THE MICHIGAN DAf Y
Page Five
THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five
Carrignan: Fiddler to
the
Queen
By JOAN BORUS
When Jean Carrignan appear-
ed at the Ark list weekend, he
was billed as "the best non-blue-
grass fiddle in North America,"
Carrignan, a fifty - six year old
fiddler from Quebec certainly
lived up to that expectation. Ac-
companied by Giles Losier on
the piano, Carrignan treated his
listeners to a type of fiddle music
few Americans are acquainted
with.
Both Jean and the traditional
Canadian fiddle music he plays
have a colorful past. At the age
of five he started to play the vio-
lin, tagging along after his fath-
er, a well known dance fiddler.
By nine, he was playing on the
streets of Montreal for pennies.
"But I had to quit - I didn't
have any permit. I was supposed
to be in school, not on the
streets," he said of his child-
hood.
So Carrignan became a shoe-
maker instead, and by the age of
fifteen he was traveling in the
United States and had been play-
ing in a band for a year. At the
end of his twenties, he was play-
ing in the dance halls of Mon-
treal with his reputation firmly
established.'
The type of fiddle tunes Jean
pliys reflect both Scotch and
Irish descent. Some of them are
direct versions of old Irish tunes
Jean heard on old fiddling re-
cords, whereas others reflect a
special Canadian style that de-
veloped on the island of Cape
Britain.
Cape Britain fiddling is deriv-
ed from an older Scottish style of
playing and has merged these
traditions with its own distinc-
tive characteristics. According
to Giles, the best players in
North America can be found in
this part of Canada-it is a type
of fiddling style that is richer
than other styles of fiddling such
as those found in Quebec or On-
tario and that only the Acadians
in New Brunswick are compara-
ble.
Moreover, Giles added that
Canadian fiddling is totally dif-
ferent in effect than American
bluegrass, although it too is de-
rived fron Scotch-Irish fiddle
styles. Losier said that for many
years Canadians had an infer-
iority complex about their own
music and used such standard
American fiddle tunes as The Or-
ange Blossom Special to gauge
their abilities. He thinks that this
trend is finally being broken.
Some of the various musical
geared to dancers wearing clog-
type shoes or to a special way
of keeping time. It was used in
particular for wedding dances
in which the fidler had to "clog"
-up and down with his feet while
he played.
"When I was a young man,"
Carrignan told his audience, "no
fiddler could get a job at a
in a good technique. To play like
Colman and Skinner he says,
"You have to have a good tech-
nique, be just as good on both
hands and have a very good
memory." Ultimately it is the
technique that makes the differ-
ence - not the kind that pro-
duces so-called "trick" fiddling,
but the diligence, hard work, and
People! Music! Food!
PRESENTS
Tony CECERE, french horn
Frank NEZWAZKY, piano
performing
BEETHOVEN: Sonata for horn
and piano, op. 17
CHERUBlNI: 2nd Sonata
for horn
SCR'ABIN: Romance
GLIERE: Nocturne
EVERYONE INVITED
No musical knowledge necessary!
Thurs., Feb. 21, 8 p.m.
E. Quad Greene Lounge
Scrumptious CINNAMON
CRUNCH coffee cake
served afterward
ADMISSION 50c
Further info 482-5858
Come and "Open Rush"
at SDT Sorority
W E DN ESDAY, Feb. 20, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
1405 H tL L ST
FUN TA LKS EA TS
-I-
END WINTER BLAHS WITH
Spring et way
f The Most Fantastic Vocation Contest Ever!
I GRAND PRIZE: Five day, all-expense vacation in FT. LAUDER- I
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I 10 EACH SECOND PRIZES: Three days, al expenses, in FT. I
I LAUDERDALE !I
A OVER $10,000 IN PRIZES! I
To register, send stamped self addressed envelope to:
CurtisEnterprises,lInc.
~~P.O. Box 54b l7, Dept. t l6
I Atlanta, Georoia 30308 I
{ Hurry--Contest ends March 8, 1974kI
L--------------------------------------------
I&RTS
forms Carrignan and Losier play
are reels, jigs, clog waltzes and
clog dancing. The first two cate-
gories are written in 2/4 time
and also include the hornpipe.
Giles explained that there are
subtle differences between these
forms involving accent place-
ment and variations in tempo
that can only be learned through
years of playing.
The latter two categories deal
with forms of music that are
Conflicting voices in
Barks' unique poetry
By MARY LONG
Coleman Barks completely
c h a r m e d yesterday's poe-
try reading audience. There are
separate visions of whimsical
joy and depth-ridden despair
competing for attention in his
work. At all times he is delight-
ful and inventive.:
Certain pieces such as those
taken from his book The Juice
have a happy, muscular quality.
They are celebrations of the hu-
man body, generally written
within a few tight effective lines.
"There are such beautiful
names for the various parts of
the body" Barks explained laugh-
ing. "Listen - widow's peak,
shoulder blade, charley horse,
cowlick. It's as if a team of poets
had named the body."
But after the recent death of
both his parents, the poet turned
to his art in the necessity of ex-
plaining the tragedy to him-
self. These later poems deal
with depression and death. Near-
ly trance-like, they obviously
follow a long sequence of inner
emotional pain and horror.
Nowhere is Barks' combina-
tion poetic sense of joy and sor-
row more apparent than in "New
Words" which begins with a
playful attempt to resurrect old
words found in the Oxford Dic-
tionary. The poem then leaps
from this connisseur's sense of
language into raw, painful emo-
tion.
"It's an emptying of grief"
Barks says, "a kind of re-filling
back into the world with the
wonderful details of words."
A figure appears many times
in his poems. Always a counse-
lor, this vision is a powerful
man, filled with energy and the
sense of possibilities.
