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A Christmas tradition in Peterborough

Capture d’écran 2015-12-02 à 11.15.36

By Kennedy Gordon, Peterborough Examiner Wednesday, December 2, 2015 10:59:36 EST AM

Stewart MacNeil and his siblings just spent a few days in northern British Columbia, places like Fort St. John and Fort Nelson – closer to Alaska than to Vancouver, let alone their home on Cape Breton Island.

“It’s pretty far off,” MacNeil laughs over a crackly mobile connection that manages to make it out of the mountains. “And cold – it’s beginning to feel like Christmas.”

But home is never far away, he explains – at one northern B.C. Show, the family band met a local resident who was originally from Cape Breton; he invited them out to dinner and served Maritime lobster. “And that lobster was fresh,” MacNeil says.

That’s part of what keeps the Barra MacNeils going – that sense of home that they can bring wherever they play. Especially at Christmas, when they share the warmth of their childhood on Cape Breton with audiences across the country.

This happens Thursday night at Showplace, with a 7:30 performance of their annual An East Coast Christmas show. Tickets are $50 and available at the Showplace box office, 705-742-7469 or online at showplace.org. Featuring five musical Macneil siblings – Stewart, Kyle, Lucy, Sheumas and Boyd, with Jamie Gatti on bass, the holiday celebration lets the family soar on traditional instruments, with stepdancing, storytelling and their famous harmonies, often served up a capella. Read the whole article here: http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/2015/12/01/barra-macneils-a-christmas-tradition-in-peterborough