It was a great tale that at times pulled at the heartstrings, while at others it made you want to get up and stomp your feet along with the lively tunes.
The last performance here of Alaria’s Fiddle by the Valley Youth Fiddlers was well worth being a part of last Saturday.
The group, under the musical direction of Leslie-Jean Macmillan, is not just a large group of fiddlers scraping out some nice tunes.
It is a family of families who all have worked together to produce the telling of a lovely tale.
The music went through quite a variety styles that brought to mind the variety of backgrounds so many of us here in the beautiful land come from.
There was the traditional country-style fiddling often associate with a barn dance (they had one of those too!) but there were also styles we might put with immigrants from eastern Europe.
There were tunes reminiscent of various blues sounds.
The list could easily go on.
The story itself was well put. Narration was simple and while there were times it could easily have fallen into moments of sadness, the joy and strength of the human spirit came through — especially of those musicians who have helped us all at various times.
We can only wait with a breath held until this wonderful expression of the life of our community will demonstrate its depth and liveliness again.
