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December 19, 2007 Natalie MacMaster brings a Cape Breton Christmas to town. Nova Scotia-based fiddler Natalie MacMaster has had quite the year. She had her second child, released a DVD through her website and received the Order of Canada from the Governor General. Now, as the year winds down shes hitting the roadher kids in towfor some Christmas shows, Cape Breton-style. The crowd can expect some Cape Breton tunes and were going to have a couple Christmas tunes in there as well, says MacMaster, who will be playing with the Victoria Symphony at Mondays concert. It will just be beautiful to have the orchestra playing those melodies behind me. Its such a big, grand sound; so lush. Its always a treat to play with the Symphony. Ive played with Victoria before and Im really looking forward to getting back with them, theyre all very kind and very good players. In another sense, so are her kids. Mary Frances and Michael have been touring with MacMaster (and her husband, Donnell Leahy, also a fiddler) since they were bornand have already had some experiences in the limelight. Theres been a couple times where Mary Frances came out on stage and she was always cute, she says. But then Michael came out on stage; my mom was holding him. As soon as the spotlight hit him he got blinded and at the same time the audience went Aww, and they clapped and it scared him. So you saw this little smile, then all of a sudden the smile turned upside down and he wailed. Of course everybody laughed and that scared him more. So he wont be going into the spotlight for a few more months.
MacMaster will be in the literary spotlight after having her first bookA
Celtic Aire, about life in Cape Breton, and what its like to grow up in
a musical familypublished next year. In the meantime, shes looking
forward to touring Canada during the Christmas season, Let me tell you, weve got tonnes of it here, she says of the snow out east. I can ship some out to you if you want.
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December 14, 2007 Natalie MacMaster sounds distracted.
"My little
boy keeps waking up," she said. Married to Donnell Leahy (yes, one of
those "I wouldn't call it easy, but it is doable," said the fiddling sensation, who plays a sold-out show at Victoria's Royal Theatre this Monday (Dec. 17, 8 p.m.) as part of a 45-city tour promoting her 10th album, Yours Truly. "It's cumbersome more than anything cause there's so much stuff - it's harder to get around and takes you longer." The Cape Breton native admits once her children are older she may have to cut back on her touring, even though some fans - like a Maritimer who recently posted a note to her website - believe she doesn't tour enough. "My mom showed me that comment," she said. "I do a Maritime tour about every two years. If you go any more often than that it's too often. The market can't support it." What some people may not be aware of is that MacMaster plays informally quite a bit. "The Maritimes encompasses quite a few places. Maybe they don't realize I play there all the time." Her latest CD, Yours Truly, differs from previous works in the amount of original material it contains, she said. In addition to a song named for Peter Jennings, the ABC news anchor and her good friend, who died in 2005, the album also has an fresh take on "Danny Boy," taken up by Doobie Brothers icon Mike McDonald. MacMaster collaborated with McDonald in a show where they were guests with the Boston Pops orchestra. They had arranged a version of "Danny Boy" which they didn't get to play, after which she asked him if he'd be interested in guesting on her upcoming album. "He said sure and a week later he sent me the tracks - au gratis. I find the best musicians are humble and giving people," she said. A fiddle player since age 9, she learned more than a few things from her memorable uncle, Buddy MacMaster, like how to nail an inverted grace note, but she never learned to sing well. "I'm just no good and I accept it," she said. Heading to the first of a two-night gig just outside of Edmonton, MacMaster said she's always surprised at who delights in her music. "Because, you know, fiddle music, it's not pop, so it always impresses me how are many people are aware of it."
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December 13, 2007
Natalie MacMaster continues to stun crowds around the globe with her
feverish fiddling and mesmerizing step dancing. She first picked up the
fiddle at age nine and hasn't looked back. The niece of famed Cape
Breton fiddler Buddy MacMaster - with whom she After winning numerous awards for her early traditional recordings, MacMaster's subsequent releases have been boldly ground-breaking and received with abundant accolades.
MacMaster is credited with lifting the East Coast music style to
contemporary prominence. She has a bachelor of education degree from the
Nova Scotia Yours Truly is MacMaster's 10th album, and a return to the more wide-ranging stylings of her earlier work. Co-produced by MacMaster and her husband, fellow fiddle virtuoso Donnell Leahy of the famed Canadian band Leahy, Yours Truly finds her continuing to incorporate new sounds and concepts into her rich Cape Breton musical heritage. The album boasts a moving version of the classic Danny Boy, featuring a lead vocal by pop superstar Michael McDonald. Overall, the sound is steeped in the driving rhythms and soaring tonalities unique to Cape Breton, with MacMaster's trademark intensity. MacMaster performs at the Port Theatre Tuesday (Dec. 18) at 7:30 p.m.
