7 Cats
Anne Lederman
Falcon Productions
2000
11 tracks
Were this recording a meal it would be a smorgasbord, and a tasteful one at that. Although 7 Cats lists eleven tracks, these tracks comprise twenty-eight songs presented individually or in medley. Anne Lederman serves up each song with its own delightful flavour, and she's not afraid to slip in one or two surprise ingredients to spice up the mix. 7 Cats is a delicious selection of old-timey fiddle tunes, but Lederman's eclectic selection and electrifying performance make it far more than just that.
Shortly after the Second World War, the Canadian prairies were home to people from around the world. Growing up in small town Alberta during that time, I heard every type of fiddle music: the jig and reel, the strathspey and schottische, country fiddling and bluegrass, and so much more. There was music not just from the Scots-Irish world but from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe and everywhere that fiddle music is played. A short hop, skip, and jump away from where I grew up [and probably few years later too], Anne Lederman was in Manitoba listening to much the same mix of world musics. Perhaps that's why this release so easily carries me back to that time and place.
This is the music of barn dances and house parties and simple family gatherings. This is music from our past, yet in our present it still has the power to touch a heart and move a person to joy or sorrow. To hear it is to want to dance to its magic. We are living in the future and still we are moved by the magic of the old time fiddle.
Anne Lederman is widely respected in Canada and beyond, not just for her innovative performance but for the level of care and scholarship she has brought to her research of the music she plays, including making field recordings and carefully recreating traditional songs in her own performances. The selection of songs in this set only serves to underline how well-deserved indeed is that reputation.
Most of the songs in this set are up-tempo old-timey fiddle tunes but, as at an old time dance, the last song is a waltz. "The Home Waltz" is the sort of slow, comfortable song that gently slides you out the door and home at the end of the party. Ian Bell's lyrics are simple and evocative and could easily have been written a century ago. Reg Bouvette's tune has the same timeless feel as the National Film Board's wonderful 1985 version of Wade Hemsworth's "Log Driver's Waltz" performed by Kate and Anna McGarrigle. This is also the only song in this set where Lederman sings, her raw folk, country voice adding a certain pathos to the lyrics. Even among the fine performances on this release, "The Home Waltz" stands out as exceptional.
"That Klezmer Thing" has a visual element to it, the drag and pull of the tempo and the not always predictable mood-shifts turning it into almost seven minutes of subconscious movie. If you've seen "Fiddler on the Roof" or old movies about eastern European workers, especially stories of the lives of eastern Jews, this music will juxtapose sad visions of pogroms and persecutions against joyous weddings and other celebrations where men dancing while squatting seem never to fall over no matter how drunk they may get and women always laugh. More than simply a Klezmer medley, this song is an evocative historical panorama.
Each song in this set has a distinctive feel that sets it apart from the others. There are songs with a distinctive Scots or Irish or Canadien ambience. There are songs that seem, without words, to tell a story. There are songs that invite you to listen and others that demand you dance. Yet there is also a flow from song to song and a sense of unity that binds them together, much as the cultures from which they are drawn have joined to make and define our country. From the sounds of step-dancing that start the set off to the calming waltz that takes us home, there's an implicit assurance that in these songs we can indeed connect with our roots.
If you're interested in Canadian music, music from around the world, or just good old-time fiddle music played the way you remember (or perhaps remember hearing about from your grandparents), then I do recommend that you give a listen to Anne Lederman's 7 Cats.
If you'd like to know more about Canadian fiddler Anne Lederman and her music, visit her home page at www.AnneLederman.com. Read a review of Anne Lederman's 2002 release Fiddlesong, also on Sound Bytes.
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