Unleash the Maritime magic and let the kitchen rock!
July 27, 2024
A FESTIVAL ANTIGONISH KITCHEN PARTY
Sponsored by Highcrest Enterprises
Toe-tapping, fun-loving local professional musicians gather on our stage to share their songs with each other – and you! A celebration of our community and the power of music.
Featuring:
Nathan Bishop MacDonald
Allan Dewar
John Pellerin
Abigail MacDonald
Malcolm MacNeil
Mary Beth Carty
Bradley Murphy
Developed by Andrea Boyd & Anat Kriger
MEET THE ARTISTS
Accordionist, guitarist, and player of pocket-sized instruments, Mary Beth Carty of Antigonish possesses a magical voice that earned her the 2024 Canadian Folk Music Award for Traditional Singer of the Year. With her latest Folk Alliance International charting album, Crossing the Causeway, Mary Beth fuses songs and instrumental tunes to create a multilingual opus that reflects the diverse yet unified roots of Eastern Nova Scotia. She has toured in France, Austria, Congo, Rwanda, all across Canada, and has performed aboard NCL and Holland America cruise lines. She is known for her entertaining live shows, ripe with sing-alongs, dance jigs, and all around good vibes! Mary Beth is excited to join the cast of the Festival Antigonish Kitchen Party for the first time for summer 2024!
Nathan Bishop MacDonald is an award-winning performer, singer-songwriter, storyteller, and multi-instrumentalist who has delighted audiences across Canada and beyond both as a solo performer and as the front man for bands such as Celtae, Finlaggan, and MacDonald & Delaney.
Nathan pens memorable songs with catchy melodies and thought-provoking lyrics and delivers them with a rich and powerful baritone voice. He has been internationally recognized for his song writing chops and also performs memorable and creative renditions of traditional and contemporary repertoire.
With his roots planted firmly in the fertile musical soil of his native Cape Breton Island, Nathan draws upon traditional Celtic and Maritime Folk sounds, and seamlessly weaves in Roots Rock, Indie, and Pop influences, distilling them into a soulful, saltwater sound that is nostalgic yet unmistakably his own.
Nathan’s original song Merchant Marine was selected as the theme song for Paul Ciufo’s CBC Radio Drama, “On Convoy”, was featured on traditional music compilation Singalongs & Shanties 2, and has been covered by several other artists.
His recent Celtic cover of Never Surrender caught the attention of Corey Hart himself who praised it publicly.
Whether singing, step dancing, or playing one of several musical instruments, this multi-talented artist puts heart and passion into every performance.
Allan Dewar’s background in the Cape Breton musical tradition is the foundation of his ability to accompany fiddlers like Jerry Holland for dances and ceilidhs and new generation fiddlers like Troy MacGillivray, Andrea Beaton and Shelly Campbell. Growing up in Halifax (Nova Scotia), Allan’s first thirteen years consisted of regular visits from Dave MacIsaac and anyone else who came to the city for a Cape Breton dance. He started using the acoustic guitar, playing for his sister on fiddle and mother on piano. Around the age of 8, he started to play along on the piano while his mother would play solos or to a tape playing on the stereo sound system. He was instructed to “do it right if you are going to do it at all“. Allan learned by ear and he attended every concert, dance and house party he could. Moving to Antigonish at age 13 was the best thing that could have pushed this interest forward. He soon became a regular every summer playing for local dances and “filling in for a set” to give the piano player a break. Allan has toured around the world with Jerry Holland, Ashley MacIsaac, Natalie MacMaster and Troy MacGillivray, absorbing all genres of music along the way.
Abigail MacDonald grew up in St.Andrews surrounded by Gaelic music and culture. Her father, a respected fiddler from a long line of musicians, instilled in her a love for music and the Gaelic language from a young age. In the summer, she enjoys performing at local ceilidhs as a of piano accompanist, Gaelic singer, and step dancer. She is currently pursuing a master’s in occupational therapy at Queen’s University.
Bradley Murphy has been a performing musician for 18 years, performing locally as well as internationally. His music contains both contemporary edge and it is also steeped in traditional folk Gaelic tradition preserved by his family in East Bay area and home island: Unama’ki – Cape Breton – Nova Scotia. He is a Gaelic singer, fiddler, and multi-instrumental musician proud to showcase the relevance, beauty and power of traditional Gaelic songs and tunes. He draws inspiration from archival recordings, his home, and from Gaelic language tradition bearers living in his community. Bradley is also a member of the 2SLGBTQ+ community and is an advocate for queer visibility, education and greater acceptance in the music industry and beyond.
With deep family roots in Cape Breton Celtic music, Malcolm MacNeil is carving out his space in the local scene, performing on guitar and fiddle. Malcolm first began playing fiddle at age 5, and at age 13, began playing guitar. Along with Cape Breton Celtic music, he can be heard in bands playing rock, pop, country, and jazz. Some of the artists Malcolm has performed with include The Barra MacNeils and Heather Rankin. Malcolm currently studies Jazz at St. Francis Xavier University.
Raised in Antigonish, a town on the north-eastern shore of Nova Scotia, his love for music and dance can be attributed to his parents and those who gave instruction. By the age of four, John Pellerin began learning his step dancing skills through the instruction of Margaret Dunn, the late Reverend Angus Alex MacDonell, Ellen MacIntyre, and Gary Fidler. By ten he was learning the violin through the instruction of Stan Chapman. His father Kenneth is a well-known fiddler in the Antigonish area that played for dances and weddings for many years. John’s love for music and stepdancing is displayed in his performances where he performs with pride and a commitment to keeping the celtic tradition alive whether in his hometown of Antigonish or Cape Breton which are all nurtured within its rich celtic musical heritage. His dancing and fiddling have brought him all over the world to places such as Scotland to the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention, Dublin Ireland where he performed in Abhann Productions “The Well” a production which was dedicated to our Gaelic and Celtic relations, shared but scattered., the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. as well appeared on television and video. He is a much sought-after performer.