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November 30, 2007 Members of the National Arts Centre orchestra were spread across their home stage in their usual pattern yesterday, but the grand old traditions of classical music were being subjected to the attack of a feisty line of fiddles. As part of the orchestra's pops series, two of the best fiddle-based acts in the country, Natalie MacMaster and Leahy, are in town this week to perform with the orchestra. The engagement began yesterday with a matinee concert in front of an audience of high-school students. A performance also took place last night, and is repeated tonight and tomorrow night. First, a bit of background on the guest fiddlers. Cape Breton jig mistress MacMaster, 35, has won Juno Awards, released major-label CDs and is a member of the Order of Canada. And Leahy comes from Lakefield, Ont., near Peterborough, an eight-member family group. The Celtic powerhouse is evenly divided between brothers and sisters, but the head of the clan, musically speaking, is Donnell Leahy, top dog of the three fiddle-playing Leahy boys. He's also married to Natalie (they have two young children). While MacMaster has played with the NAC Orchestra before, it's the first time for her husband's group. At yesterday's matinee, Donnell established an educational tone by talking about the roots of his family's music, and how they play by ear, contrasting it with the experience of orchestra musicians who read music. It was a school day, after all, for the students in the crowd. His words set the scene for an imaginary battle: In this corner of the ring, four expert fiddlers who grew up surrounded by music, learned to play by ear, gravitated toward folk music and never figured out how to read music very well. In the other, 19 highly trained, exceedingly disciplined violinists who earn a salary playing their instruments and reading music. And the winner in the showdown between fiddle and violin? It wasn't a fair fight, of course, because the fiddles were expected to grab the spotlight, and they did, beginning with the irresistible strains of Jessie's Polka. And who could resist when MacMaster and Leahy explained how their sinewy Wedding Day Jig began life as a gift for their wedding guests? Still, it was terrific to hear orchestra's lush accompaniment on MacMaster's rendition of the sweet Scottish piece If Ever You Were Mine. The classical musicians also lent an air of drama and texture to Leahy's German-influenced Skater. Plus, Donnell's good-natured banter seemed to catch guest conductor Stéphane Laforest off guard once or twice, the gentlemanly host momentarily ruffled. The fiddle versus violin debate reached its zenith during a Bach-meets-the devil duet between Natalie and an orchestra violinist before the fiddles completely took over with the rousing Call To Dance medley. Jaws dropped at the dazzling footwork of the Leahy sisters during the mass finale. In the end, the real winners were the teenagers in the audience, many of whom were surprised they enjoyed a "boring" NAC concert. "Man, that was cool when they were all on the stage dancing," one teenage boy exclaimed to his friends on the way out. There were cries of agreement: "Sick. Totally sick." Backstage after the concert, MacMaster wasn't sure it was a compliment, but Donnell was thrilled. "We love it when young people come to our concerts," he said. "I think young people, if they're exposed to our music, or lots of different styles, they will like it. They may not think they'll like it." But they probably will.
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November 29, 2007 Natalie MacMaster joins Leahy and the National Arts Centre Orchestra for three shows beginning tonight at Southam Hall. As popular as Natalie MacMaster is at playing Cape Breton fiddle music, the role she's focusing on most these days is playing mom. Life on the road is a family affair for the constantly in motion MacMaster since she married her Celtic fiddle-playing husband Donnell Leahy in 2002. As well as all the responsibilities of raising two children Mary Francis, 2, and Michael, five months, the couple now perform almost exclusively together so they can focus on their growing family. "I'm prepared to quit if the family suffers because of all the touring," says MacMaster from her home in Lakefield. "Touring with family is a little cumbersome, but it's doable and feels right." Balancing the demands of motherhood with the equally demanding reality of performing, MacMaster tours with a large crew that often includes her mother, mother-in-law and any other relatives who wouldn't mind babysitting while the 35-year-old fiddling and step-dancing icon is doing what she's done most of her life. Not long ago, when she was single, the Juno Award-winning MacMaster was tireless, performing 250 shows a year, a blurred schedule she jokingly but accurately calls her "Never-ending Tour." She also found time to record 10 records since 1989, including her Grammy-nominated 2000 release My Roots Are Showing. But since the arrival of Michael, she's capped her live shows to 75 gigs a year. "This way, it keeps things exciting for me and I don't feel burned out," she says. MacMaster meanwhile has no plans to retire early. She's hitting the road to plug her new album Yours Truly, which marks her return to her traditional musical roots. Then next week, she and Leahy begin a national Christmas tour. For her first time playing with the National Arts Centre Orchestra (tonight through Saturday), she'll do three symphonic jigs as well as perform in a violin showdown with the NACO concertmaster on Bach/Devil Dance. Also on the card is Leahy, who will do their thing before joining up with MacMaster for the finale. "I'm doing traditional music with the orchestra and progressive music with Leahy," MacMaster says. "It's exciting for me. I love touring with Donnell. Playing with him is all I would do if I could. He's such a virtuoso." There's another twist to MacMaster's family saga. Last summer, MacMaster, who is Ashley MacIsaac's cousin, learned she is also a distant cousin to The White Stripes' Jack White. Now that would be a family affair many would like to see. Tickets for MacMaster's show are $29-$86 at the NAC box-office, through Ticketmaster, and the NAC website at www.nac-cna.ca.
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October 18, 2007
It was a match made in fiddler's heaven. The marriage of Cape Bretoner Natalie MacMaster to Ontarian Donnell Leahy five years ago linked two of Canada's traditional music families. Now MacMaster and Leahy are bringing the next generation on the road with them, their children Mary Frances and Michael. MacMaster, 34, has been a fixture on the Canadian scene since she was a teenager. Her grandfather, Buddy MacMaster, was a legend among East Coast fiddlers. Leahy, at 38, is the oldest son of the famous central Ontario family act, simply called Leahy, which has featured as many as 11 siblings on the same stage. Together, they're sharing a stage and their distinctive brands of Celtic and folk music. They also divvy up parenting duties. MacMaster and Leahy perform Tuesday at Chrysler Theatre. It was Leahy's phone call 15 years ago that initially brought them together. "He told me he was in Nova Scotia on business," said MacMaster. "The truth came out later -- he actually drove down to meet me." Leahy was 23; MacMaster, 19. They had dinner, dated for two years when their touring schedules allowed it, then split up. The separation lasted a decade. But Leahy knew he had to get back together with his future wife. "When things are right, they're right," he said. "I think we both knew it." Their paths were bound to cross again, said MacMaster: "He's a fiddler, I'm a fiddler. It was meant to be." After reuniting, again after a Leahy phone call, it took a mere eight weeks for him to pop the question. "It's like leaving home," MacMaster said. "You don't really appreciate home until you leave it. We didn't realize what a good thing we had until the separation." Touring together was also inevitable. And when they finally managed to squeeze in some concerts between the solo tours, the couple decided to bring the kids -- Mary Frances, 22 months, and Michael, three months -- along for the ride. "It's an ever-evolving process," said MacMaster. "If we have more children, we'll have to make a decision then. Definitely, my husband and my children come first." Leahy has had plenty of practice travelling with a family. The original clan of 11 brothers and sisters now includes 21 of their kids, and many of the young ones tour with their parents. "We all started playing when we were kids," said Leahy, "and now many of us are parents ourselves." Leahy grew up on an Ontario beef farm where music was the main source of entertainment. "Mom and dad both played music, so it was natural for us kids to want to do it, too. We didn't have a television, but we had our instruments." The Leahys are the musical equivalent of Alberta's hockey-playing Sutters: "Yeah, we're tough, really tough," Leahy said. It didn't take much convincing for the rest of his family to let MacMaster into the fold. "Natalie's such a wonderful talent, and a great person," said Leahy. "And she's from mom's neck of the woods." Leahy's mother's family comes from Cape Breton. "How could she not fit in? She plays fiddle, she dances, and she's a little crazy like my family. It all works." .........................................................................................................................................
