Fledgling fiddlers from the Sunshine Coast participated in a regional summit that united 103 instrumentalists from across Western Canada.
The 2024 West Coast Youth Fiddle Summit took place in Nanaimo from April 12 to 14. The event was hosted by the Nanaimo Fiddle Society and Fiddelium, the society’s youth ensemble.
“It’s fun because you get to play with new people,” said Gene Sato, who is part of the Coast String Fiddlers. “You make new friends and learn new tunes.” Sato refined his performance technique, learning to move his body expressively while playing.
The event included fiddle groups from Alberta, Yukon, Powell River, Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland.
Serena Eades, a Sunshine Coast music educator and assistant director of the North Shore Celtic Ensemble, led a delegation of 34 players to the Nanaimo event. Four months beforehand, Eades and other directors of participating ensembles prepared musical arrangements, which were sent to the full complement of summit participants.
“The purpose is to share music,” said Eades. “We each came home with three or four new pieces that we added to our repertoire. And we got influences from other ensembles around Western and Northern Canada. It’s a really powerful connection that everyone makes throughout just a couple of days.”
During the summit, fiddlers offered free public performances at the Nanaimo Waterfront Pioneer Plaza and other locations. In addition to educational workshops, recreation was on the agenda. Summit founder Trish Horrocks served as caller for a barn dance with live string accompaniment. Horrocks — with her husband Geoff — established the summit in 2018.
Delegates also took part in a banquet, karaoke and a culminating concert with all 103 players performing onstage at once.
“It’s nice to get together with other groups,” said Sebastian Young-Laidlaw, who plays with the Coast String Fiddlers. “Especially when you find out, ‘Oh! You know this piece? We’re from totally different places, but we know the same music.’”
“We can learn how different groups perform,” added Jinny Marshall, also of the Coast String Fiddlers. “We get inspiration from them too.”
Last year’s summit was held on Granville Island, hosted by the North Shore Celtic Ensemble; the 2025 event will take place in Banff. “It’s good to travel everywhere,” said Alina, another member of the Coast String Fiddlers.
The diversity of fiddle culture flows from the instrument’s portability. Its vast repertoire has heritage in Celtic traditions, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. “It made its way into Indigenous culture through the Métis,” explained Eades. “There are all these little stylistic pockets that all kind of mix out here [on the West Coast], and you can feel it in the way that people play.”
On Friday, April 19, the Harmony Hall Fiddlers and Friends (including members of the Coast String Fiddlers) will open for a concert at St. Bartholomew’s Church featuring the “twin fiddles” of JJ Guy and Gordon Stobbe, with Annette Fischer on accordion.
It takes such real-life experience to enrich and renew musical culture, according to Sechelt’s Joshua Paolozza, who performs with the North Shore Celtic Ensemble. “There are a lot of younger fiddlers on the Coast,” he said. “There’s a bit of a gap right now. A lot of the Sunshine Coast fiddlers have graduated but there’s lots of younger people that are coming up. And the summit was a great opportunity to share music with a ton of people.”
