Ian Bell (musician)
Encyclopedia
Ian Bell is a folk musician, composer, and singer-songwriter who has been active in the Canadian music scene since the 1970s. With Anne Lederman, he was part of the seminal Canadian folk group Muddy York. He has been the leader of The Dawnbreakers and Professor Chalaupka's Celebrated Singing School. Ian Bell has performed at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival
and the Mariposa Folk Festival
, among others. He has contributed to the development and preservation of Canadian folk music for more than twenty-five years. He sings both old songs and his own original compositions. His music has a Celtic
flavour. He is a versatile musician who plays several instruments.
Ian Bell has always been a part-time musician. He continues to draw inspiration from his full-time work as the curator of a small-town museum, the Port Dover
Harbour Museum.
His original songs have many themes: blacksmiths, bikers, Charles Atlas, woolly mammoths, fishermen, and love. His performances include his own stories: "funny, touching, unlikely, mostly true, and always entertaining." Venues range from Roy Thomson Hall
to barns and from the Glenn Gould Studio to rural church basements and art galleries.
.) They played in venues from church basements to barn dances to festivals, in Ontario and the western provinces. In 1982 Kate Murphy left the group but Bell and Lederman continued. They became well known and played at Expo 86 in Vancouver, BC.
Ian Bell has performed at the Edmonton Folk Festival (AB) and the Mariposa Folk Festival (ON) as well as festivals in Ottawa ON, Winnipeg MB, Owen Sound ON, Lunenberg NS, Montmagny, and Yellowknife NWT.
Ian Bell was Folk Artist in Residence for 1993 at Joseph Schneider Haus Museum in Kitchener ON.
.
In July 2005 Ian Bell and Anne Lederman travelled to Estonia
to perform at the Viljandi Folk Festival. Also in 2005, he told the story of the youth and growth of Canadian artist Tom Thomson
through music. This was in conjunction with a special exhibit about Thomson. The Durham West Arts Centre describes him as a noted musicologist, historian, and performer.
In March, 2011, Muddy York and the O'Schraves played a benefit concert to raise money for the Matthews Memorial Hospital Association to hire a doctor for the hospital at in the central Algoma district, on the north shore of Lake Huron. Muddy York also appeared in Sault Ste. Marie at an Algoma Traditional Music concert with Jeff Beck of the Cowboy Junkies and the O'Schraves. They have also worked at the Algoma Traditional Music Camp as both performers and teachers.
Ian Bell appears on dozens of recordings as a sideman as well as several under his own name. He plays guitar
, button accordion
, harmonica
, mandolin
, smallpipes, and fiddle
. Bell still plays regularly for old-time square
and contra dance
s across Southern Ontario
. On these occasions, two or more musicians provide live music for the dancers.
Ian has played music with these performers:
Ian’s accompanists and band-mates have included these performers:
The CD My Pious Friends & Drunken Companions was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award—"Traditional Singer of The Year".
Contributions to the music industry: Ian’s original songs have been performed and recorded by, among others,
In 1985, Ian Bell served as the artistic director of the Marioposa Folk Festival, a multi-day folk music festivalthat has been running in Ontario since 1961.
Contributions to CBC
: As a long-time freelance broadcaster, Ian has often worked with Stuart McLean
on CBC Radio
's Vinyl Café. Ian has co-written and been music director for five Vinyl Café national concert broadcasts. For seven years Ian was a regular contributor to the weekend Fresh Air program on CBC radio. Over the years, Ian Bell appeared several times on Peter Gzowski
's Morningside
as well as these CBC programs:
Contributions to Canadian television shows: Ian has contributed to many film scores and performed period music for the TV series, The Road to Avonlea and appeared in some episodes.
Ian Bell was still delivering programs through MITS as recently as 2010.
Edmonton Folk Music Festival
The Edmonton Folk Music Festival is an annual four-day outdoor music event held the second weekend of August in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, established in 1980 by Don Whalen. The festival continues to draw many people from around the world as both spectators and performers. The current producer of...
and the Mariposa Folk Festival
Mariposa Folk Festival
The Mariposa Folk Festival was founded in 1961 in Orillia, Ontario. It was held in Orillia for three years before being banned because of disturbances by festival-goers. After being held in various places in Ontario for a few decades, it returned to Orillia in 2000. Ruth Jones, her husband Dr...