October 16, 2007 Natalie MacMaster's performance, which opened the 28th season of the Vail Series, was simply fabulous. MacMaster taught clogging and worked with students and community members while she was here on Monday. She also worked with string players on Monday, helping them learn various fiddle pieces. During her performance, she collaborated with many musicians, including her accompanists and husband. When MacMaster asked her husband to the stage, it was quite a unique event and has been done only a few times. The two played the gorgeous "Anniversary Waltz," since their 5th anniversary was on the day of the concert (Oct. 5). Her husband has a flair for fiddling just as she does; in fact, he plays with his family, the Lehis, on tour. Both MacMaster and her husband swooned together as they played the waltz, as if they were waltzing themselves. It was interesting to hear and watch each of their different techniques and to see how they combined them into a beautiful blend of music. During the show, MacMaster also invited step dancers from Granville to come up onto the stage to dance as she continued to perform. It was so great to see such a well-known artist to the fiddling and dance communities involved in aiding others to learn to play and dance. As for the performance itself, well, it was absolutely amazing. MacMaster's energy on stage was phenomenal. She bounced about and tapped her feet while playing and, at times, she even step danced as she fiddled. MacMaster's step dancing, like her fiddling, was also intricate and fun to watch. MacMaster's performance, as well as her personality, was very upbeat. She joked and told stories about her family growing up in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, even joking about her husband's music to the audience. While MacMaster's relationship with the audience was captivating, her interaction with her gifted accompanists was intriguing as well. MacMaster would go up to the accompanists as she performed parts of pieces to get them on beat. It added a wonderfully warm aurora to the stage. MacMaster's accompanists have splendid musicality just as she does. The pianist played a fiddle piece on the piano, which is very rare since it is hard to transpose fiddle parts for the piano, and difficult to play the part on the piano too. One accompanist actually played a myriad of instruments: the Highland bagpipe, the banjo and the flute. .........................................................................................................................................
September 22, 2007
Cape Breton
is known for its traditional fiddle music, brought to the island by
Scottish immigrants, and has been well preserved by artists such as
Natalie. She finds her sound MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Sunday, October 14 - Portsmouth, NH
The third
time will definitely be the charm as Music Hall favorite Natalie
MacMaster returns Sunday, October 14 at 7:00 pm, and fans agree -
tickets are selling like hotcakes. The upcoming concert will hypnotize
the audience with feverish fiddling and merry step-dancing. The daughter
of legendary Cape Breton fiddler Buddy MacMaster, She has already begun to make her mark on music history having won "Best Female Artist of the Year" and "Best Roots/Traditional Solo Recording" at Canada's East Coast Music Awards in 2005. Her tenth album, Yours Truly, is a rich and varied collection of songs she has written or co-written.
Natalie's
performances are a testament to her boundless energy, featuring
foot-tapping
The Music
Hall is a perfect venue for Natalie - the domed ceiling and wooden
floors make for superior acoustics. And now that the dome and the entire
auditorium have been restored after a multi-year project funded in part
by the federal Save America's Treasures program, audiences can enjoy a
view of the elaborately decorated dome .........................................................................................................................................
July 3, 2007 Motherhood is not slowing down Celtic fiddler Natalie MacMaster, who gave birth to a son last week and is scheduled to launch a North American tour in late August. With the help of her mother, MacMaster has already been touring with her 19-month-old daughter. Now, two bundles of joy will get to see North America on a trek that takes the musician well into next year. MacMaster is set to kick things off Aug. 31 in Charlestown, RI, and stop in cities primarily in the East, Midwest and Canada through early April. In October, the fiddle virtuoso released her 10th album, "Yours Truly," which she co-produced with her husband/fellow fiddler, Donnell Leahy, of Canadian band Leahy. The set features contemporary and traditional numbers, including a rendition of "Danny Boy" sung by Michael McDonald and the tune "Farewell to Peter," which MacMaster wrote to pay tribute to late newsman Peter Jennings. The set was nominated for a Juno (the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys) in the Instrumental Album of the Year category. MacMaster also has a PBS Special scheduled to air this fall. The program was recorded last October at the Celtic Colours Festival in Cape Breton, Canada, with Bela Fleck, Carlos Nunez and others. MacMaster--a native of Cape Breton--recently became one of the youngest recipients of the Order of Canada, which is the country's highest honor for lifetime achievement. The musician is the niece of famed Cape Breton fiddler Buddy MacMaster, with whom she recorded a tribute album in 2005. .........................................................................................................................................
