GENERATING JOY THROUGH LOVE OF CELTIC MUSIC
Fiddler finds great inspiration from Nova Scotian culture
Anna Ludlow has two babies. One is Eva, her 15-month-old, and the other is her favourite fiddle, which has no name but which she’s cradled close to her for more than two decades.
“It’s like a baby to me. I take it everywhere I go,” Ludlow says.
The 34-year-old Barrhaven woman has been making great use of her fiddle ever since she received it while growing up in Antigonish, N.S.
There, Ludlow was immersed in the fiddle music of Cape Breton and beyond, performing since she was a preteen. She opened for the Beach Boys when she was 19, and for the last decade has toured Europe and North America as the principal fiddle player for DRUM!, the Juno-nominated touring production based in Halifax.
Ludlow has made one CD, the 2009 album Reel To Reel, which was nominated for an East Coast Music Award. Its followup, which will involve Halifax and Ottawa musicians, is a work in progress, she says.
Ludlow says since she moved to Ottawa three-and-a-half years ago — she came to visit her sister and stayed after meeting her future husband — she’s never been more busy gigging and teaching.
“The Ottawa community has been so supportive, it’s unbelievable,” Ludlow says.
Her next performance is a concert Friday at noon at Dominion-Chalmers United Church.
Ludlow began playing the fiddle when she was nine. “There were so many amazing players surrounding my life it was hard not to want to play the fiddle,” she says. She counts Natalie MacMaster as an inspiration, and she took lessons from Celtic fiddler Kendra MacGillivray, who is now based in P.E.I.
These days, though, it’s her young daughter, Eva, that inspires her. “She’s a huge influence to me. She has motivated me to be a professional musician ... to want to be better and do better at my craft.”
Ludlow figures her repertoire includes hundreds of fiddle songs, from not only Nova Scotia’s musical tradition but also from Scotland, Ireland and even Norway.
She’s a musician for whom rhythm matters deeply. “I really want to drive the beat, a lively beat.”
Above all, she wants to engage listeners. “I always get people up to dance,” she says. “I want people to leave my show full of joy and (asking themselves), ‘Where can I hear more Celtic music?’ ”
In addition to performing, Ludlow teaches aspiring fiddlers from her home and at Carleton University, and says she’s “almost more passionate about teaching.”
Whether she’s playing or teaching, Ludlow says she wants to share Nova Scotian culture that was “lost
for a time” but has been vividly brought back to life with fiddling, dancing and border pipes.
“I feel it in my heart and I’m happy to bring that to other people when I play,” Ludlow says.
Her frequent accompanist, pianist Tyson Chen, took a different musical route than Ludlow did.
Raised in Ottawa, Chen, 35, played piano as a hobby and studied engineering at Carleton University. In 2008, he moved to the small Cape Breton community of Mabou for a biomedical engineering job, but was bit by the local music bug.
He took a few lessons in Celtic piano accompaniment and “just jumped into the deep end” when it came to performing, he says. Engineering went by the wayside, and Chen racked up gigs at square dances, ceilidhs, cruise ships and international festivals, accompanying fiddlers, dancers and pipers.
In 2014, Chen moved back to Ottawa and returned to Carleton to study music. He’s recently added jazz accompaniment to his skill set.
Curiously, Chen didn’t begin playing with Ludlow until both were in Ottawa.
Ludlow says even if Chen didn’t grow up immersed in Celtic music, he delivers just the accompaniment she needs.
“He’s just got a lot of soul, and amazing rhythm and feel,” Ludlow says. Her rapport with Chen, she says, is special, with Chen’s musical reflexes — “You can’t teach that, it’s natural,” Ludlow says — allowing for a lot of spontaneous musical decisions.
“He’s the best connection I ever made in Ottawa — not including my husband,” she says.