I attended the Rita MacNeil/ Men of the Deeps "A Mining the Soul" Christmas concert at the CN Centre in Prince George last evening. It was the first stop on their planned cross-country tour. They will be back in their homeland of Cape Breton in time for Christmas.
Rita MacNeil is a beautiful woman - I felt like I was sitting in her firelit living room having a cup of tea with her throughout the whole of the performance. 29 men on the stage with her and she outshone all of them! At 65 years old, her powerful voice is as strong as ever. She is truly a Canadian icon, of the kind we need more! I particularly appreciated her song about a pine-cone decorated Christmas party held in a one-room schoolhouse and leaving the party through the falling snow! It was so very cozy and evocative of a rural Canadian landscape we do not ever want to lose in this country because it is really our most precious asset.
As for the Men of the Deeps www.menofthedeeps.com, well I did not really know about them before this concert, but they have made a new fan out of me. What a presence they are on the stage! 24 of them came walking up onto the stage in line in their mining outfits, their mining lamps shining on their foreheads. Anyone with bluenoser roots I think could appreciate this group and their down to earth(literally) tunes about the tragedies, the challenges, kinship and incredible stories about going deep into the earth to mine the coal. The story about the deaths at Westray Mine and the little children the killed miners left behind brought tears to my eyes, so too did the story about tinfoil from lunchkits used to decorate the Christmas tree & pepsi cans used to make Christmas tree stars because the miners were too poor to do otherwise. The men sang very haunting music, a blending of industrial endeavour and the Maritimes' incredible & enduring musical and storytelling legacy.
I could not help but think how interesting it would be if here in northern BC an area where many people work closely with the earth in various professions (forestry, mining come immediately to mind) turned to artistic expression to let others know about their experiences. Very powerful.
I got some tea from Rita's teahouse in Cape Breton & left the concert with a perma-smile. I don't think anyone left without being really impressed.
It was great & most definitely soulful.
Thanks to Rita & the Men of the Deeps.
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A 'fellow' PG blogger! How about that! I agree that it would be interesting if northern BCers expressed their work experiences artistically. I suppose the closest to that I've heard about recently is PGer Mel McConnaghy's new book STOKER ... tales from his young days in the merchant marines. But that's not exactly northern BC, is it?
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