June 7,
2007 Tradition And Innovation From Cape Breton. There is a tune on Natalie MacMaster's album Yours Truly that at first had no name - and "at first" lasted for almost two years. Fiddle player Macmaster and her guitarist, Brad Davidge came up with the slow air that walks an evocative line between sadness and sweetness in about ten minutes one day, but set it aside. When Macmaster agreed to play at the funeral of her friend and fellow Canadian newscaster Peter Jennings, she realized the tune had found its place and its name, "Farewell to Peter." As anyone who has seen her in performance knows, MacMaster can really dig into the fast tunes as well, whether they are favorites from her native Cape Breton tradition of Atlantic Canada or music she has composed herself. She's not afraid to push boundaries either, as with the pairing of her fiddle against electric guitar from Davidge or the energetic cello of Rushad Eggleston. There's straight tradition as well on several Cape Breton cuts. Michael MacDonald's take on "Danny Boy" is one of the less successful tracks as he's a bit overly sentimental with the singing on a song with which it is all to easy to take that approach. But all in all it is varied and involving recording, original tunes from MacMaster balancing fresh takes on the tradition. .........................................................................................................................................
May 05, 2007 Fiddler Natalie MacMaster of Lakefield and Dr. Robert Stephens of Warkworth - better known as "Dr. Bob" to generations of patients at his Campbellford practice - picked up Order of Canada honours yesterday. MacMaster and Stephens joined the likes of former Chicago Cubs pitching great Fergie Jenkins; Arthur Hiller, the director of the TV series "Gunsmoke" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", as well as the film "Love Story"; home fitness guru Ben Weider; and anti-smoking activist Gar Mahood in getting invested by Gov.-Gen. Michaelle Jean at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. "I was just stunned. It's like, 'Oh my gosh, where did that come from?'" MacMaster told The Examiner when she was nominated last summer. "It's a very high honour and I'm humbled by it all, for sure." Stephens told ChristianWeek magazine he was shocked to be appointed to the Order of Canada, but glad the government recognizes the value of volunteer work. "I am accepting this honour as a representative of all medical missionaries," Stephens told ChristianWeek. MacMaster, originally from Cape Breton, moved to Lakefield in 2002 after marrying Donnel Leahy, a member of the village's popular Leahy musical family. MacMaster says living in Lakefield has been easy because the village in many ways resembles her East Coast hometown. "The people and the community are just, my gosh, a gift from heaven," she said in last year's interview. "All the beautiful families in the area, young families like ourselves, I'm telling you, I'm getting a free education on raising children." Despite making Lakefield her home, MacMaster says it hasn't necessarily influenced her music. "My marriage has influenced my music, my family has influenced my music and my baby has influenced my music," she said. "All those things come from living in Lakefield, but I'm not home very much, and I don't write music on the riverside. I can be anywhere." Often credited with putting a face on the Atlantic music scene, MacMaster has steadily been picking up fans across the county, in the United States and in Europe. MacMaster credits her success to the type of music she loves to play. She says it's authentic East Coast, authentic Canadian and people just seem to be attracted to it. "It's music that's very important to me. We have a rich heritage and I think people crave culture, they crave tradition. I feel that when I play," MacMaster said. "It's a family music, something that's passed down so naturally. It's not forced and people crave that. They want that natural music." Her hectic touring schedule keeps her on the road continuously but she still spends about six months at her Lakefield home. "The other cool thing about (Lakefield), people don't make a big deal of me," she said. "You go some places and people want the autographs and the pictures and want to stare and those type of things, and that's fine, but there's really none of that in Lakefield." Stephens has been a medical doctor for 60 years, having graduated the University of Toronto in 1947. In the 1950s, Stephens worked as a missionary in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo with his wife Ruth (who died last year) and their two children. In 1960, they left on the last plane before independence was declared in what was then known as the Belgian Congo, escaping a violent independence war. He left his Campbellford practice in 1990 to devote himself full-time to executive director work with the Evangelical Medical Aid Society and the Christian Medical and Dental Society. The group included volunteers, scholars, businesspeople, and renowned artists. Twenty-nine people were named members of the order, and 12 were promoted to higher ranks within the order. .........................................................................................................................................
March 30, 2007 Natalie MacMaster never feels her baby kick back while she's busy dancing and fiddling onstage. But the kid is certain to have a killer sense of rhythm once the Celtic musician gives birth in June. Energetic stomping and hopping is as integral to MacMaster's Cape Breton fiddling style as the musical performance itself. With child, she modifies her movement a bit. "I hop less and focus more on the rhythms with the feet," says MacMaster, 34, who also had to dial down her dancing when carrying daughter Mary Frances in 2005. "I'm still doing all the dancing I normally do, just with a little different focus. Being mindful of my heart rate is the only difference." Quickened pulses are a natural byproduct of MacMaster's music, which places respectful Celtic-traditional sounds within diverse arrangements that lean toward rock, jazz or Latin. An electric eruption strikes midsong on "Volcanic Jig," the kickoff track on her 2006 studio album, "Yours Truly." It also contains step dancing that sounds like clacking castanets ("David's Jig"), a hint of Aaron Copland's rustic, orchestral Americana (the finale of "Flea as a Bird") and gentle balladry ("Farewell to Peter," a tribute to the late Canadian newsman Peter Jennings). Fiddling came second nature to MacMaster - she's the niece of fellow Cape Breton musician Buddy MacMaster and cousin of fiddlers Ashley MacIsaac and Andrew Beaton. Her singular body of work came from a regular rotation of non-Celtic tunes during childhood. "I listened to everything from Ozzy Osbourne to Anne Murray," MacMaster says of growing up in Troy, a rural town in the province of Nova Scotia. "That comes out in all that I do, I'm sure." MacMaster started on fiddle at age 9 and made her performance debut at a Nova Scotia square dance. Yet, while the Cape Breton tradition fostered talent, it didn't necessarily beckon as a career. "When I was young and playing fiddle, no one in Cape Breton made a career out of it. They all had other jobs that they relied on," MacMaster says. "So I thought, at best, I'd be doing this on the side of a day job. I never imagined it as a career. It wasn't in the realm of possibility at the time." In 