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Heather Dale: Light Of The North

By Shel Desormeaux

The sun settles into Toronto’s midday haze, piercing through the wind and the dust of the summer’s near end.  In the heart of the city, down in the historic Distillery District, people mill about in the heat, strolling over the loosening cobblestones.  Over the murmurs of the growing crowd lilts a soft, ethereal voice, probing in its passion.  Clear tones ring off the walls of the old courtyard, strong and sweet and beckoning.

The voice belongs to Heather Dale, a modern Celtic musician based in Toronto, who has been celebrating the richness of Celtic history through her music for over a decade.  Most interesting and unique about her music is the fact that it’s based on Celtic mythology, specifically Arthurian legend.  Heather has harbored a love of fairy tales and fantasy since she was a child.  While enrolled at the University of Waterloo pursuing a degree in Environmental Studies, she enrolled in an elective course on Arthurian legends.  She was hooked.

“Suddenly I was reading the parts of the story we don't tell our children -- the mature themes like suicide, adultery and incest,” says Heather.  “As an adult, I also understood more about the subtle meaning in the relationships:  the husband-wife dynamic of Arthur and Guinevere, the attraction of Merlin for a younger woman, the guilt and self-recrimination Lancelot inflicted on himself.  These are all things people deal with in the modern day.” 

Heather brings a sense of freshness to these ancient lessons, infusing her music with pop-rock riffs and folksy blues.  Her treatment of the stories surrounding the life of King Arthur is thoughtful and respectful, not to mention accessible.  She was, however, aware when she embarked on her musical career that some people might be intimidated by the history and complexity of the legends.  Moreover, she wasn’t sure her music would find a permanent home on a mainstream label.  Ever resourceful and increasingly fearless, she carved out her own niche.       

Amphisbaena Music was the eventual result of her quest for independence and creative control. Born in 1998, the label burst forth amid a growing demand for Heather’s tuneful storytelling.  Since then, the label has signed over twenty over artists from all over the world.  Once Heather realized she had an audience, she jumped feet first into her new label

“I'd been making cassettes in my living room for a couple of years by that point, so I already knew the initial demand would be there for my music,” says Heather. “That's the hardest part -- deciding whether a business will be worth the time and effort.  My father has been self-employed my whole life, and my mother has a very strong head for business, so I grew up understanding how a small business operated.” 

As she learned about the music industry, Heather decided to share the wealth of her newfound knowledge. Her beautifully designed website, www.heatherdale.com, serves as a promotional tool for herself and an immensely valuable resource for her peers.  “Most of a musician's time is (or should be) spent on promoting their music, and it really helps to be genuinely interested in that side of the job,” the musician asserts. 

“I feel strongly about learning from history and encouraging historical education.  While I originally started the label to support only my own recording work, I broadened it a few years ago to help support historically inspired independent artists.  Many of these artists are doing very interesting and valuable work, but only have one or two hard-to-find CDs.  Amphisbaena Music helps bring together those recordings in one place, and encourages those artists by forming a new community of like-minded individuals.  The label currently operates under the fairly broad mandate of ‘Tales from the Past, Music for the Future’.”  As a pioneer of this new community, her presence has been unmistakable, and Heather found herself the featured entertainer at the Toronto premiere of King Arthur. 

When the film started production, Heather and her management began soliciting the music supervisor regarding soundtrack placement for her songs.  Heather lost out to Moya Brennan (of Clannad, and sister of Celtic mainstay Enya), but she was also looking for any promotional opportunities with the film’s distributor.  She landed the gig at the premiere, where volunteers in Medieval costumes handed out fliers about Heather’s music, and performed a special concert at Casa Loma for Buena Vista’s contest winners. Heather is all too aware of how important it is to come up with new ways to promote yourself while going up against major label artists. 

May of last year saw the release of Heather’s fourth album, May Queen.  This lush, swelling production is a follow up to The Trial of Lancelot (2000), Call the Names (2001), and This Endris Night (2002), a compilation of Renaissance and Medieval Christmas music, which will see a re-release this year.

May Queen is a compilation of ten passionate songs that continue to express her love for the stories of King Arthur’s court and kin.  These songs focus in particular on the earlier stories: the Sword in the Stone; Guinevere’s first meeting with Lancelot, her one true love; and the early years in Merlin’s life.  The lifting yet haunting “Kingsword,” recounting the sword’s release from the stone at the hand of Arthur, is a standout, as is “Crashing Down,” about the demise of the fellowship known as the Round Table.  Her performance of these songs infuses added magic into her songs: her voice is otherworldly and fearless in its force, spewing forth from her gut and her heart.

Her recent performance at the Toronto City Roots Festival gave her a chance to break in some of the material from her forthcoming album, set for (tentative and hopeful) release in the spring (Heather Dale is one busy woman).  One new song she has debuted, entitled “Confession,” relates a bit of the legend of Robin Hood: Maid Marian’s flight from the convent where she was raised since being orphaned as an infant, spurred by her meeting with the legendary thief and rogue.  The lovely nuns’ lament is a welcome preview of what will be, in part, a bit of new territory for Heather.  “The songs are still mostly inspired by legends and folk stories, but I'm delving into different cultures: Greek, Irish, British, Italian... even Canadian Inuit,” Heather says.  “After the dense, nearly orchestral production on May Queen, the new disc will be much simpler and rhythm-oriented.  I have plans for some very unusual instrumental pairings as well -- I find the idea of incorporating Chinese strings into an Irish lament just delightful.  It probably comes from living in a city as effortlessly multi-cultural as Toronto.” 

Over the next six months, Heather will tour more aggressively than ever before.  She is slated to perform all over Ontario, as well as embark on a two week stint through the Prairies to the West Coast in early November.  In the spring of 2005, she will head out to the east coast, and then to the southern UK in the summer.  She’ll likely play at some folk festivals throughout that time frame, as well as serve as a guest lecturer on Arthurian legend at universities, colleges, and sci-fi/fantasy conventions.

Her fan base is growing by leaps and bounds, but at the heart of her support system are her husband and her parents.  Her folks supported her musical ambition from very early on, and still come to many of her shows.  This rock steady support has resulted in Heather’s powerfully positive outlook on her career, and life in general.

“I was always told that I could be or do anything, with the application of intelligence and hard work,” she says thankfully.  “So here I am testing that theory... packing my brain full of new information every day, and working incredibly long hours for indie musician's wages.  But, to paraphrase Gandhi, sacrifice is easy if you have a strong enough desire to reach your goal.  I'm confident this is the road I should be taking.”

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