Music of Alberta

Music of Canada
General topics
Portal
Genres
Specific forms
Ethnic music
Instrumental repertoires Canadian fiddle
Media and performance
Music awards
Music charts
Music festivals
Music media

Print media

Music television

Nationalistic and patriotic songs
National anthem "O Canada"
Other Anthems and nationalistic
Regional music

Alberta has a diverse music scene of pop, rock, country, jazz, folk, caribbean, classical, and blues music. Music festivals in the Summers are representing these genres. Choral music, ethnic music of many nationalities, all are found in Alberta.

The independent music scene is supported by three alternative newspapers: Vue Weekly in Edmonton, Fast Forward Weekly in Calgary, and BeatRoute Magazine.

History

Aboriginal music has been present in Alberta since the end of the last ice age, nearly 10,000 years ago in Southern Alberta, around 8,000 year ago in the North. Aboriginal instruments in this part of North American were limited to the voice and the easily made and portable drum. During the fur trade, European fur traders (mostly Orcadian Scots and French-Canadians) added a variety of their own instruments, such as the guitar and the accordion, but most importantly the fiddle. The fiddle became the basis of a distinctive style used in the Western fur trade and associated with the Métis people in particular. In his memoir Buffalo Days and Nights, respected Métis guide and interpreter Peter Erasmus writes that French Métis fiddlers from Lac Ste. Anne played for the Christmas celebrations at Fort Edmonton in 1856. This tradition persisted even after Ontarian and European immigration began to increase after 1870. A list of dances published in the Edmonton Bulletin on 3 February 1896 includes several of Métis and Scottish origin.[1]

Alberta music organizations

Music festivals

Prominent figures

The following are some musical figures associated with the Canadian province of Alberta.

References

  1. ↑ "Northern Alberta Fiddle Project". Virtual Museum of Canadian Traditional Music.


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