"Once, in my dreams, he was
yelling out into the streets"
Barks said thoughtfully. "I
couldn't hear the words, but I
knew he was yelling for me."
wedding unless he could clog
with his feet." Although this tra-
dition has died out, Carrignan
can still- perform this feat, ap-
parently just as well now as he
could then.
Jean is a perfectionist and a
stickler for exactitude, both in
his execution of a tune and his
insistence on tradition. A self-
taught fiddler who cannot read
music, Carrignan learned largely
from the records of Michael Col-
man and Scott Skinner, two of
the great Scottish fiddlers who
emigrated to NoPth America.
The basis of Jean's style lies
Questons
As announced last Wednesday,
the winner and answers to the
nostalgia quiz would be printed
today. I have been having a diffi-
cult time deciding who to give
the prize tonbecausenofthe mas-
sive tie - no one entered.
The answers are: 1. Mac; 2.
The Jeep; 3. Roughhouse; 4.
Baby Dumpling; and 5. Dale and
Dr. Zarkov.
If readers are interested in
further participation in a trivia
quiz of sorts, send both ques-
tions and answers concerning any
aspect of the arts, from the con-
ductor of the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra in 1909 to the third
verse of I gotta gal in Kalama-
zoo, to Trivia Quiz, c/o The
Muichigan Daily, 420 Maynard,
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104.
Coleman Barks
TONIGHT AT 8
Ann Arbor Civic Theatre
presents
A Pulitzer Prize Drama
WILLIAM ALFRED'S
i-IQGAtWS GOAT
ENDELSSOHN THEATRE
763-1085
ALL SEATS $2.50
FUTURE WORLDS LECTURE SERIES
and the
OFFICE OF IRELIGIOUS AFFAIRS
present
MARGARET MEAD
Wed., Feb. 20, 4 p.m.
Hill Auditorium
FREE
Ann Arbor
constant listening needed to pro-
duce beautiful music that in-
volves attention to ornaments,
phrasing, intonations, and nu-
ances in tempo.
Since 1956 Carrignan has own-
ed his own taxi and still works
as a taxi driver, only working a
few hours during the day and
playing around Montreal for a
few nights a week with Giles,
who serves not only as accom-
panist, but as an interpreter and
storyteller about Jean and the
type of music that they play.
Although Jean has traveled ex-
tensively and played for such no-
tables as Trudeau and Queen
Elizabeth, he seems to hav no
conception of the extent of his
talent nor to have drastically al-
tered his lifestyle. He still prac-
tices the fiddle for at least an
hour a day. "I enjoy it," he says.
SMORGASBORD
WEDNESDAYS 6-9 p.m.
AND
SATURDAYS 6-=9 p.m.
$3.95
1. cold vihysoisse
2. co au vin
3. potatoes anna
4. shrimp newburgh
5. boeuf burguignone
6. rice
7. sw'edish meat bals
8. vermicelli
9. breaded veal cutlet
10. fresh garden green
I. tarragon peas
12. eggplant parmesan
13. bee oriental
14. veal hearts
15. chicken giblets
16. cheese casserole
17. sliced be
18. fried chicken
19. barbecued ribs
2. fried cod fisd
.lack olives ,
22. greek olives
23. green oves
24. dill pickles
?. celery
=6. carrts
27. green onions
28. crab apples
9. red peppers
30. radshes
RI. corn salad
3. sliced encumbers
witHb sour cream
33. sliced tomatoes
with fresh dill
34. red bean salad
35S. greek bean salad
368.talian green peppers
7. greek stuffed eggplants
38. sliced beets
39. garlic satce
40. herring
41. portuguese sardines
42. anchovies
43. cod fish caviar mousse
44. cod fish red caviar
45. liver pate
46. sliced jambon
47. slIced salami
48. siced cold turkey
49. chIcken salad
50. russian fish salad
51. tuna fish salad
52. cottage cheese
53. sliced mushroom In
dill sauce
54. eggrols
55. hot mustard sauce
56. stuffed eggs bonnefemme
57. cole slaw
58. cold salmon
59. fresh tuna In soy sauce
60, butter
61. home made bread
62. sliced tongue
63. horse radish sauce
64. chicken wings Japanese
65. fried squid
66. smoked pork chops
67. potato salad
68. russian salad
69. macaroni salad
70. jellied fruit salad
71. tossed green salad
72. chef's dressing
73. french dressng
74. 1000 island dressing
75. russian dressing
76. tartar sauce
77. hot sauce
78. bacon crumbs
79. croutons
S0. parmesan cheese
81. sliced onions
82. eggplant salad
83. cocktail sausage
84. hors d'oeuvres
85. stuffed grapeleasesr
86. greek fetA cheese
87. swiss cheese
88. ceddar cheese
89. bread pudding
90. rice pudding
91. creme caramel
92. baked apples
93. house cake
94. peaches
95. mandarin oranges
96. orange sliced candies
STAGCOAH (t 6U. & C 10.15
John Ford's classic 1939 western is about the best ever made. A stagecoach containing the various
characters of the West-a gambler, dance hall girl, an outlaw, a soldier's wife, a town drunk, a
whiskey salesman, and a dishonest banker-travels through Indian territory. John Wayne's first role
as the Ringo Kid is worthy of an Academy Award.
THE THID MAN (t 8:30
Orson Welles ard Joseph Cotton star in Carol Reed's 1949 thriller about a fascinating man of evil )
and his haunting story in post-war Vienna. Contains the original "chase through the sewers" sequence.
ARCHITECTURE
Cinem EACH SHOW $1 AUD.
(COMING EVENTS: Jonathon
Gene Youngblood, March 1 2; R.
17; Georg Borgstrom, March 26;
2; John Todd, April 9)
Ward, Feb. 26;
D. Laing, March
John Lilly, April
I
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