Canadian Journal for Traditional Music (1991)

Editorial Notes

Edith Fowke

Now that the Canadian Folk Music Society/Société Canadienne de Musique Folkiorique has become the Canadian Society for Musical Traditions/Société Canadienne pour les traditions musicales, with the incorporation of the Canadian Organization for Ethnomusicology, our articles have taken on greater variety. In the past the Journal has tended to lean heavily on the Anglo- and Franco-Canadian traditions. From now on there will probably be a greater emphasis on other areas of our musical heritage.

In this issue we have two articles dealing with subjects of particular interest to Anglo-Canadians: one old, and one comparatively new. Patricia Williamson presents a detailed analysis of thirty-three Canadian versions of "Bonny Barbara Allen," the most popular of all the old English and Scottish popular ballads. Neil Rosenberg deals with a much more modern subject: the influence that a contemporary singer, Omar Blondahl, has had on the development and popularization of Newfoundland's folk music.

In the past we have had comparatively few articles dealing with the music of our native groups. This time we are pleased to present discussions of two varied and important subjects. Marsha Padfield describes and analyzes a dance that has great significance for the Kwakiutl Indians of our West Coast, and Anne Lederman gives an illuminating analysis of Métis fiddle music on the Canadian prairies. Hers is a particularly significant article: a summary of her extended research for her masters thesis.

The remaining articles cover new areas that we have not dealt with previously. Suzanne Myers Sawa gives us a fascinating description of the life and art of Dahlia Obadia, a Middle Eastern dancer, who has a cosmopolitan background and performs in many different settings, from Arab villages to Toronto night clubs. Claude Gallant describes a group of Toronto musicians who interpret contemporary Canadian compositions on instruments that originated in Indonesia, and has toured throughout Canada, the United States, and Asia.

We regret that we have nothing in this issue dealing with the music of French-Canada, although Claude Gallant's article is written in French. We urge our French-Canadian readers to let us have articles on their current research for our next issue.

We would like to remind contributors that we prefer to have articles submitted on discs that are IBM or Macintosh compatible, and if possible any music notations should be camera-ready.

We are grateful to the Ontario Arts Council for continuing the grant that makes it possible to publish this journal.