1989, at 16, MacMaster self-produced "Four on the Floor," initially released on cassette. Two more self-made albums followed, and by the time she was 21, she says she knew music was all she'd ever do. (At one point, her grueling tour schedule reportedly required her to turn down a role as a featured musician in "The Lord of the Dance.") She released her Rounder Records debut in 1997 and went on to share stages with the Chieftains, Faith Hill, Carlos Santana and Alison Krauss. "My Roots Are Showing," a 2000 album, was nominated for a Grammy. In 2006, MacMaster became one of the youngest to receive Canada's highest civilian honor, membership in the Order of Canada. "Yours Truly" earned MacMaster her latest Canadian East Coast Music Award. The record also is nominated for a Juno - Canada's Grammy equivalent, which MacMaster has won before. It marked the first time MacMaster produced with her husband, Donnell Leahy, of Irish group Leahy. It's also the first to mainly feature original songs. "There was no inspiration or reason why I did that, other than that I didn't want it to be a traditional record, and that music I'd been writing for 10 years had built up and circulated into my own live repertoire," MacMaster says. It does, however, include a duet with Michael McDonald on "Danny Boy" - a traditional tear-jerker that some, MacMaster included, might say has worn out its welcome. "Personally sick" of the song, MacMaster met blue-eyed soul singer McDonald during the taping of a PBS special. When producers wanted them to perform something together, McDonald suggested "Danny Boy." On the record, he sings his vocals in an atypical three-four-waltz time signature and changes up the chord progressions - alterations MacMaster says gives the song "a brand-new life." "I'm a huge fan of (McDonald's), and if he suggests anything, it's the right answer," MacMaster says. "Apparently his father sang it to him, so it wasn't 'Danny Boy' for the sake of 'Danny Boy.'" An untitled tune of MacMaster's that stuck with her was a "sweet, sad" ditty she drew up one day with her guitar player. She says she spent more time mulling a title for the song than any other she'd written. It was the first song she thought of after getting a call from Kayce Freed, Peter Jennings' widow, to perform at his memorial. MacMaster struck up a friendship with the ABC news anchor after he personally asked her to perform during a New Year's Eve special several years ago. "The first thing that came to my mind was 'That's going to be Peter's tune,' and I called it 'Farewell to Peter.' That was exactly the title it should have," she says. Apart from bringing up her new baby, MacMaster will have plenty to keep her busy this year. A concert DVD is due out, along with another PBS special and book ("Natalie MacMaster's Cape Breton Air," with photographs by Eric Roth). And she's eager to mix classical music with Cape Breton's sound, so that might be next on her diverse docket. "This is music I've known since I was born," MacMaster says. "It's just ingrained in my fiber. When I hear traditional Cape Breton fiddling, there's no music in the world that affects me like it does. It feels like I'm home no matter where I'm at." .........................................................................................................................................
March 22, 2007 It's hard to blame internationally renowned fiddling virtuoso Natalie Mac Master for looking forward to a little down time. Famous in part for her distinct take on Celtic music that she honed in her hometown on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, and also for an intense live show in which she awes the crowd with fiddle and foot, the 34-year-old has been recording and performing almost non-stop since she was a child. "I haven't had a summer off since I started playing and I was 9 1/2 when I started. This is the first," Mac Master said Tuesday in anticipation of a five-month break.
But before
the mother of one, who brings her 15-month-old daughter on the road with
her and is only months away from having her second child, can kick up
her feet and relax, she'll bring her tour to a close Sunday night with a
performance at the Fond du Lac High School "We'll be very excited and energetic," Mac Master said. "There's always mixed feelings (about finishing a tour), especially when you've been on the road so long. It will be an exciting night for us." Mac Master and her band are not the only ones who are eager for the show. "Her performances are high energy and at the same time a tender balance with those of us who love the Irish song ballad," said Jack Talbot, marketing and program manager for Windhover Center of the Arts, which is putting on the performance. "Fond du Lac will not want to miss this magic moment." Large influxes of Scottish settlers came to Nova Scotia in the 1800s and brought their culture, including music, with them. That tradition has largely stuck and is the foundation of Mac Master's music today. While Mac Master's music is rooted in the traditional Celtic style of Cape Breton, she is known for how she molds that sound into new creations by blending elements of rock, jazz, Latin, bluegrass, country and more into her pieces to form something entirely her own. "Mostly it's just letting the piece of music dictate what the arrangement should be," she said. Now supporting her 10th album, "Yours Truly," Mac Master's talents have not gone unnoticed. "To call Natalie Mac Master the most dynamic performer in Celtic music today is high prose, but it still doesn't get at just how remarkable a concert artist this fiddler has become," the Boston Herald said. Paste magazine has called her a "fiery fiddler" and the Los Angeles Times describes her music as "irresistible, keening passion." Windhover Executive Director Phil Zimmerman said it was "quite a coup" to get an artist of Mac Master's talent to perform in Fond du Lac. "She's the number one female Celtic music performer in the world," Zimmerman said, noting that in the past, Mac Master has performed in Appleton and Oshkosh. "We are excited and I hope that the people in the community share the excitement. It's really something that people here should be proud of and supportive of the fact that we can have this concert here in Fond du Lac and they don't have to drive an hour to get somewhere to see her." Mac Master said Wisconsin fans have been very supportive. "We have a lovely little fan base who are just very supportive," she said. "I'm sure I'll recognize people in the crowd." Though Celtic music may not be for everyone, Mac Master said she believes there is something for everyone at her shows. "There's a lady that went to my show once. She was probably 80 years old and when the show was over, she came up to me and said, 'I hate fiddle music, but I loved your show,'" Mac Master said. "I think that's the coolest quote I ever got." .........................................................................................................................................
March 20, 2007 Grammy-nominated Canadian folk star Natalie MacMaster is bringing her famous fiddle to Anderson. She's not scheduled to bring any faddle. The fiddling, step-dancing MacMaster's foot-stomping show featuring North American folk will be at the Paramount Theatre Centre Thursday. MacMaster has been heralded as a remarkable concert artist by The Boston Herald, a "ball of fire" by the Los Angeles Times and "maximum entertainment" by the Boston Globe.
