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QUIZ

Going Coastal

Test your knowledge of music from the East Coast

By Sean Monkman

Atlantic Canada’s music scene has long experienced a melting pot of influences, ranging from traditional folk and sea shanties to Celtic and Acadian roots. Its distinctive strings and a stomping rhythm calling out for dancers are infectiously identifiable. Contemporary sounds surged to the fore when Halifax brushed with hot-spot status in the indie rock landscape of the ’90s. Those two streams — traditional and modern — have supplied Canada, and the world, with a spectrum of stars and a smattering of legends. The scene’s latest and greatest performers will be honoured at the East Coast Music Awards on Feb. 27.

1. Which is not a Stompin’ Tom Connors song?
	Margo’s Cargo
	Bud the Spud
	Roll On Saskatchewan
	A Real Mean Poutine
	The Moon Man Newfie

2. This native Nova Scotian (a.k.a. the Yodelling or Singing Ranger) climbed the country ranks to become a regular on the Grand Ole Opry, a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the third inductee into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
	Wilf Carter
	Hank Snow
	Tommy Hunter
	Ian Tyson
	Paul Brandt

3. This Newfoundland band tops the roster of all-time ECMA winners with 18 awards.
	Great Big Sea
	Rawlins Cross
	The Thomas Trio
	The Red Albino
	The Punters

4. What folk star — known for writing and performing the sea shanty Barrett’s Privateers, the quintessentially Canadian acapella Northwest Passage and the inspirational hymn The Mary Ellen Carter — died in a 1983 airplane accident at the age of 33?
	Stan Rogers
	Lennie Gallant
	Valdy
	Willie P. Bennett
	David Wiffen

5. In the early ’90s, Halifax’s indie rock scene was touted as “The Next Seattle” (or was that “Seattle of the East” or “Seattle of the North”?), with record label execs scouring its streets in search of another Nirvana or Pearl Jam. Which of these groups was not in that mix?
	Sloan
	jale
	The Rankin Family
	Thrush Hermit
	Eric’s Trip

6. Which fact about Anne Murray is false?
	She was the first Canadian female to attain a No. 1 pop single in the United States, with her song You Needed Me in 1978
	She was Elvis Presley’s favourite female singer
	Bally’s in Las Vegas once issued a casino chip bearing her likeness
	She and shock rocker Alice Cooper used to have the same manager
	She once had a pet hippo that she kept in her bathtub

7. At age 17, Halifax native Sarah McLachlan played her first gig as the singer for a band that shared its name with a Ray Bradbury story. What was it called?
	I Sing the Body Electric!
	The Golden Apples of the Sun
	The October Game
	A Sound of Thunder
	The Veldt

8. Buck 65 (real name Richard Terfry) is the Maritimes’ leading light in what music genre?
	Hip hop
	Fusion jazz
	Bagpipe gospel
	Deep Celtic house
	Traditional klezmer

9. What instrument has Nova Scotia’s Natalie MacMaster risen to prominence playing?
	Bagpipes
	Mandolin
	Tin flute
	Fiddle
	Banjo

10. Four of these statements about bad-boy fiddler Ashley MacIsaac are true. Find the one that’s not.
	In 1996, he was dropped from Maclean’s magazine’s annual honour roll after making saucy revelations about his personal life
	He exposed what he wears under his kilts — i.e., nothing — during a 1997 performance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien
	He has announced plans to study constitutional law, and thinks that he might run for Parliament one day
	He is friends with avant-garde composer Philip Glass
	He once invoked the ghost of Jimi Hendrix when he ended an ECMA performance by lighting his fiddle on fire