Nova Scotia's Premiere Celtic Colours Festival Gets Funding Boost

Described as a unique celebration of Cape Breton’s living Celtic culture, the Canadian Province of Nova Scotia has announced a commitment of $375,000 C$ over the next three years to the International Celtic Colours Festival.

Launched in 1997, Celtic Colours has grown into one of premiere Celtic Festivals in the world.  In 2016 over 20,000 Festival goers attended events at multiple venues throughout the Cape Breton region of Nova Scotia.  A region once home to tens of thousands Gaelic speakers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The nine day festival, running from the 6th of October through the 13th , is a unique celebration of Celtic Music rooted in the traditions of the Scottish Highlands and the Scots Gaelic culture of Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton.

The Celtic Colours festival is emblematic of the remarkable phenomena of Cape Breton Fiddling: “Cape Breton music is dance music.  The characteristic combination of instruments for the solo and social dance is the two person band of fiddle and piano accompaniment. The history of why Cape Breton should be such a stronghold of Celtic fiddle music is fascinating.  During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the Highland Clearances gave rise to the large number of Scottish immigrants from the Highlands and Islands.  By 1851 there were estimated to be 120,000 Scots in Cape Breton.  The Highland traditions of Scotland were maintained and nurtured and Scottish place names were transported to the new world along with the traditional music and Gaelic language. Geographically isolated for the first 150 years or so the music, language and cultural traditions flourished.” – Musical Traditions Magazine

Celtic Colours International Festival

• When: October 6 - 14, 2017
• Where: Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
• Website: www.celtic-colours.com

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