Most of it
purely Celtic, MacMaster's music earned her recognition as an ambassador
for
But her
newest album, "Yours Truly" (Rounder Records, 2006) blends jazz and
Latin stylings
Otherwise,
she's been put in a league with other noted instrumentalists like Bela
Fleck, Jerry Her band includes herself on fiddle, Brad Davidge on guitar and vocals, Shane Hendrickson on bass, Mac Morin on piano and keyboards, Matt MacIsaac on bagpipes and whistles and Miche Pouliot on percussion. Recently, MacMaster became one of the youngest ever named a member of the order of Canada Canada's highest civilian honor for her contributions to Canadian culture and her efforts to bring the music of Cape Breton to an ever-increasing number of listeners. The show is just one stop on an extensive U.S. tour that began last fall celebrating the release of her new album, "Yours Truly." On October 10, 2006, "Yours Truly" became her tenth album, and represented her return to the wide-ranging stylings of the album "In my Hands," in which she first integrated jazz and Latin musical stylings into her own. .........................................................................................................................................
March 15, 2007 Natalie MacMaster never feels her baby kick back while she's busy dancing and fiddling onstage. But the kid is certain to have a killer sense of rhythm once the Celtic musician gives birth in June. Energetic stomping and hopping is as integral to MacMaster's Cape Breton fiddling style as the musical performance itself. With child, she modifies her movement a bit. "I hop less and focus more on the rhythms with the feet," says MacMaster, 34, who also had to dial down her dancing when carrying daughter Mary Frances in 2005. "I'm still doing all the dancing I normally do, just with a little different focus. Being mindful of my heart rate is the only difference." Quickened pulses are a natural byproduct of MacMaster's music, which places respectful Celtic-traditional sounds within diverse arrangements that lean toward rock, jazz or Latin.
An electric
eruption strikes mid-song on "Volcanic Jig," the kickoff track on her
2006 studio album, "Yours Truly." It also contains step dancing that
sounds like clacking castanets ("David's Jig"), a hint of Aaron
Copland's rustic, orchestral Americana (the finale of "Flea Fiddling came second nature to MacMaster - she's the niece of fellow Cape Breton musician Buddy MacMaster and cousin of fiddlers Ashley MacIsaac and Andrea Beaton. Her singular body of work came from a regular rotation of non-Celtic tunes during childhood. "I listened to everything from Ozzy Osbourne to Anne Murray," MacMaster says of growing up in Troy, a rural town in the province of Nova Scotia. "That comes out in all that I do, I'm sure." MacMaster started on fiddle at age 9 and made her performance debut at a Nova Scotia square dance. Yet, while the Cape Breton tradition fostered talent, it didn't necessarily beckon as a career. "When I was young and playing fiddle, no one in Cape Breton made a career out of it. They all had other jobs that they relied on," MacMaster says. "So I thought, at best, I'd be doing this on the side of a day job. I never imagined it as a career. It wasn't in the realm of possibility at the time." In 1989, at 16, MacMaster self-produced "Four on the Floor," initially released on cassette. Two more self-made albums followed, and by the time she was 21, she says she knew music was all she'd ever do. (At one point, her grueling tour schedule reportedly required her to turn down a role as a featured musician in "The Lord of the Dance.") She released her Rounder Records debut in 1997 and went on to share stages with the Chieftains, Faith Hill, Carlos Santana and Alison Krauss. "My Roots Are Showing," a 2000 album, was Grammy-nominated. In 2006, MacMaster became one of the youngest to receive Canada's highest civilian honor, membership in the Order of Canada. "Yours Truly" also earned MacMaster her latest Canadian East Coast Music Award. The record also is nominated for a Juno - Canada's Grammy equivalent, which MacMaster has won before. It marked the first time MacMaster produced with her husband, Donnell Leahy (of Irish group Leahy, which performed in Springfield in 2005). It's also the first to mainly feature original songs. "There was no inspiration or reason why I did that, other than that I didn't want it to be a traditional record, and that music I'd been writing for 10 years had built up and circulated into my own live repertoire," MacMaster says. It does, however, include a duet with Michael McDonald on "Danny Boy" - a traditional tearjerker that some, MacMaster included, might say has worn out its welcome. "Personally sick" of the song, MacMaster met blue-eyed soul singer McDonald during the taping of a PBS special. When producers wanted them to perform something together, McDonald suggested "Danny Boy." On the record, he sings his vocals in an atypical three-four-waltz time signature and changes up the chord progressions - alterations MacMaster says gives the song "a brand-new life." "I'm a huge fan of (McDonald's), and if he suggests anything, it's the right answer," MacMaster says. "Apparently his father sang it to him, so it wasn't 'Danny Boy' for the sake of 'Danny Boy.' " An untitled tune of MacMaster's that stuck with her was a "sweet, sad" ditty she drew up one day with her guitar player. She says she spent more time mulling a title for the song than any other she'd written. It was the first song she thought of after getting a call from Kayce Freed, Peter Jennings' widow, to perform at his memorial. MacMaster struck up a friendship with the ABC news anchor after he personally asked her to perform during a New Year's Eve special several years ago. "The first thing that came to my mind was 'That's going to be Peter's tune,' and I called it 'Farewell to Peter.' That was exactly the title it should have," she says. Apart from bringing up her new baby, MacMaster will have plenty to keep her busy this year. A concert DVD is due out, along with another PBS special and book ("Natalie MacMaster's Cape Breton Air," with photographs by Eric Roth). And she's eager to mix classical music with Cape Breton's sound, so that might be next on her diverse docket. "This is music I've known since I was born," MacMaster says. "It's just ingrained in my fiber. When I hear traditional Cape Breton fiddling, there's no music in the world that affects me like it does. It feels like I'm home no matter where I'm at." Canadian jig A distinctive spin on Celtic fiddling with traceable roots to ... Canada?
