Cape Breton fiddler, Troy MacGillivray on Coldplay

[busybeeburns]

Fiddler/pianist Troy MacGillivray is known for playing old-time, traditional Celtic music. But that doesn't mean he doesn't switch on MTV or hit an HMV record shop once in awhile.

 

"For sure I do," MacGillivray said. "I usually listen to everything. I've always got lots of CDs with me when I'm traveling around. I'm really into the Dave Matthews Band right now. Jack Johnson, Coldplay - I do find that there are little things and tunes from that music that also show up in my work. It just kind of comes out of you."

 

MacGillivray will stop in Victoria as part of the Pondside Music house concert, at 426 Kilver St. in Esquimalt, this coming Monday. He will also teach a fiddle/piano workshop the following day in Victoria.

 

The Cape Breton native said it's always a blast to travel to Canada's other coast.

"It's always great to come out the West Coast. The people are so great," he said. "Especially the Island - I really like the scene out here."

 

His family heritage has a huge influence on his style of music as his descendants are well-known practitioners of the Gaelic tradition in North Eastern Nova Scotia. MacGillivray's grandfather Hugh A. MacDonald, is a member of the Nova Scotia Country Hall of Fame, an honour bestowed for his contributions to the Gaelic culture of Nova Scotia.

 

MacGillivray also has talented musicians in his immediate family, such as sister, Kendra, a two-time East Coast Music Award winning Celtic fiddler. His other sister, Sabra, is an accomplished dancer and percussionist. Needless to say, MacGillivray doesn't have to look far to find inspiration for his music.

 

"It's also the kind of thing where it's in your blood as well," he said. "So sometimes I find a phrase that my grandfather once said to me finding a way into my music."

 

He describes his music as "carefree and positive," as was the music that prevailed when Celtic tunes were mainstream, way back when.

 

"A lot of it is fairly basic music, so to say," he said. "It's scaled back, you know. It's just a fiddle and a piano or one of each. I think a lot of it goes back to the fact that these tunes were played during simpler times like 80 to 100 years ago when life wasn't so hectic."

 

He has been experimenting with some new sounds, however, such as recording tracks with a six-piece jazz band while performing fiddle songs on a piano. Since the tender age of 13 when MacGillivray was teaching - yes, teaching - piano at the renowned Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts in St. Anne's, Cape Breton, the young musician has lived and breathed the traditional sound. So what would life be like if he got into something completely different, outside of the whole musical scene?

 

"I went to university and did a bit of computer science and I also really enjoyed geography. So I think I may have gone in that direction. But that's the thing about it - you never know because I never actually went down that road. I'm pretty sure I'll always stick with what I'm doing."

 

Even if he branches out into the jazz scene with his band, MacGillivray said he will always come back to the music that's in his blood.

 

"I always feel as if I'll go back to it. I think I just do it because I love to do it. I'm the most happy and calm when I'm playing. And it seems like it's the only time when my head's not really spinning."

 

MacGillivray plays the Pondside Music house concert this coming Monday, March 20. The show starts at 7:30 p.m.