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Ancestry Daily News
2/28/2003 - Archive
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Honoring Our Ancestors: Musical Roots |
Honoring Our Ancestors: Musical Roots
I admit that I began my "research" for this article with a little
trepidation. I'm a fan of virtually any means of honoring our ancestors and
I love music, so when I learned of two CDs created as musical roots tributes,
I knew I had to have them. But I wasn't sure that I'd actually like them. What
if good intentions resulted in mediocre music?
I started by inspecting the jewel case inserts and noted two similarities between
Steve Lanza's Ancestral Songs and Angus Macleod's The Silent Ones.
Both were folk music of a sort and both focused mainly on families that had
settled in Canada. I was to quickly discover, however, that this is where the
parallels ended.
Ancestral Songs
First, I listened to Steve Lanza's Ancestral Songs. Singer-songwriter Lanza
comes from a musical family, so perhaps it's no surprise that "poring over
old photographs in family albums, reading the meticulous diary kept by his grandfather,
and making pilgrimages to Newfoundland where his grandmother was born in 1899"
inspired this collection of nine tunes. What did surprise me, though, was how
taken I was with this music.
He had me from the first song, "Terra Nova," the story of Adam Hudson,
founder of Adam's Cove, Newfoundland, the fishing village from which Lanza's
grandmother hailed. Forget that I have no Newfoundland roots and no sailing
tradition in my family. Before the song was half over, I found myself joining
in the refrain, "Terra No-o-va, beckons thee!"
His song about his "grandfather's grandfather," Norman Jesse Franks,
caught me off-guard with its, well, frankness. This colorful Nova Scotian was
typical of characters many of us have hanging somewhere in our family trees.
This traveling music teacher left more than a musical legacy. He had nine children
by three different women, one of whom was Lanza's great-grandmother. Lanza tells
the tale honestly, but sweetly.
Fisherfolk is a "celebration of family traditions preserved and passed
on from one generation to the next." Although the song obviously focuses
on fishing, Lanza charmed me by embedding a second tradition into the song when
he had his then-five-year-old son, Michael, join in on the last chorus. Perhaps
they are no longer fisherfolk, but Michael's winsome contribution makes it clear
that the family's musical heritage will live on.
And lest you should be thinking to yourself, "I don't recall hearing about
Italians settling Newfoundland," Lanza includes a tribute to his Italian
grandparents in Sicily. Appropriately centered on the festival of I Morti—
an event that honors ancestors—the song tells of a young fellow's wistfulness
at the prospect of leaving his beloved homeland.
I was enchanted by the whole CD and can truthfully say I would gladly listen
to it over and over even if it had nothing to do with family history. My only
regret is that Lanza doesn't share my Irish-Rusyn roots, so I could anticipate
a collection of songs of my own heritage!
The Silent Ones: A Legacy of Highland Clearances
Angus Macleod's is mellower and more contemplative than Ancestral Songs,
but equally captivating. Although this singer-songwriter has his own distinctive
style, his music struck me as vaguely Enya-esque, but with more bite and verve,
and I suspect his sound will resonate with anyone with a drop of Gaelic blood.
The Silent Ones tells the story of 109 families that were evicted from
the isle of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides and transported overseas in 1851.
Many of them resettled in Huron Township, Bruce County, Ontario, Canada. In
Honoring Our Ancestors, Macleod (as interviewed by Joan Griffis) tells
of the moment that sparked his decision to create this tribute.
"The impetus to tell the story of the Lewis Settlers struck me while I
was standing on a lonely windswept stretch of land at the edge of Europe almost
four years ago. I had come to Lewis with my aging father to find the village
of our ancestors. The trip was very emotional. My father was 82 at the time
and not in the best of health. I think he wanted to see where his family came
from before he passed on. It was a cold and rainy November morning and I found
myself surveying the ocean and a tiny collection of ruins which looked more
like randomly placed rock piles than former dwellings. With the village in sight
and tears dripping down my cheeks from the emotion of the moment, and from the
gale force winds pounding off the Atlantic, the motivation to pursue my lifelong
dream came like a thunderclap. Returning to Canada, I picked up stakes and moved
to Huron Township.
The Silent Ones is especially close to my heart as I am a direct descendant
of these Gaelic pioneers. My CD was recorded at my own recording facility, located
on a plot of land first settled by my great-grandfather and namesake, Angus
Macleod. Composing and recording within the picturesque confines of Huron Township,
the exact location of most of the events described in The Silent Ones,
was a constant source of inspiration for me."
With a mixture of instrumentals as well as Gaelic and English vocals, both spoken
and sung, this music evokes the suffering and hopes of the dispossessed. Together,
the songs tell the tale, familiar to millions with roots in Scotland and Ireland,
of famine, eviction, departure, crossing, and resettling in a harsh, new land.
Among my favorites is "An Cuar Siar" (The Western Ocean), a moving
lament to those who lost their lives during passage. In "Catriona Nic Choinnich,"
Macleod pays homage to his great-grandmother, an avid promoter of the Gaelic
language, who taught all of her children to sing and speak in the language of
their forefathers. The CD ends on a hopeful note with "It Lasts Forever,"
a song about comfort taken from a vision of his grandfather in a dream at a
time when Macleod was mourning the loss of Gaelic culture. At once soothing,
haunting and mystical, The Silent Ones is a musical testimonial to the
fortitude of one man's ancestors, an almost universal theme that will strike
a chord with many.
Music to My Ears
Yes, I was predisposed to like these CDs, but I was delighted to discover that
I genuinely enjoyed them simply for the music and not just for the meaning.
If you would like to learn more about Ancestral Songs or listen to a
few songs, visit: www.ancestralsongs.com
To do the same for The Silent Ones, go to: www.torquil.net
And if you know of any other such tributes—actual or in the works—please
let this fan know so I can add to my collection!
Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, author of Honoring Our Ancestors (HOA)
and In Search of Our Ancestors, can be reached here.
More of Angus Macleod's story can be found beginning on page 182 of Honoring
Our Ancestors and information about her HOA grants can be found here
Megan's Upcoming Events
Elizabeth City, NC—Rotary Club
March 28, 2003—"Korean Repatriation Project"
Williamsburg, VA—Colonial Williamsburg Welcome Center
April 19, 2003—book signing, 3:00-5:00
Ohio Genealogical Society 2003 Conference
Ohio: 200 Years of Heritage
25-26 April 2003, Columbus, OH
25—Honoring Our Ancestors 11:30 (luncheon)
26—"Jump-Starting Your Eastern European Research" 2:30-3:30
National Genealogical Society 2003 Conference,
May 28-31, 2003, Pittsburgh, PA
28th at 3:30-4:30—"Maximizing your Results from the Ellis Island
Database"
29th at 8:00-9:00—"Jump-Starting Your Eastern European Research"
Lake Erie Chapter of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society—half-day event
In Search of Our Ancestors
June 1, 2003, Erie, PA
3-part workshop including:
—"Jump-Starting Your Eastern Europe Research,"
—"Maximizing your Results from the Ellis Island Database,"
—Honoring Our Ancestors.
For details visit Chapters/Lake Erie Chapter
at the National
Society's website
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