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Biographical Highlights Material List of Performances One Page Downloadable Bio Performance Incarnations Canadian Society for Traditional Music Feature Interview
Moira
Cameron
has been singing and performing for as long as she can remember. Legend has it that
she made her debut at the age of three by singing an ancient Scottish ballad on
stage at the Fiddler’s Green Folk Club in Toronto.
Now
living in Canada's north, Moira
is known as one of this country's finest ballad singers.
Moira grew up
immersed in ancient Celtic, English and French ballads and stories. Her
father, Stewart Cameron (a well known
Scottish born folk singer and storyteller) practiced
his repertoire around the house. Many of her first songs
were learned from him. Moira began singing semi-professionally at various events in Ontario, principally in Sudbury and Toronto. She performed with her father; a mummer’s troupe called “Mums the Word” (from Sudbury); and as a member of the duo “the Swan & the Wild Goose” at the Toronto Storytelling Festival, Mariposa Folk Festival, 1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling, Northern Lights Festival Boreal, Summer Celtic Festival, and various other events. Leaving the well populated music scene of Ontario in 1990, Moira decided to make a new life for herself in Canada's Northern capital of Yellowknife. Within a year, and with the assistance of a Northwest Territories Arts Council Grant, she released her debut album: One Evening As I Rambled. Over the years, Moira has successfully made a name for herself as a solo performer of ballads and stories. She has contributed to the enormous wealth of Northern talent with several solo and group recordings. She has organized countless performing events such as Yellowknife's annual local International Women's Day Concert, and CBC North Radio's Christmas Ceilidhs, and with her husband and fellow musician, Steve Goff, runs monthly song circles known as House Ceilidhs.
As a performer
of traditional folk material, Moira has considerable talent and
experience. Her numerous performances include
Ballads:
Moira is among a very few Canadians who's specialty is ballad singing. Her extensive repertoire of
ancient ballads come from England, Ireland and Scotland, the United
States, and Canada. Her main goal as a performer of traditional
ballads (story songs) is to “convert people into ballad singers”.
To achieve this, she often presents special non-academic workshops on
singing ballads. She collects her material from a variety of
sources including her father and other notable
balladeers from the British and North American folk revival eras.
Her favourite
sources are: Frankie Armstrong (Britain), Ewan MacColl (Britain),
Louis Killen (Britain), Pete Bellamy (Britain), Hedy West (USA),
Margaret MacArthur (USA), John Roberts and Tony Barrand (USA, formerly
Britain), Peggy Seeger (USA), Gordon Bok (USA), Anita Best (Canada),
Paddy Tutty (Canada), Ian Robb (Canada),
Ed McCurdy (Canada), among
others.
Instrumental versatility: Although Moira enjoys singing acapella, she also accompanies herself with a wide assortment of instruments including: Appalachian dulcimer, auto-harp, hurdy-gurdy, bowed psaltery, thumb-piano, hammereddulcimer, and recorders (of various sizes). Songwriting: In the last few years, Moira has written a handful of ballads drawn from stories and people of Canada's North. She also has written a few political songs, taking her inspiration from the singing of social activist songwriters like Leon Rosselson, Ian Robb, Peggy Seeger, and Ewan MacColl. For a one page copy of her bio (in PDF format) please click here. If you want a promo package mailed or emailed to you, please contact Moira via the email address listed below. Canadian Society for Traditional Music Feature Interview In 2002, David Gregory from the CSMT wrote a feature in the quarterly publication, the Bulletin. The entire interview is available online at: http://auspace.athabascau.ca:8080/dspace/bitstream/2149/1650/1/moira_cameron.pdf ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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ö Moira's Home Page ö Albums ö Photo Gallery ö ö News & Announcements ö Special Feature... ö ö Moira's father - Stewart Cameron ö ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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To contact Moira, email admin@celtarctic.comor write Moira Cameron, 4505 Schooldraw Ave, Yellowknife, NT, X1A 2K3, Canada This page has been updated June 29, 2016 |