Obit:Alex Francis Mackay-Cape Breton Fiddle 3-3-12

Subject: RE: Obit: Alex Francis Mackay - Cape Breton Fiddle
From: gnu
Date: 05 Mar 12 - 10:11 PM

89. Gosh. RIP

Subject: RE: Obit: Alex Francis Mackay - Cape Breton Fiddle
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 05 Mar 12 - 10:08 PM

Alex Francis Obituary

Subject: RE: Obit: Alex Francis Mackay - Cape Breton Fiddle
From: GUEST,Donnie
Date: 05 Mar 12 - 05:26 PM

Alex Francis was 89 years old. He would have turned 90 in August.

Subject: RE: Obit: Alex Francis Mackay - Cape Breton Fiddle
From: meself
Date: 05 Mar 12 - 05:07 PM

Sad news indeed, although he wasn't a kid. However, he was one of the last prominent fiddlers who played in what seemed to me a really traditional Gaelic style, certainly a style distinct from those of the other players you hear nowadays (nothing against them, mind you). Interestingly, in some notes that are on-line somewhere, he is quoted as observing that his own style was a departure from what he considered the more traditional playing of the older generation(s) of fiddlers of his youth.

I haven't had a chance to hear it in many years, but his recording of "James Moray of Abercairney" on The Gaelic Tradition in Cape Breton is to my mind an absolute classic of Cape Breton fiddling. For my money, nobody came near him in the playing of slow airs. No, let me qualify that: Dan Joe MacInnis is the only one that came near him, of the fiddlers who were much recorded.

Subject: RE: Obit: Alex Francis Mackay - Cape Breton Fiddle
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 05 Mar 12 - 10:14 AM

Sorry to hear that! He was a fine gentleman, a great fiddler, and a fluent Gaelic speaker! My deepest sympathy to his family!

Subject: Obit: Alex Francis Mackay - Cape Breton Fiddle
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Mar 12 - 08:57 AM

Noted Cape Breton fiddler, Alex Francis MacKay passed away this weekend . I believe he was 82. I didn't know him, but am an aquaintance of his daughters. He was a very fine fiddler.