#SPOTLIGHT: The Men of the Deeps

The Men of the Deeps is a choir of working and retired coal miners from the island of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, Canada. Organized in 1966 as part of Cape Breton’s contribution to Canada’s Centennial Year (1967), the group’s inception was an effort by the people of Cape Breton to preserve in song some of the rich folklore of the island’s coal mining communities.

The musical repertoire of the Men of the Deeps is gathered from mining communities around the world. Many of the group’s songs are “home grown” – composed by contemporary Cape Breton bards, or traditional songs which trace their roots to their Celtic fore bearers in the

old country. Musical Director and Conductor, Jack O’Donnell has become an expert on coal mining songs in Canada, and published a major collection entitled And Now The Fields Are Green: A Collection of Coal Mining Songs in Canada (Sydney, Nova Scotia; University College of Cape Breton Press: 1992).

To belong to the singing group, a man must have worked in the mine. The ages of the men range from the mid-thirties to the upper-seventies, some members of the choir have been with the group since it was organized in 1966. A special sense of authenticity is given to the group by the presence of several retired coal miners who recall vividly the days when coal miners were looked upon as “second class” citizens, forced to eke out a living mining coal in hazardous conditions while their lives were almost entirely dependent upon the company.

Today, the Men of the Deeps is more than a singing group – it is a social institution. There
is a camaraderie amongst the members of
the group that carries over to their audiences wherever they perform. Clad in coveralls and hard hats, they make an impressive impact when they enter a concert hall in total darkness with only the lamps on their helmets for light.

Anyone who attends a concert by the Men of the Deeps cannot help but come away with the feeling that a special breed of men has touched them.