Cape Breton Island Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
Cape Breton University’s Centre for Cape Breton Studies has collaborated with some of the region’s best musicians to reproduce a second album of songs from the Island’s rich industrial heritage. Cape Breton Island Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest, an initiative by Dr. Richard MacKinnon, will be launched during the East Coast Music Awards week.
This is part two of a program to preserve, promote and make available the steel, mining and protest songs of the region. It tells stories about the struggles to survive strikes and hard times, the courage of workers wives, the fight by trade unionists and the oppression of international company owners.
In 2012, the Centre released the CD “Cape Breton Island Protest Songs, Volume 1” along with an accompanying web site (www.protestsongs.ca). It was also a collaboration between MacKinnon and Cape Breton musicians to record songs that were originally published in Cape Breton newspapers such as the Maritime Labour Herald, The Steelworker and the Steelworker and Miner from the 1920s through to the 1950s. MacKinnon found the words and the musicians created the arrangements and music.
The new CD includes 21 songs selected from the many collected. Some were written as early as 1910, some from the strike era of the 1920s, and others more recently composed by former steelworkers, coal miners and professional Cape Breton musicians. The accompanying web site has historical and contextual information and includes recorded bonus tracks.
The Ballad of Slim McInnis // The Ballad of Slim McInnis - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
The Ballad of Slim McInnis // The Ballad of Slim McInnis - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
Doscomocracy // Doscomocracy - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
Trampin’ Down the Highway // Trampin’ Down the Highway - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
Quaint Harbour // Quaint Harbour - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
Blackheart’s of the Company // Blackheart’s of the Company - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
Stand the Gaff // Stand the Gaff - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
Michael’s Tune // Michael’s Tune - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
Arise Ye Nova Scotia Slaves // Arise Ye Nova Scotia Slaves - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
Whatever It Takes // Whatever It Takes - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
The Wearing of the Red // The Wearing of the Red - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
Down at Sydney Steel // Sydney Steel - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
Stronger then Steel // Stronger then Steel - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
Steel Winds // Steel Winds - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
A Cape Breton Lament // A Cape Breton Lament - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
An Seann Tigh Sgoil // An Seann Tigh Sgoil - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
Friday Evening // Ian MacDougall - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
The Voice of the Worker // The Voice of the Worker - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
Daughters Awake // Daughters Awake - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
Cape Breton Miner and Besco // Cape Breton Miner and Besco - Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
Miner’s Wife // Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest
Steel Workers Lament // Songs of Steel, Coal and Protest