Local fiddler Shoni King is excited for the upcoming opportunity to travel to Cape Breton Island in October for a huge music festival, and did some busking in Weyburn recently to help her raise some funds for the trip.
Going into Grade 10, Shoni lives with her family at Corning, but was in Weyburn to visit her grandmother, Carole Ellingson, and took the opportunity to play at a variety of locations around Weyburn, including downtown, River Park and at some city businesses.
Shoni will be part of a group from the Stoughton-Forget area including 12 fiddlers, two guitarists and a pianist, and they will attend the Celtic Colours Music Festival on Oct. 9-16.
She has played the fiddle since she was in Grade 1, initially taught by Michelle Amy, and is currently taking lessons with Donna Turk, both teachers based in Forget and organizers of the Cape Breton trip. In addition to the regular lessons, each summer she has taken part in the Kenosee Lake Kitchen Party, a two-week fiddling camp usually held in August.
“We will be doing a whole bunch of workshops and going to some jams. We’re going out to immerse ourselves in the culture of Cape Breton music,” said Shoni.
For herself, she is hoping to learn new things, including new styles of music at the huge festival.
The group as a whole has some fundraiser events coming up that area residents can support, including a fundraising concert on Sunday, Sept. 10 at the old theatre building in Carlyle, and a dance fundraiser at the Corning Hall on Saturday, Sept. 23, both events starting at 7 p.m. The dance will feature the local fiddlers playing jigs, waltzes and reels for those who want to do square or round dances.
Asked if she has any particular favourite fiddle styles, Shoni said, “I like all of it. Cape Breton and East Coast stuff is cool.”
She was part of a large production a couple years ago as the group of fiddlers in the Stoughton-Forget area put on the Canadian Music History concert that featured many of the music genres from across Canada.
Shoni noted she is in a musical family, as her younger sister Shayda, who is eight years old, also fiddles, but is too young to be on the trip to Cape Breton, while her brother used to play fiddle and her mom plays the banjo. Many people in the Weyburn area know Shoni as a participant in the Little Spurs youth rodeo events.
