Page 35 - What's In A Name - The Barry Pipes Canon

WHAT’S IN A NAME? The Barry Pipes Canon • 2005 - 2018 Circassian Circle 067-2014-April-Set&Link
A while ago, I was asked by an RSCDS Toronto teacher what I knew about the name “Circassian”. Beyond the fact, as many of us know, that Circassian Circle is a round-the- room reel that had originally surfaced in RSCDS Book 1 in the 1920s, I had to admit that I thought that Circassia was a country that had existed somewhere in the Middle East a few centuries back. To this admission, she suggested that I research the name . . . as it might be timely to do so!
Intrigued by her suggestion, I bore down on it. The first thing I remembered was a scene from the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia, which I
am sure many readers will also have seen, perhaps more than once, it having secured numerous Oscars. The scene that came to mind went as follows. Lawrence, played by Peter O’Toole, had been captured by the Turks in a WW1 scenario, and Lawrence, in Arab dress, was being interrogated by the local Turkish Bey, played by Jose Ferrer. Ferrer? Remember Toulouse-Lautrec in the movie, Moulin Rouge? The very one! The Bey had it in mind that Lawrence was a British spy, and questioned his pale
The Queen City Salute 068-2014-May-Set&Link
Participants in the April Monthly Dance will have had the enjoyment of sampling The Queen City Salute, a well-crafted 64-bar medley. It is a strathspey/reel combo that concludes with a lovely formation called the Serpentine.
But what is the provenance of this royal salute? In Canada, there are three queenly cities reaching from coast to coast with a third directionally in the middle...provincial capitals all. We have Victoria, BC, in the west, Charlottetown, PEI, in the east (Charlotte was the missus of King George II), and Regina, SK. (Latin word for ‘queen’ as most of us know), kind of in the middle. Scottish country dancing seems to thrive in all three. Is this Salute for one of them?
Maybe not, because in Hyde Park, London, there is a reach of water called the Serpentine, and a short stroll down Constitution Hill from there brings one to Buckingham Palace, home of Her Majesty. HM Queen Elizabeth II is, of course, Patron of the Royal Scottish Country Society and in her day was an accomplished
dancer. Is London the Queen City at issue?
Well, as the expression goes ... none of the above! The Queen City of this
dance happens to be Cincinnati, a mid-western US city on the banks of the Ohio River where Scottish country dancing is apparently alive and well. Let’s see now. Did I spell that correctly? One N, then two Ns and one T. That’s it! And why is Cincinnati referred to as the Queen City?
From Set&Link, newsletter of RSCDS Toronto
complexion. How did Lawrence answer that question? “Because I am a Circassian!” he exclaimed. It is over 50 years ago that I first enjoyed that movie. Yet the scene sprang immediately to mind! Go figure!
If one is or was a Circassian, then where exactly is home? And why is this information likely to be timely, as my informant had suggested? Here’s what I found. Circassia was located in what is now Russia on the north-east shore of the Black Sea due east of the Crimean Peninsula, which in itself is certainly topical as I write. But wait! There’s more! Descendants of the old Circassians consider the capital of their aged state to be a city called Sochi, where, as everyone knows, the 2014 Winter Olympics have recently ended. Now! Is that timely enough for you?
This fact still leaves us with a loose end. From whence does a Scottish-Circassian connection materialize? Well, scholars specializing in Russian history can give you reams of chapter and verse about such connections going back to the 16th century. They are far more complex to recount than time and space permit here. Simply put, Circassian Circle is not just a Scottish country dance. More precisely, it is an international folk dance known in many other parts of the world.
Indeed, there does exist a folk dance troupe in that part of Russia called Circassian Circle. It might well be based in Sochi. ◼︎
PS: The RSCDS Toronto teacher who gave me this lead? Thank you, Barbara Taylor.
It is said to originate with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem Catawba Wine (memorializing the city’s vineyards) in which he referred to Cincinnati as “... the Queen of the West, / In her garlands dressed. / On the banks of the Beautiful River.”
As it happens, I have quite a personal
familiarity with Cincinnati. It is the
international headquarters of a multi-
national marketing corporation of consumer products called Procter & Gamble (that's “er” not “or”) for which I toiled throughout my Canadian business life. Prior to retirement, I spent many happy hours there ... and some a little less so.
Way back, there was a Roman aristocrat named Cincinnatus who in his day (around the year 460 BC) was a paragon of civic virtue on whom this US city was modelled many centuries later. And the Serpentine? Guess what? Cincinnati has a tourist attraction along the Ohio River bank. It is called the Serpentine Wall.
Finally, who should be credited for this interesting medley? The dance was devised by one G. Dale Birdsall, a Montrealer originally, who I believe moved to the US and settled in Cincinnati. The Queen City Salute was published in Volume 2 of RSCDS Book 37 (Frae A’ The Airts), which I guess would be some time in the early 1990s. ◼︎
Peter O’Toole
in Lawrence of Arabia
G. Dale Birdsall
The Serpentine Wall, Yeatman’s Park, Cincinnati