A new spin on old melodies

Drumlin is a family band comprised of Anya, Kassia, Dal and (in front) Liam Gilbert. (Scott Munn Photo)

When Dal Gilbert and his sisters were searching for inspiration for a CD, they came upon a treasure trove: the Helen Creighton collection at the Nova Scotia Archives.

The Gilbert siblings discovered a vibrancy and a passion for rural life undiminished years after Nova Scotia’s famed folklorist captured the wobbly voices on scratchy audio reels and wax cylinders. An author and radio broadcaster, Helen Creighton started collecting folklore in 1928; her recordings include Mi’kmaq songs from Shubenacadie, Acadian songs from West Pubnico, sea shanties from Lunenburg, and ancient Celtic ballads from Cape Breton and mainland Nova Scotia. 

“There are some great melodies and wonderful stories to tell,” says Dal Gilbert, who swears his parents, from British Columbia, had no idea there was a university by the name of Dalhousie when they were naming their baby boy 19 years ago. (“They found it in a baby name book,” he says dryly, “I think it means ‘field.’”)

Dal, along with sisters Anya, 17, and Kassia, 14, and little brother Liam, 10, are the talents behind the family band Drumlin. All classically trained and blessed with beautiful voices, the Gilberts have a passion for adapting, arranging and restoring Canadian heritage songs into their own folk fusion.

The Helen Creighton collection seems tailor-made for them—“We just wanted to do something different so it was really exciting to get a hold of this new material, well, old material, I guess,” says Dal.

Although band members write and perform their own songs, Drumlin’s debut CD Mackerel Skies is comprised entirely of songs from the Helen Creighton collection. The liner notes contain details about where each song was found and who sung it. For example, I Dyed My Petticoat Red, about a fiancé who goes off to war and never returns home, was sung to Ms. Creighton by Porter Brigley of Queensland—“sat on his back steps cleaning mackerel while he sang very enthusiastically, oblivious to people passing by.” Drumlin’s version of Stormy Weather Boys leads in with a recording from the 1930s until Dal takes up the tune.

Drumlin’s music is catching ears in Nova Scotia on the festival circuit and elsewhere too. The band was recently nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award and is up for an East Coast Music Award for its video of Stormy Weather Boys.

“(Music) would be neat to pursue for a living but it’s also good to have a back-up plan,” says Dal, a first-year science student.