, among others. He has contributed to the development and preservation of Canadian folk music for more than twenty-five years. He sings both old songs and his own original compositions. His music has a Celtic
Celtic music
Celtic music is a term utilised by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe...
flavour. He is a versatile musician who plays several instruments.
Ian Bell has always been a part-time musician. He continues to draw inspiration from his full-time work as the curator of a small-town museum, the Port Dover
Port Dover, Ontario
Port Dover is an unincorporated community and former town located in Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada on the north shore of Lake Erie.The community was the subject of an American raid during the War of 1812, on May 14, 1814....
Harbour Museum.
Early life
Bell was born in Paris, Ontario, and some of his original songs evoke the landscape and history of southwestern Ontario.Career
Ian Bell's career includes composing and playing instrumental music, singing, songwriting, storytelling, artist in residence, director of music festivals, and working as a freelance broadcaster.His original songs have many themes: blacksmiths, bikers, Charles Atlas, woolly mammoths, fishermen, and love. His performances include his own stories: "funny, touching, unlikely, mostly true, and always entertaining." Venues range from Roy Thomson Hall
Roy Thomson Hall
Roy Thomson Hall is a concert hall located at 60 Simcoe Street in Toronto, Ontario. It is the home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Opened in 1982, its circular architectural design exhibits a sloping and curvilinear glass exterior. It was designed by Canadian...
to barns and from the Glenn Gould Studio to rural church basements and art galleries.
Performance
In 1978, Ian Bell, Kate Murphy, and Anne Lederman joined up to form Muddy York, to play the traditional songs and dance music of Canada, especially Ontario. The group's name, Muddy York, refers to an old epithet for Toronto. (See Name of TorontoName of Toronto
The name of Toronto has a rich history distinct from that of the city itself. Originally, the term "Taronto" referred to a channel of water between Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching, but in time the name passed southward, and was eventually applied to a new fort at the mouth of the Humber River...
.) They played in venues from church basements to barn dances to festivals, in Ontario and the western provinces. In 1982 Kate Murphy left the group but Bell and Lederman continued. They became well known and played at Expo 86 in Vancouver, BC.
Ian Bell has performed at the Edmonton Folk Festival (AB) and the Mariposa Folk Festival (ON) as well as festivals in Ottawa ON, Winnipeg MB, Owen Sound ON, Lunenberg NS, Montmagny, and Yellowknife NWT.
Ian Bell was Folk Artist in Residence for 1993 at Joseph Schneider Haus Museum in Kitchener ON.
Recent performance history
In 2004 Bell performed in the "Roots of American Music" Festival at the Lincoln Centre in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
In July 2005 Ian Bell and Anne Lederman travelled to Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
to perform at the Viljandi Folk Festival. Also in 2005, he told the story of the youth and growth of Canadian artist Tom Thomson
Tom Thomson
Thomas John Thomson , also known as Tom Thomson, was an influential Canadian artist of the early 20th century. He directly influenced a group of Canadian painters that would come to be known as the Group of Seven, and though he died before they formally formed, he is sometimes incorrectly credited...
through music. This was in conjunction with a special exhibit about Thomson. The Durham West Arts Centre describes him as a noted musicologist, historian, and performer.
In March, 2011, Muddy York and the O'Schraves played a benefit concert to raise money for the Matthews Memorial Hospital Association to hire a doctor for the hospital at in the central Algoma district, on the north shore of Lake Huron. Muddy York also appeared in Sault Ste. Marie at an Algoma Traditional Music concert with Jeff Beck of the Cowboy Junkies and the O'Schraves. They have also worked at the Algoma Traditional Music Camp as both performers and teachers.
Ian Bell appears on dozens of recordings as a sideman as well as several under his own name. He plays guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, button accordion
Button accordion
A button accordion is a type of accordion on which the melody-side keyboard consists of a series of buttons rather than piano-style keys. There exists a wide variation in keyboard systems, tuning, action and construction of these instruments...
, harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, smallpipes, and fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
. Bell still plays regularly for old-time square
Square dance
Square dance is a folk dance with four couples arranged in a square, with one couple on each side, beginning with Couple 1 facing away from the music and going counter-clockwise until getting to Couple 4. Couples 1 and 3 are known as the head couples, while Couples 2 and 4 are the side couples...
and contra dance
Contra dance
Contra dance refers to several partnered folk dance styles in which couples dance in two facing lines...
s across Southern Ontario
Southern Ontario
Southern Ontario is a region of the province of Ontario, Canada that lies south of the French River and Algonquin Park. Depending on the inclusion of the Parry Sound and Muskoka districts, its surface area would cover between 14 to 15% of the province. It is the southernmost region of...