Natalie
MacMaster is one of several neighbors to our north to help put Cape
Breton fiddling on the international map. So where is Cape Breton, and
just how does its style of Celtic Cape Breton Island is part of the province of Nova Scotia, connected to mainland North America by the Canso Causeway. Gaelic-speaking Scots brought jigs, reels and marches to Cape Breton in the 19th century after the Highland Clearances, a forced emigration from their homeland. The Cape Breton style came to include step-, square- and highland-dance moves made while performing. One primary fiddling characteristic is upbowing, which applies more pressure. Musical dynamics often include plenty of grace notes and double stops (simultaneously playing two notes). MacMaster's frequent collaboration with bagpipes dovetails with her fiddle's fluidity and tone.
"But I would
say the biggest thing with Cape Breton style is the rhythm," says
MacMaster, whose shoe clomp can be heard on "Traditional Medley" from
her 10th album, "Yours Truly." "There's a very unique rhythmical style
that's very, very powerful - the strength behind all the music. I think
it comes from the dancing being so connected with the music. I don't
know how to describe the rhythm other than it's just like a train. It
starts, and you have no "It's definitely thriving," she adds of the Cape Breton style. "It's very much being carried on by young fiddlers, and it should last a very, very long time, as it has already." .........................................................................................................................................
March 9, 2007
It's been said (or at least it was said in Boston) that fiddler Natalie MacMaster prances, twirls, bounces and swaggers across the stage. All this, and she's due to have her second child in June. Performing in such a condition (and touring with her firstborn toddler in tow) "is not too bad," said MacMaster, with typical Canadian understatement. "There are adjustments, but I have my aunt with me to help. It may not be ideal, but you can make it work." Besides, she has performer relatives who tour with as many as eight youngsters traveling with them. Such is life for the instrumentalist from the musically-inclined Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, who, on Sunday, brings her band to the Hemmens Cultural Center in Elgin. In fact, the region is part of Canada's East Coast Music Awards, and MacMaster's recent release, Yours Truly , was named Roots/Traditional Solo Recording of the Year. She's also nominated for a Juno Award (the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy) for the same disc, which is indeed rootsy, but, like a good deal of MacMaster's work is an eclectic blend of old and newer styles, as well. "One of the more interesting compliments I ever received was from an old lady who told me she hated the fiddle, but still loved my show," recalled MacMaster. The new album includes a version of Danny Boy , with vocals from former Doobie Brother Michael McDonald. The pairing came about after MacMaster met McDonald a couple years ago when both were taping segments for a Boston Pops PBS special. The producers asked if the two would play together, and McDonald suggested Danny Boy. McDonald came up with a smoky, slow arrangement in waltz time, and things went so well, MacMaster asked McDonald to do a studio version with her. "I would never have covered Danny Boy. But the approach he took was so unique. I thought, 'How cool for him to do this,' as he's not known for (Irish music)," said MacMaster. The album also includes an instrumental, Farewell to Peter , named so in honor of a fellow Canadian, the late TV newscaster Peter Jennings. He was a fan of MacMaster's music and called her out of the blue to appear on a TV special he put together in 2002. "Things like that never happen, and he was really down to earth," said MacMaster. Jennings' widow asked MacMaster to play at his memorial service in 2005, and MacMaster chose a plaintive number which at that point had no name. That melody is now Farewell to Peter. MacMaster also lost a dear friend and relative late last year when Celtic-Canadian John Allan Cameron passed away after a long battle with bone cancer. "He was a pioneer," said MacMaster. In another twist of fate, in May of 2006, MacMaster's guitarist Brad Davidge was helping unload some gear when he lost part of a finger on his right hand. The act carried on, though. "He didn't skip a beat and only missed six shows," said MacMaster. Still, don't expect MacMaster's show to be all weepy ballads, as it's "mostly very upbeat," she said. And if her music entices you to visit Cape Breton for the sites and sounds, MacMaster had a suggestion: "Go in July and August. There's a festival every weekend," she said. .........................................................................................................................................
March 8, 2007 Fueled by bloodlines flowing with music and dance, Natalie MacMaster brings passion and talent to the stage. With 10 recordings to her credit, the 34-year-old who fiddled for dances in Cape Breton, N.S., as a girl appears in Detroit and Sandusky in the next 10 days. In light of the upcoming St. Patrick's Day, her program is full of Irish and Scottish melodies, as well as tunes from her North Atlantic island home. Her Sandusky show on Tuesday, open only to Erie County residents, features her five-member band (bass, drums, piano, guitar, and bagpipes). "It's very much a big show in that it's very full and it has a lot of variety and a lot of energy," said MacMaster in a telephone interview from Connecticut. There will be traditional pieces that employ the piano, guitar, and fiddle, and others that have a fusion/world-music feel with electric guitar and pipes. She'll dance, rhythmically while playing music instead of her usual hopping, because she's six months pregnant, but she'll do the high kicks that step dancing is known for. At some shows, her Aunt Mary Janet, who looks after MacMaster's 15-month-old, Mary Francis, on the road, passes off the baby to a band member and joins MacMaster on stage for a bit of dance. MacMaster said she was fine while pregnant and touring last year, but the ultimate stamina test may be during 2008's 40-city spring tour, when she'll have two babies in tow. Five Detroit performances, March 15 to 18, will be in the 2,000-seat Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center, a 1919-vintage theater that underwent a long $60 million renovation and reopened in 2003. MacMaster will be accompanied by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra playing a concerto by Irish harpist Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738), she said, as well as a group of jigs, medleys, a duet with the concertmaster, and a beautiful, slow air, "If Ever You Were Mine," by contemporary fiddler Maurice Lennon. "People love it," she said. For orchestral shows such as in Detroit, MacMaster selects songs she wants to perform and turns them over to one of three arrangers with whom she works. They arrange the parts for each instrument, and she reviews the final product by listening to a computer program that plays all the parts. If it sounds too heavy or lacking in drama, she'll have the arranger tweak it. The difference between a fiddle and a violin? None, except when she's going through airport security when she calls it by its high-rent name: violin. "I once read that Itzhak Perlman said you're not a real violin player unless you call yourself a fiddler. I read music and play by ear." Her 42-day, 28-city tour mirrors that of her husband, Donnell Leahy, who's on a separate tour performing with seven of his 10 siblings in the group, Leahy. She first heard Leahy perform when she was 12 and got a recording of his when she was 17. "I was impressed," she said. When she was a college freshman, he telephoned out of the blue and invited her to dinner. They dated two years, broke up, and reunited 10 years later. Married for four years, they live in Lakefield, Ont., about two hours east of Toronto, where he farms beef cattle with his father. Her mother, like Leahy's, was a step dancer and her father, like Leahy's, is a fiddler, she said, adding that as far back as anyone can remember, her ancestors were musicians, dancers, and singers. Natalie MacMaster's Tuesday concert at 7:30 p.m. in the Sandusky State Theatre is open only to Erie County residents, for whom it is free. MacMaster performs with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in the Max M. Fisher Music Center, 3711 Woodward Ave., March 15 at 10:45 a.m. and 8 p.m., March 16 and 17 at 8:30 p.m., and March 18 at 3 p.m. Tickets range from $15 to $70. Information: 313-576-5111. .........................................................................................................................................
