It’s that time of year again. The time when Cape Breton shows off its most magnificent Fall colours and welcome visitors from near and far to the annual Celtic Colours International Festival! If you are one of the lucky ones who will be in Cape Breton for the Festival, we are thrilled that you decided to share this annual celebration with us. Whether this is your first time or a return visit, we want to make sure this is your best Celtic Colours experience yet.

A sunny day. Celtic Music. Beautiful scenery. Good food. What could be better?

Last month, I visited the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre in Judique and saw this license plate in the gift shop and knew it would be my theme for this summer.

Colaisde Na Gàidhlig / The Gaelic College  is located in St. Ann’s, Nova Scotia and was founded in 1938. For the past 75 years the Gaelic College has celebrated and taught the Gaelic language and culture.

This would be a platinum anniversary in a marriage and is also an amazing milestone for an institution to reach. The Gaelic College will be recognizing this special achievement with a week of celebration from June 30-July 6, 2013.

The East Coast Music Association (ECMA) is a regional collaboration of people in the music industry of Atlantic Canada. It is best known to the public for the series of awards handed out at the annual celebration that travels around Eastern Canada. It is interesting to note that Cape Breton has equal status with the four Atlantic Provinces as a separate region under the ECMA umbrella and the event has taken place here four times.

In my previous blog, I introduced you to Cape Breton sideman supreme, Al Bennett. Today I want to introduce you to another Cape Breton go to musician, Aaron Lewis. Al and Aaron are kind of like Cape Breton musical Ghost Busters in that regard. “Who ya gonna call?”

For 36 years he’s performed on over 100 records, toured a good part of the world and performed with a who’s who of Canadian folk musicians. He’s a musical director, teacher, guitar and fiddle player. He’s an arranger, producer and musical director. 

We are all familiar with the following statements. “We’re only as strong as the weakest link.” “There is strength in numbers.” “There is no “i” in Team.” There is a large body of opinion that we can achieve more by working together than separately. I am one who subscribes to this theory.

For 36 years he’s performed on over 100 records, toured a good part of the world and performed with a who’s who of Canadian folk musicians. He’s a musical director, teacher, guitar and fiddle player. He’s an arranger, producer and musical director.

When I worked in the festival world people would often ask what my real or full time job was. I guess this is understandable if you've never looked behind the scenes at a music festival. All most people see is a public explosion of activity for a short period of time. In fact, the cycle of fundraising, planning, promotion, production and reporting on the results of a major festival goes on year round.