The Barra MacNeils

continued

The end result is less a commercialization of traditional music than an effort to redefine what tradition is and how young people can connect to it. The Ark is noted in the folk music "industry" for bringing in a lot of Canadian music — comparable clubs don't feature nearly as much. The club is seemingly motivated not so much by the proximity of the border as by an appreciation of the ways Canadians are trying to find a place for traditional music in a modern world, more so than we Americans have ever managed.

The Barra MacNeils come to the Ark on Friday, September 12.

[Review published September 2008]