March 8, 2007 In the beginning, fiddler Natalie MacMaster toed the traditional line. As one who grew up in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, MacMaster initially hewed strictly to that region's distinctive, tradition-bound style of playing Celtic music. Over the last decade, however, MacMaster has cast a wider net, drawing liberally from rock and pop elements. And on several tracks from her latest disc, "Yours Truly,'' MacMaster's fiery fiddle is again framed by a rock-ribbed rhythm section - not to mention sinewy electric guitar. The disc was co-produced by MacMaster's husband, Donnell Leahy, fiddler for the Canadian Celt-rock band that bears his family name. "Even if he hadn't produced the record, Donnell's input was inevitable,'' said MacMaster, who comes to the Tecumseh Civic Auditorium on Saturday. "Since he's also a fiddler, I really value his opinion, because he also knows the instrument inside and out, and knows my capabilities.'' One of the most exhilarating tracks on the disc is the second tune, "NPG: The Sunday Reel / The Old Ladywood Reel,'' which is propelled by the high-energy interplay between MacMaster's flying fiddle and the huffing bagpipe work of bandmate Matt Mac-Isaac - while electric bass and drums keep things cooking underneath. "We'd been playing that in our live set for a while before we recorded it, but the interaction was always different,'' said MacMaster by phone from her home in Lakefield, Ont. "We'd always just improvise off of each other. So we just recorded it live, with the two of us playing off of each other spontaneously.'' Another tune, "Matt and Nat's,'' is a searing slice of Celt-rock worthy of early Fairport Convention, as it's bolstered by guitarist Brad Davidge's serrated, edgy riffs. But not all of the record is fusionesque. A few tunes showcase MacMaster's trad beginnings, like the fittingly mournful "Farewell to Peter,'' written for the late TV newscaster (and fellow Canadian) Peter Jennings, with whom MacMaster had developed a friendship during the last three years of his life. She played the tune at Jennings' 2005 funeral service. "We met in 2002 when he invited me to perform on his New Year's Eve special,'' says MacMaster. "It turned out he had some of my older recordings, which really surprised me at first. Who knew that Peter Jennings liked Cape Breton fiddle music?'' Ann Arbor fiddler Marty Somberg noted that MacMaster "comes from a long line of famous Cape Breton fiddlers, and she's as good or better than her predecessors. Plus, she has a cute personality, and she's funny, and is good with the crowd in a very informal way - she really puts the audience in a receptive frame of mind.'' .........................................................................................................................................
March 7, 2007 The art of fiddle playing as it is practiced on Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, is one that references a tradition that hails back to Scotland for its roots. Musicians like Alex Francis MacKay, Joe MacLean and Jerry Holland are just a few examples of Cape Breton's fiddling legacy, but Natalie MacMaster is a member of the (relative) youngsters who have taken what has gone on before and given it their own twist. MacMaster's concerts are also pretty kinetic, not the sort of staid, cast-in-stone, folkloric renditions that happen when a tradition becomes ossified. She knows from firsthand experience, by learning from the living masters of her art, that playing the fiddle is, more often than not, a call to the dance floor. During MacMaster's concerts, motion is a near constant; she jumps around the stage, romping between the various backup musicians in her entourage and engaging in her obvious love of dance. All of this activity is in addition to her fiddle playing, which is an exuberant, artful display of craft, skill and intelligence that comes near to boggling the mind. Tuesday night's concert at the (almost) filled to capacity Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo was even more extraordinary as MacMaster made some obvious changes in her stage act that took into account her six months of pregnancy - such as sitting down for a lovely and fairly lengthy duet with her pianist, Mac Morin - but still managed to do a fair amount of hoofing. Movement was a given from the moment MacMaster and her band took the stage. All the music - be they jigs, reels, strathspeys, marches or waltzes - were all played with a sparkle and a sense of wonder. When the bandleader sat out a few measures to give her musicians a chance to shine on their own, the results were definitely top notch.
Morin played
some lovely duets with MacMaster, but also proved his own musical worth
in combination with guitarist Brad Davidge and the versatile
bagpiper/whistle wizard Matt MacIsaac. The latter, a wonderful player on
a much maligned instrument (the pipes), also showcased some decent chops
on the banjo,another instrument susceptible to mockery by the musically
intolerant. Bassist Shane Hendrickson and percussionist Miche Pouliot
were adept at providing a solid yet flexible foundation from which the
rest of the band could Still, there was no doubt about the focus of the crowd's attention. MacMaster's personality and musicality were central to how well the concert came off and the resulting display of affection from the audience for the pe |
