Hopefully they can learn more Stan Rogers' songs.
Lots of Stan Rogers references going on here in Nova Scotia with those people caught smoking on the plane that was diverted to Bermuda. My stock answer for the people who say, "Oh please, no one ever died from someone smoking on a plane" is "Stan Rogers did"
Because there is a strong Celtic presense in Nova Scotia and different parts of Canada? As I_love_Tigger has said, Jamie was playing pipes in the pavilion before Off Kilter came about, so obviously there is some ties to the country. Jamie has commented on it at several shows I have been at, but as I have never lived in Canada, I can't swear to it. I_love_Tigger can you comment more on this? Marie
Nova Scotia does mean New Scotland as Jamie always says. It's actually rare to find large well-established families here that are not direct descendants from the Scots. My family was kicked out Scotland for being horse thieves, my boyfriends family was kicked out of Scotland for burning down his neighbours farm. Basically we're like the black sheep of the Scotsmen and boy do you ever have to be bad for the Scots to kick you out!
Cape Breton (the island that makes up the Northern tip of Nova Scotia) is home to large "clans" errr...families that go by the names of : MacDonald, MacLean, Mackinnon, MacInnes, MacIsaac, MacPherson, MacNeil and all of their Mc equivalents and any other MacName you can think of. The accent there is a bastardized version of a Scottish accent with some of the same slang thrown in. My aunt is a MacLean from the Cape and b'ye the whistlin' jesus she makes a mighty fine mince and tatties and her tipsy laird and shortbreads are some good too.
Gaelic is still spoken in many places. We have Gaelic schools and there are towns in Nova Scotia where the street signs are actually still in Gaelic. Some of our towns are called New Glasgow, New Edinburgh, Ben Eoin, Loch Lommond, Inverness, Scotch Village, Beinn Bhreagh. Between our Gaelic names and our Mi'kmaq names (Musquodoboit, Ecum Secum and Kejimkujik) tourists have a tough time getting directions to anywhere.
The music in bars is a traditional Scots or Irish style. Look up the Rankin Family or Ashley MacIassac as an example. There are bagpipes all over the darn place. Celebrations are Ceilidh's we have celtic kitchen parties, drink lots of scotch and someone invariably breaks out the fiddle. Every official ceremony includes bagpipes and the Nova Scotian tartan. Many men get married wearing a kilt of either the NS tartan or the tartan of their clan.
My name was almost - Seasaidh (SHAY-see). I have cousins named Siobhan (SHA-von) and Ceilidh (KAY-lee)
When we toast we don't say cheers we say, Slainte Mhath many people call Scotland the Homeland.
Hopefully that gives you an idea of why a there is a Scottish presence in the Canadian Pavilion - they would have had it in the UK but they were probably kicked out for stealing their instruments or something.
EDIT: and if you don't know all the words to Barrett's Privateers you get publically flogged and are forced to move to England.
Nova Scotian girl who worked at the pavilion to give a couple of song suggestions.
