My Colours 0

Paul Cranford

Cape Breton

Fiddler Paul Cranford’s contributions to traditional music are widely recognized. Almost every Cape Breton fiddler uses some of the books he has published. In 2015 he was named Patron of World Fiddle Day and in 2018 he was given The Katherine McLennan Award for contributions to culture and historical preservation on Cape Breton. Now retired, Paul spent 34 years as a lighthouse keeper. The isolation allowed him time to practice, to research older music and to compose. During his months off the light, he traveled Cape Breton widely, visiting and staying in the homes of dozens of older musicians who took time to teach him. His book, The Lighthouse Collection, features over 250 of his original melodies. A publisher for more than 40 years, his collaboration with Mario Colosimo and numerous festival participants resulted in The Celtic Colours Collection, a book celebrating music made at and for the festival. Over the last 35 years, he has been assembling The Cape Breton Musical Heritage Series, books which collectively contains over 2500 melodies in 10 volumes, the most recent being Brenda Stubbert: The Third Collection.

Festival Performances

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