Bernie thats incredible that you worked with her, she is a legend and
pioneer recordist in these parts. For those who dont know of her she used
to take her recording equipment around the province and record pretty much
anything she could. Singing, folk songs, stories, people reading letters
etc, Here is a link to a recording from 1928.
http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/creighton/exhibit.asp?ID=3D30
And just for fun some of the folk stories she captured set to film in 1975
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DYluRwXqxdNw&lr=3D1
A little bit about her from the Nova Scotia Archives,
Helen Creighton (1899-1989) is remembered as one of Canada's best-known
folklorists =97 a pioneer researcher, collector and author whose career
spanned sixty years, and whose reputation in the field is international.
The prolific results of that career =97 photographs, sound recordings,
textual records and moving images =97 are fully displayed in Dr. Creighton'=
s
personal papers, which form the largest private-sector fonds within NSARM
holdings, and which constitute one of Nova Scotia's most significant
cultural heritage resources.
I can imagine your gear Bernie. I used to use 1940's radio equipment when I
first joined the Navy in 1984. Huge valve sets that took ages to warm up
and tune.
You can still find those quiet places here, especially in Cape Breton and
down the southern part of the province, but if you ever take a boat to
Newfoundland, in places - its like stepping back in time.
I imagine there's a book in there somewhere for you Bernie!
Mark
On Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 6:13 PM, Bernie Krause <>wrot=
e:
> **
>
>
> I was actually working with NS folklorist, Helen Creighton, recording
> folksongs for both her and for The Weavers, a folk group that I was a
> member of at the time (having replaced Pete Seeger). Had an old Ampex
> 601 recorder that took up much of the car's trunk space and managed to
> get not only the miners singing on a few cuts, but also a small remote
> group representing a few surviving offspring of America's Underground
> Railroad -- the farthest north known enclave of slaves -- who were so
> remote that they still spoke the African-English-American dialect
> spoken by their slave ancestors, had no electricity or plumbing, no
> radios or any other modern conveniences. Had to walk in a couple of km
> on a dirt path from the road carrying not only the Ampex, audio tape
> and mixing tech (which weighed many kilos and was transported in a
> wooden wheel barrow requiring two of us to handle) but also the
> requisite car batteries to run the damned Ampex. Oh for the good ol'
> days when field recording was so simple. It's one of those places that
> I've been that were so quiet absent human noise, that I dream of it,
> still.
>
> Bernie
>
>
> On Jan 9, 2012, at 1:54 PM, Mark Brennan wrote:
>
> > That's a little piece of heaven Bernie, up around Mabou and
> > Inverness. Some
> > of the recordings of Northern Coast came from a few Km from Glace
> > Bay near
> > a disused mine called Donkin and the huge sand bar at Port Morien,
> > which is
> > likely the same place you were. There was a Minke whale washed up on
> > the
> > beach there that Eagles/Gulls were feeding on. The recording of the
> > miners
> > you have I expect is something very unique. When the mines closed the
> > Miners formed a choir called the 'men of the deeps', so I would say
> > you
> > likely have one of the first ever recordings of those men of the
> > deep. They
> > are still going strong today and pack concert halls. Fascinating
> > stuff!
> > Cape Breton for me is on par with Northern Scotland. A home away
> > from home!
> > thanks for sharing that Bernie.
> >
> > Mark
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Bernie Krause
> > <>wrote:
> >
> >> **
>
> >>
> >>
> >> Used to have a place (early 1960s) right on the coast a few km south
> >> of Inverness, Mark. So I know the area well. Especially remember the
> >> great fiddle music in and around the west coast of the cape. I recall
> >> that the soundscape was lovely all over Cape Breton but it was a few
> >> years before I had even considered that as a viable medium.
> >>
> >> I did manage to capture the coal miners singing as they plied their
> >> craft in the shafts that were bored under the ocean off of Glace Bay.
> >> Pretty remarkable story in itself.
> >>
> >> Bernie
> >>
> >>
> >> On Jan 9, 2012, at 11:17 AM, Mark Brennan wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hello everyone, some very interesting items on here lately. I have
> >>> been
> >>> working on a new soundscape album, From Shore To Sanctuary which
> >>> encompasses some of my favorite recordings from the last 2 years
> >>> edited
> >>> into three 22 minute long tracks. Each one is really an audio
> >>> 'journey'
> >>> through the soundscape of The Acadian Forest, Night (Sounds after
> >>> dark) and
> >>> the Northern Coastlines of Nova Scotia. You can find it here
> >>> http://wildearthvoices.bandcamp.com/album/from-shore-to-sanctuary
> >>>
> >>> All the recordings come from Nova Scotia. This is free right now to
> >>> those
> >>> of you on nature recordists for a few days. In the 'art world' I
> >>> often swap
> >>> paintings with other artists!
> >>>
> >>> Cheers all.
> >>>
> >>> Mark
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> ------------------------------------
> >>>
> >>> "While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
> >>> sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie
> >>> Krause.
> >>>
> >>> Yahoo! Groups Links
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >> Wild Sanctuary
> >> POB 536
> >> Glen Ellen, CA 95442
> >> 707-996-6677
> >> http://www.wildsanctuary.com
> >>
> >> Google Earth zooms: http://earth.wildsanctuary.com
> >> SKYPE: biophony
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > *Mark A. Brennan
> > *Canadian Landscape Painter - web <http://www.markbrennanfineart.ca/>
> > Nature Sounds - web <http://www.wildearthvoices.org/>
> > mp3 Nature Downloads - web <http://www.naturesound.ca/>
> > *Follow me on:
> > *twitter <http://twitter.com/wildearthvoices>
> > facebook<
> http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Earth-Voices-Mark-Brennan/139151306110=
233
> > >
> > soundcloud <http://soundcloud.com/wildearthvoices>
> > bandcamp<http://wildearthvoices.bandcamp.com/>
>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
> > "While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
> > sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie
> > Krause.
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> Wild Sanctuary
> POB 536
> Glen Ellen, CA 95442
> 707-996-6677
> http://www.wildsanctuary.com
>
> Google Earth zooms: http://earth.wildsanctuary.com
> SKYPE: biophony
>
>
>
--
*Mark A. Brennan
*Canadian Landscape Painter - web <http://www.markbrennanfineart.ca/>
Nature Sounds - web <http://www.wildearthvoices.org/>
mp3 Nature Downloads - web <http://www.naturesound.ca/>
*Follow me on:
*twitter <http://twitter.com/wildearthvoices>
facebook<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Earth-Voices-Mark-Brennan/13915=
1306110233>
soundcloud <http://soundcloud.com/wildearthvoices>
bandcamp<http://wildearthvoices.bandcamp.com/>
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