I can probably count on one hand the number of times I have heard a Celtic fid-dle. I can count on one finger the number of times I have heard one live: it was this past Saturday when I had the pleasure of hearing sophomore Sarah Collins play a mean Celtic fiddle as part of the Broad Street Records Night at the Barge Canal Coffee Co.

The Broad Street Records Night at the Barge was a two-part event, starting with an awesome and light-hearted performance by the Man-tiphondrakes, a new a cappella group on cam-pus. The second part of the night included a three-act musical sampling. The first act was a beautiful performance by juniors Caitlin Gross-jung and Erica Fritz. Grossjung, the current president of Broad Street Records, played guitar and sang, while Fritz, a member of the Swing-ing ‘Gates, also sang. The duo performed two songs: the first was “Poison and Wine” by the Civil Wars and the second was an original song by Grossjung, called “Apartment.” Grossjung has been performing solo since her first year here and is also a member of the band Woe the While. The two singers meshed beautifully and the guitar accompaniment was haunting and appropriate. The performance was so seamless, I was surprised to learn that this was Fritz and Grossjung’s first time performing together.

The second act was the amazing Sarah Col-lins on the Celtic fiddle. Collins played a variety of tunes, including some by the well-known fid-dler Liz Carrol as well as a few awesome original pieces, such as “Salt for Breakfast” and “Summer in February.” Her performance was so upbeat and catchy that I had to stop myself from getting up and dancing a jig in the middle of the Barge.

The final performance of the night was by junior Corin Kinkhabwala. Kinkhabwala started his act with an original song on the piano. The song, titled “Bumblebee,” was a “retro, rag-timey number” about a man who believes his lover has left him, only to discover she was at the grocery store (however, we learn that she fell in love with someone else at the grocery store). Kinkhabwala then moved on to the guitar, performing a beau-tiful cover of “If I Were a Carpenter,” followed by two lovely original songs written for his ex-girlfriend (when he revealed this, every girl in the audience released a simultaneous “Awww”).

Each of the musicians gave a stellar perfor-mance and blew me away with their amazing range of talents. And, as Grossjung informed me, “This was just a small sampling of the talented musicians we have on campus.”

Founded in 2009, Broad Street Records is an organization committed to spreading music across campus. Students can connect and inter-act through the group in order to meet other students interested in creating music together.

Broad Street Records says, “[We hope to create] awareness of student music by set-ting up shows and venues across Colgate and Hamilton which are open for student musicians to showcase their musical abili-ties… [increasing] the accessibility of mu-sic on this campus for students by provid-ing them with concerts and musical events throughout the school year.”

Broad Street Records has helped to or-ganize a variety of musical events this year. They hosted Serenadagrams and a seven-act night of music at Donovan’s Pub, and also helped to co-host the Battle of the Bands with the Colgate Activities Board. In addi-tion to these events, they have also worked with the 13 Days of Green, the Center for Outreach, Volunteerism and Education (COVE) and Habitat for Humanity to pro-vide music at campus events. Broad Street Records’s largest event is Gatestock. The event features music and activities from 15 of Colgate’s amazing and diverse campus organizations, including a cultural food cook-off and performances by some of the campus’s most talented musicians. The an-nual event will be taking place again in just a few weeks time. Who knows, you might even hear a Celtic fiddle.

Contact Betsy Bloom at

[email protected].