Annotation:Reel (194)
REEL [194]. Canadian, Reel (mixed meter). Canada, Manitoba. A Major. AEae tuning (fiddle). AABBB. This untitled reel was in the repertory of Métis fiddler Grandy Fagnan (c. 1902-1986) of Camperville, Manitoba, who recorded it for researcher Anne Lederman in the mid-1980's. In many Métis communities playing in scordatura was associated with the Devil. Although Fagnan himself did not voice such an association, researcher Anne Lederman notes that fiddle tunes in AEae and AEac# tunings were known in other Métis communities to have that association. She writes:
Laurence Flett of [the Métis community of] Ebb and Flow says his grandfather used to tell him “Don’t play those things. . . If you ever play them, he said, the devil will walk in and take the fiddle off you, and maybe you’ll never, ever play a tune again.”
