Dominique Dodge

My guest today is harper/singer dominique dodge.  Dominique has a deep love of the music and song traditions of Cape Breton, Ireland, and Scotland and has a passion for melody-driven dance music and responsive, rhythmic accompaniment, as well as for songs, airs, and 18th century harp music. A former Fulbright Scholar, Dominique has an MA from the University of Limerick in Irish Music Performance and a BA Honours in Scottish Music from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. She is also a dedicated learner of Scottish Gaelic.  Dominique has extensive experience in traditional arts education and maintains a busy and vibrant teaching practice. She has been performing, recording and teaching traditional music on both sides of the Atlantic She has a new CD this year all in Scottish Gaelic called Canan nan Teud, The Language of the Strings. This year also marks Dominique’s fifth year directing the Somerset Folk Harp Festival’s, Youth Harp Program.  While Dominique was living in Cape Breton she lived on a farm and during the pandemic while she can’t tour she is engaging with the land and spending more time farming and out in the wild and working with the land and singing Gaelic songs in the garden. It’s also allowed her to pick up another instrument, the concertina.  In our chat we discuss her love of traditional music, community, teaching, and sharing her knowledge to keep the tradition alive.  The selections of music in this episode are from Dominique’s newest album which is available for purchase and download on her website. Website: www.dominiquedodge.com Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKfss38PuHrxQ9pX8m1MnTA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DominiqueDodgeMusic/ Online Concert: https://www.cabotarts.org/upcoming-events (March 19th, 2021) Archival Cape Breton Sources: Gaelstream: https://stfx.cairnrepo.org/islandora/object/stfx%3Agaidheal The Beaton Institute: https://beatoninstitute.com/ An Drochaid Eadarainn: https://www.androchaid.ca/ MacEdward Leach: https://www.mun.ca/folklore/leach/Language in Lyrics: https://languageinlyrics.com/about/Somerset Folk Harp Festival: https://www.somersetharpfest.com/index.shtmlwww.somersetharpfest.com/index.shtml