Canadian Journal for Traditional Music (1980)

Editorial Notes

Edith Fowke

In our last issue Robert Paquin presented a detailed analysis of an Acadian version of the Child ballad "Lord Randall." This time he writes on a more general subject, discussing the fact that French scholars have never developed a category similar to the English ballad. He feels that this is an interesting subject that would lead to rewarding comparative studies, particularly between French and English ballads in Canada. This is an area in which he is well versed as his doctoral dissertation at the University of London was "Child Ballads in French and English Canada: A Comparative Study." Dr. Paquin took his M.A. at the University of Montreal where he now teaches.

Deborah Meeks has been doing fieldwork in Cape Breton under the auspices of the Beaton Institute of the College of Cape Breton in Sydney. Her article on Stanley Collins was originally presented at the 1980 meeting of the Folklore Studies Association of Canada in Montreal.

Instrumental folk music is a particular interest of Neil Rosenberg who teaches in Memorial University's folklore department. He would welcome additions to his "Preliminary Biography" presented in this issue.

Jane Dunsiger, a student at Memorial, discusses the way an Asian immigrant responds to his new environment by looking at his participation in a Hindu festival and a cultural evening sponsored by the Friends of India Committee in St. John's.

Ellen Moses received her M.A. from York University for her thesis on "A Developmental Analysis of Tsimshian Song Types." Her article deals with the most popular of these types.

Michael Yates, one of the most knowledgeable British folk-song scholars, contributes a short piece calling attention to a Canadian version of a rare English broadside.

The two remaining articles devoted to instrumental music make an interesting pair. Roy Gibbons compares the styles of fiddlers on the prairies and in Quebec by looking at various versions of related tunes. Jean-Pierre Joyal, an ethnomusicology student at the University of Montreal, takes a more general subject, studying the way in which Quebec dance music has been influenced by Celtic music.

We continue to be grateful to the Ontario Arts Council for the grant that makes this magazine possible.