Halifax Herald Article

I often call Cape Breton Island the most western of the Hebrides. It was a large depository of Gaelic speaking immigrants, many of them refugees from the Highland Clearances if the early 1800's. In relative isolation for over a century they maintained the language and music of their ancestors. Meanwhile changes happened in Scotland to music and dance driven by competition and military standardization. Pipe bands by their very nature had to have a precision that removed individual expression from the music. Music societies substituted music sheets for ears in learning piping and fiddling. Highland dancing replaced the older stepdance and performers competed to standards set to meet the approval of judges. However in the Brigadoon of Cape Breton the old forms survived and music and dance was never a competitive sport.
By the early 1900's there was more and easier communication and Cape Breton was regarded by "experts" in Scotland as not playing "correctly". A few decades later Cape Breton's Gaelic College was founded and the "proper" methods of learning, playing, and dancing were introduced and adopted. However the Gaelic language was largely neglected to the dismay of many who were fighting to preserve the old ways.
In more recent years a worldwide market for Celtic music found a wealth of talent in Cape Breton and people like Buddy MacMaster, Natalie MacMaster, Ashley MacIsaac, The Rankin Family and The Barra MacNeils brought the older styles into the spotlight. Few if any of those that I named ever played before a judge in any competition.
Now the Gaelic College is putting more time into preserving and teaching the language and the "old stuff" and less on the dogmatic styles needed for proficiency in competition. This has ruffled some feathers so the war begins.