Glengarry County, Canada
The other "Cape Breton"?
This article could go into the “Events” tab because it refers to an event coming up this summer, but mostly it belongs in the “MusicScapes of Scotland” tab because, except for current updates, it was originally published in Scottish Life magazine in 2007, and can also be found in my book, MusicScapes of Scotland. (This link tells you how to get a hold of my book, whether from your local bookshop, Amazon for print or ebook, Bookshop.org, or from my site.)
Like a scene from Brigadoon, the pipers and drummers came out of the mist onto the field, except, unlike Bridagoon, there were nearly a thousand of them. A field full of dancers performed a choreography of Highland and Cape Breton stepdance, and some 75 fiddlers of all ages took the stage to play Scottish fiddle.
Within a 20-mile radius of where we were, in Canada, there are towns named Dunvegan, Dalkeith, Dalhousie, Glengarry, and Glen Robertson. In one area you could find about a mile of mailboxes with MacLeod names, followed by an array of MacDonalds, and a clan of MacGillivrays.
This pocket of Scots can be found in Glengarry County, Ontario, just west of Montreal. It is home to about 25,000 residents, including well-known performers of Scottish music such as the Brigadoons, Hadrian’s Wall, Glengarry Bhoys, and four pipe bands. It has hosted the North American Pipe Band Championships for over 50 years. (Since 1850, Glengarry County has officially been part of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, which in 2021 had a population of 114,000.)
The Glengarry Highland Games is one of the largest Games in the world. This August, it celebrates its 76th anniversary in Maxville, Ontario. Maxville may not seem like a Scottish name, but in fact it derives from the town’s former name, Macksville, which in turn came from Mac’s Corners, known for being the place where everybody’s name started with “Mac”!
The county’s surprisingly strong Scottish culture has been passed on continuously since the late 1700s and early 1800s, when several waves of Highland immigrants swept the area. The strength of the local Scottish culture is all the more remarkable for not being isolated from other cultures. The first Scots in Glengarry were actually placed there by government officials who wanted a buffer zone between the French Catholics of Quebec and the English Protestants of Ontario. They chose Scottish, English-speaking Catholics, and succeeded in establishing a peaceful community.
Since Glengarry in Scotland was home to clan MacDonnell, it’s no surprise that the Scots who named Glengarry, Ontario were MacDonnells. They were primarily loyalists fleeing upstate New York following the American Revolution in 1786. Soon, other Scots followed directly from Scotland, such as MacLeods from Glen Elg in 1794, MacGillivrays from Lochiel, Campbells and MacNabs from Breadalbane, and others.
Glengarry County has lots of pipers. The Glengarry Pipe Band musters both a Grade 2 band and a Grade 4 band, both of which have placed well in recent years in their respective grades in the World Pipe Band Championships in Scotland. Two other pipe bands, the South Glengarry Pipes and Drums, and the Quigley Highlanders, are also active in the county.
One of the giants of the piping world, John T. MacKenzie, former Pipe Major of the Scots Guards and personal piper to the Royal Household, became the first head instructor of the Glengarry School of Piping and Drumming after moving to Canada to be a pipe major with the Royal Canadian Air Force in the 1950s. The school later was headed by world-class piper Colin MacLellan, and currently by Colin Clancy, formerly of the world champion Simon Fraser University Pipe Band.
Scottish fiddlers can be found throughout the county. The director of Scottish fiddling at the Games for about 20 years, Donaldson MacLeod, was a member of the Glengarry Strathspey and Reel Society nearly since it was founded in 1977. In 2014, Donaldson was inducted into the Glengarry Celtic Music Hall of Fame, which has awarded special recognition to county musicians since 2003. At the time I visited, I met another fiddling MacLeod, Ian, who was the fifth generation of Scots working the same dairy farm. After playing in several of the local fiddling groups, he started teaching in 1993 due to the demand for learning traditional fiddle, and within 15 years, he had about 45 students, which he handled with a little help from his older son to keep the farm going.
Ian said that when you hear a fiddler play well, “you can almost hear the people talking in Gaelic.” Gaelic was commonly spoken in the area until about two generations ago, and there are still Gaelic classes and a Gaelic choir.
