18 Mar 2017

In session: The East Pointers | WOMAD 2017

From RNZ Music, 1:00 pm on 18 March 2017
The East Pointers

The East Pointers Photo: Supplied

Hailing from Prince Edward Island on Canada’s east coast, The East Pointers are an acoustic trio drawing on Celtic roots. Trevor Reekie asked them about their music and their home.

“It’s a beautiful place,” says fiddle player Tim Chaisson, asked to describe Prince Edward Island. “It’s filled with music and culture. Mostly it was settled by Arcadia French, Scottish and Irish and French”.

The traditional music of those cultures can be heard – mixed, matched and modernised – in the music Chaisson makes with his banjo-playing cousin Koady Chaisson and guitarist/percussionist Jake Charron.

“It’s a mixed bag of the Celtic traditions that we grew up with. It sort of sums up Canada, I guess. There’s a lot of Celtic tradition on the east coast. The tunes are Scottish and Irish but definitely with a French influence.”

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