. On these occasions, two or more musicians provide live music for the dancers.
Ian has played music with these performers:
- Wade HemsworthWade HemsworthAlbert Wade Hemsworth was a Canadian folk singer and songwriter. Although he was not a prolific composer, having written only about 20 songs during his entire career, several of his songs — most notably "The Wild Goose", "The Black Fly Song" and "The Log Driver's Waltz" — are among the most...
- Anne Lederman
- Dave Zdriluk
- George WadeGeorge WadeField Marshal George Wade served as a British military commander and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces.-Early career:Wade, born in Kilavally, Westmeath in Ireland, was commissioned into the Earl of Bath's Regiment in 1690 and served in Flanders in 1692, during the Nine Years War, earning a...
- Rudy ValleeRudy ValléeRudy Vallée was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer.-Early life:Born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont, the son of Charles Alphonse and Catherine Lynch Vallée...
- Geoff Somers
- Tom Leighton
- David Woodhead
- Denis Rondeau
- Chris SchillerChris SchillerChris Schiller is a lacrosse player for the Rochester Knighthawks in the National Lacrosse League. In 2006, he was named the team's Unsung Hero. Schiller also plays for the Toronto Nationals of Major League Lacrosse .Schiller works as an Endoscopic Account Specialist for Johnson & Johnson...
- John MayberryJohn MayberryJohn Claiborn Mayberry is a former Major League Baseball player who played for the Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees from 1968 to 1982.-High school and minor leagues:...
- Ian RobbIan RobbIan Robb is a well-known English-born folk singer, currently based in Ottawa, Ontario. He was a founding member of Friends of Fiddler's Green, and a columnist for Sing Out!. He is also a member of the Canadian folk trio Finest Kind....
- The Friends of Fiddler's GreenFriends of Fiddler's GreenFriends of Fiddler's Green is a Canadian folk music group based in Toronto. The original members of the group for its first recording, The Road to Mandalay, were Grit Laskin, Tam Kearney, Ian Robb, Laurence Stevenson, David Parry, and Jeff McClintock on keyboards...
- Enoch Kent
- The Allison Lupton Band,
- Patio Dave & The Lanterns
- The Bilge Rats
- The Dawnbreakers: Kate Murphy, Brian Pickell & Geoff Somers
Ian’s accompanists and band-mates have included these performers:
- Oliver SchroerOliver SchroerOliver Schroer was a Canadian fiddler, composer, and music producer.-Early life:Oliver Schroer grew up in Vandeleur, Ontario, a small crossroads near Markdale in rural Grey County. He attended Grey Highlands Secondary School in Flesherton, where he played French horn in the school band. He also...
– violin - David Travers-Smith – trumpet, producer
- Geoff Somers – fiddle, mandolin
- Anne Lederman – fiddle, piano
- Brian Pickell – guitar ,mandolin
- Tom Leighton – piano
- James GordonJames Gordon (Canadian musician)James Gordon is a Canadian singer-songwriter, known as a founding member of Tamarack. He has also released more than 20 solo albums. As a prolific songwriter, he is known for such diverse songs as "Sweaters for Penguins" and "Frobisher Bay". He wrote the weekly song for the CBC Radio program...
– singer, guitarist
The CD My Pious Friends & Drunken Companions was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award—"Traditional Singer of The Year".
Musical Contributions
Much of the early Ontario instrumental music on "Scatter the Ashes" was discovered through original research into the personal tune books of 19th-century Ontario musicians. Sources included the Allen Ash Manuscript, the John Buttrey manuscript, the James Dow manuscript, and the Ira Doan manuscript. Many of the songs were learned from period broadsides and newspapers and from field recordings.Contributions to the music industry: Ian’s original songs have been performed and recorded by, among others,
- Anne Lederman
- Ian RobbIan RobbIan Robb is a well-known English-born folk singer, currently based in Ottawa, Ontario. He was a founding member of Friends of Fiddler's Green, and a columnist for Sing Out!. He is also a member of the Canadian folk trio Finest Kind....
- Bobby Watt
- Allison Lupton
- Lee Murdock
In 1985, Ian Bell served as the artistic director of the Marioposa Folk Festival, a multi-day folk music festivalthat has been running in Ontario since 1961.
