Annotation:Reel du Brae
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REEL DU BRAE, LA (The Brae Reel). Canadian, Reel. Canada, Prince Edward Island. A Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune was popularized on PEI by fiddler Alfred "Eddy" Arsenault (1921-2014). Arsenault was a carpenter and fisherman born in St. Chrysostome in the Evangéline (Acadian) region of Prince Edward Island. He worked as a lobster fisherman for forty years on Egmont Bay, which fittingly became the title of his first album ("Egmont Baie").
Source for notated version: Learned by Edward P. Arsenault (b. 1938, Wellington, East Prince County, PEI) from fiddler Preston MacKinnon who lived in a Prince County district called The Brae [Perlman].
Printed sources: Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 84.
Recorded sources: Atlantica Music 02 77657 50222 26, Eddy Arsenault - “Atlantic Fiddles” (1994). Great Meadow Music GMM 2002, Rodney Miller & David Surette – “New Leaf” (2000. Appears as “The Brae Reel”). House Party Productions HPP 1, Eddy Arsenault - “Piling on the Bois Sec” (1993).
Les Productions De L'Ile – ILE 1001, Eddy Arsenault - "Egmont Baie" (1981). Rounder CD 7014, Eddy Arsenault – “Fiddlers of Western Prince Edward Island” (1997). CA-010-09, Chuck & Albert (Arsenault) - "Énergie". Rounder CD 7016, The Robichaud Brothers - "The Slippery Stick" (1996).
See also listing at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recordings Index [1]