly can't do it like Ward Allen can.
diggersarge 4 years ago
love this mans playing
gary0074755 4 years ago
This was a awsom vidieo and love that mans music.Takes me back to the good ole days.Thank u so much Gary.
kathy10258 4 years ago 2