One of Ian’s students was his daughter Ashley MacLeod, who became a hometown fiddling star. She toured with well-known local groups such as the Brigadoons, Hadrian’s Wall, as well as the world-champion Simon Fraser University Pipe Band from Vancouver. In 2003, she played fiddle with the Ottawa Police Services Pipe Band in New York City’s Carnegie Hall for a September 11th memorial. Ashley made two solo CDs, in addition to recording with the SFU pipe band, and was herself inducted into the county’s Celtic Music Hall of Fame in 2020.
The Brigadoons are probably the best-known export from Glengarry County. Since 1971, they have entertained at Highland Games and Scottish events around North America, performed ten years in a row at Disney World, and toured the world as musicians with the Rae MacCulloch Dancers, also of Glengarry. The Brigadoons offer popular Scottish songs and tunes, with accordion, guitar, bass, and often a fiddle. They have over 15 recordings plus a DVD with the MacCulloch Dancers.
The late Rae MacCulloch, director of the MacCulloch Dancers, often made use of live music, especially the Brigadoons, and occasionally the Glengarry Pipe Band. In 2004, she celebrated the 50th anniversary of her dance school with an event so amazing that it made the Guinness Book of World Records! She invited all her dancers, past and present, to join in a massed dance, a choreography of Highland and step dance on the field at the Glengarry Games. Over 500 dancers participated.
This dance school grew out of and reinforced the area’s love of Scottish culture. Aiming to teach the art of Scottish dance for its own sake rather than for competition, Rae MacCulloch’s winning attitude was her belief that, while competition makes winners out of a few, a good performance makes winners out of everyone. Her group enjoyed performing tours to Scotland, France, Mexico, Bulgaria, and performed for the Queen.
The Glengarry Bhoys, another popular county band, play high-energy Celtic folk rock. Featuring songs, guitars, pipes, and fiddle, they’ve made ten CDs plus a compilation since 1999, and sold nearly 100,000 copies, touring widely in North America. Despite being the “Bhoys,” they added a female fiddler/singer (a Glengarry ghirl?), and include some French Canadian songs in honor of the French heritage of Glengarry as well. The Bhoys’ original lead singer, Graham Wright, hailed originally from Scotland.
Though many of the musicians from Glengarry County are well known in Celtic music and Highland Games circles, few listeners are aware they’re from the county. Yet another of these popular bands is Hadrian’s Wall, a Celtic rock band with vocals, guitar, drums, fiddle and bouzouki. The band has made eight CDs and performed internationally.
Cape Breton musicians are well appreciated in Glengarry, and there have been exchanges of young fiddlers, as well as guest Cape Breton performers such as Natalie MacMaster, and workshop leaders. As in Cape Breton, Scottish events in Glengarry attract participants of all ages, from teens to grandparents. Yet Glengarry, only one-eighth the size of Cape Breton, has its own style, its own historical connections to Scotland, and a vital Scottish musical culture in its own right.
St. Andrew’s is one of the most celebrated holidays in the county each year. Among other events, there is a major concert at the high school, with amazing young talent on pipes, fiddle, English and Gaelic song, Highland dance, and Cape Breton (Scottish) stepdance. Some of that talent is likely to provide tomorrow’s performers and teachers in the Scottish arts.
Apart from listening to CDs or concerts by touring musicians, probably the best way to experience the culture handed down through six generations of Scottish settlers in Glengarry, Ontario, is to visit the Highland Games in Maxville in early August. Local performers — pipers, fiddlers, dancers, Celtic rockers and the popular Brigadoons — along with some 70 competing pipe bands, will show you the way to your own bit of Brigadoon.
The 76th annual Glengarry Highland Games takes place on Friday and Saturday, August 1 and 2 in Maxville, Ontario. Being a huge Games, lots is taking place, including over 70 pipe bands competing, and performing together in the Massed Bands. As I mentioned at the top, many years ago, when I was invited to teach a fiddle workshop, there were some 75 local fiddlers performing in the Massed Fiddles concert, a healthy sign of a vital tradition! This year, the fiddling events include a performance at the Friday night tattoo, a workshop, and a fiddle concert in the Arena Hall on Saturday afternoon.