Contributions to CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
: As a long-time freelance broadcaster, Ian has often worked with Stuart McLean
Stuart McLean
Andrew Stuart McLean is a Canadian radio broadcaster, humourist and author, best known as the host of the CBC Radio programme The Vinyl Cafe. He is often described as a "story-telling comic", though he has written many serious stories...
on CBC Radio
CBC Radio
CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
's Vinyl Café. Ian has co-written and been music director for five Vinyl Café national concert broadcasts. For seven years Ian was a regular contributor to the weekend Fresh Air program on CBC radio. Over the years, Ian Bell appeared several times on Peter Gzowski
Peter Gzowski
Peter Gzowski, was a Canadian broadcaster, writer and reporter, most famous for his work on the CBC radio show Morningside. His first biographer argued that Gzowski's contribution to Canadian media must be considered in the context of efforts by a generation of Canadian nationalists to understand...
's Morningside
Morningside (radio program)
Morningside was a nationally broadcast Canadian radio program, which aired on CBC Radio from September 20, 1976 to May 30, 1997. It was broadcast from 9AM to 12 Noon, Monday to Friday...
as well as these CBC programs:
- IdeasIdeas (radio show)Ideas is a long running scholarly radio documentary show on CBC Radio One. Co-created by Phyllis Webb and William A. Young, the show premiered in 1965 under the title The Best Ideas You'll Hear Tonight...
- Gabereau (Vicki GabereauVicki GabereauVicki Frances Gabereau is a Canadian radio and television personality. Most recently she hosted an eponymously titled afternoon talk show on CTV Television Network, which wrapped up production on April 8, 2005 after 8 seasons...
) - CrossroadsCrossroadsCrossroads, or crossroad, or cross road may refer to:* Intersection , a road junction where two or more roads meet-Music:* "Cross Road Blues", a blues song by Robert Johnson, later recorded as "Crossroads" by many other musicians...
- This MorningThis Morning (radio program)This Morning was a Canadian radio program which aired from 1997 to 2002 on CBC Radio One. It was not always successful with CBC audiences, and underwent several format and hosting changes during its lifetime....
- Radio NoonRadio NoonRadio Noon is the name of CBC Radio One's regional noon-hour programs in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador...
Contributions to Canadian television shows: Ian has contributed to many film scores and performed period music for the TV series, The Road to Avonlea and appeared in some episodes.
Music Education
Toronto's "Mariposa in the Schools" program is a charity started by the Mariposa Folk Foundation in 1970. For forty years, the program has been bringing performed art into Toronto schools: instrumental music, song, storytelling, puppeteering, and drama. Ian Bell has been part of it for years and has developed several programs that share traditional music with young people. His school programs have been taught to classes ranging from Kindergarten to Gr. 8. the programs include these:- Canadian Heritage Music - "Breathe life into Canadian history"
- Sound Production Program - "How do instruments work?" and instrument building classes
- From There to Here, From Then to Now - "celebrating our past through songs, dance, music, and humour"
- Unplugged but Resonant - "light-hearted exploration of the physics of sound on many traditional instruments"
- Tamaracker Down - "Old-time Ontario Step Dancing"
Ian Bell was still delivering programs through MITS as recently as 2010.
Discography
Ian Bell's recordings include these albums:- 2009 – My Pious Friends & Drunken Companions. traditional songs and tunes with Geoff Somers, Anne Lederman, Oliver Schroer, Denis Rondeau, The Bilge Rats, Pat O’Gorman, Shane Cooke and others.
- 2007 – Shallow Water. Original Songs and tunes music inspired by Port Dover and lakeside life.
- 2000- Signor Farini & Other Adventures. Original Songs and traditional tunes, with The Dawnbreakers. Mostly original songs inspired by life in southwest Ontario. CDs available on request.
- 1996 – Free Range. Original Songs and instrumental music accompanied by the Dawnbreakers. CDs available on request.
- 1993 – Singing In A Strange Land. Shape note music from Waterloo Co., Ontario, on cassette tape
- 1992 – Brightest & Best. Early Christmas Music and shape note music, with Prof. Chalaupka’s Celebrated Singing School, on CD.
- 1991 – The Farmer Feeds Us All. Mostly traditional and historic music, on cassette tape. Out of print.
- 1990 – A Grand Musical Entertainment. Traditional and historic music, on cassette tape.
- 1984 - Scatter The Ashes - Muddy York. Innovative arrangements of old songs and fiddle tunes from the 19th-century Allen Ash (1818 – 1882) manuscript and other sources. with Anne Lederman.