This fall's Celtic Colours International Festival lineup, released on Friday, starts and finishes with forceful female performances.
"I'm really proud of the fact that we have a strong female contingent that are representing in the festival, both local and abroad," said Dawn Beaton, the festival's artistic director.
The festival kicks off with the opening show in Port Hawkesbury with Natalie MacMaster, who Beaton said has been "such an ambassador for Cape Breton." The closing show brings Kate Rusby from England, "who I promise you will melt your heart with her vocals and her songwriting," Beaton said.
"It didn't come out planned that way, but it's a nice result to have a festival bookended with powerful female voices."
The theme this year is "connected," said Beaton.
"The vision I had for this year was to remind folks that have Scottish ancestry here just how important those links back to the old country are," she said.
Those links reflect the fact that the Celtic Colours festival was born 22 years ago out of the Celtic Connections festival in Scotland, and the fact that many place names in Nova Scotia are derived from the old country.
For example, said Beaton, she made a point of trying to line up artists from Inverness, Scotland, to play at shows in Inverness, Cape Breton.
Festival making Celtic connections
But the connections go beyond the obvious, she said.
"Albeit we say Celtic Colours and we have a mission statement that works to promote and certainly market our Cape Breton culture to the world, we have a responsibility to celebrate all of the cultures that exist here on Cape Breton island," Beaton said.
That includes Mi'kmaq and Acadian musical traditions, some of which are influenced by and have influenced Cape Breton's Celtic culture, she said.
The mix of Cape Breton and off-island artists is about the same as usual. Beaton said it's not something that is measured or counted, but the festival usually includes about 75 per cent Cape Breton performers.
Off-island artists come from all over, including Canada, the United States and Europe, performing at 49 official concerts.
The festival also includes more than 300 community events across the island.
In one of this year's special projects, artists will help build two traditional Irish rowboats called a naomhog. The vessels will include elements of the Scottish currach and Mi'kmaq boats, and the artists will also write and perform tunes based on their boatbuilding experience.
They'll also row the boats from Baddeck to Iona, performing as they cross the Bras d'Or Lake and at shows on both ends.
It's going to be a really powerful experience for them.- Dawn Beaton , Celtic Colours artistic director
"It's going to be a really powerful experience for them," Beaton said. "They're going to construct the boats. They're going to get in them and row them.
"We'll have boats to accompany them for safety purposes, of course, but we have some experienced sailors in the mix. Musicians are well-rounded people. We have many skill sets and rowing and boating and sailing are just some of the many."
In addition to programming the festival, Beaton is also a fiddler and stepdancer. She has been in Celtic Colours shows while on staff in the past, and is in one show this fall with her sister Margie.
It's a challenge working on a festival and performing in it, but it's nothing new to Beaton, and it's not uncommon at other festivals.
"Performing is very much still a part of my everyday life," she said.
This year, the Celtic Colours International Festival runs from Oct. 5-13. Tickets go on sale July 10.