Natalie MacMaster,
CMThe Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
(born June 13, 1972) is an award-winning
fiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
r from the rural community of
TroyTroy is a small community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Inverness County on Cape Breton Island.-References:*...
in
Inverness CountyInverness County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Its territory is almost contiguous with the Municipality of Inverness County, which only excludes the town of Port Hawkesbury and First Nation reserves.-History:...
,
Nova ScotiaNova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
,
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
who plays Cape Breton fiddle music.
MacMaster has toured with
the ChieftainsThe Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...
,
Faith HillFaith Hill is an American country singer. She is known both for her commercial success and her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw. Hill has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and accumulated eight number-one singles and three number-one albums on the U.S...
,
Carlos SantanaCarlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
and
Alison KraussAlison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...
, and has recorded with
Yo-Yo MaYo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
. She has appeared at the
Celtic ColoursSince 1997, the ' has featured hundreds of musicians from all over the Celtic world and attracted tens of thousands of visitors to Cape Breton Island...
festival in
Cape BretonCape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
,
Celtic ConnectionsThe Celtic Connections festival started in 1994 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has since been held every January. Featuring over 300 concerts, ceilidhs, talks, free events, late night sessions and workshops, the festival focuses on the roots of traditional Scottish music and also features international...
in
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and
MerleFestMerleFest is an annual "traditional plus" music festival held in Wilkesboro, North Carolina on the campus of Wilkes Community College . The festival, which is held the last weekend in April, is hosted by Grammy Award winner Doc Watson and is named in memory and honor of his son, Eddy Merle Watson,...
in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Background
MacMaster is the daughter of Alex and Minnie (Beaton) MacMaster, and the niece of Cape Breton fiddler
Buddy MacMasterHugh Alan "Buddy" MacMaster, is one of the most renowned artists in the tradition of Cape Breton fiddle music.-Early life:...
. She is the sister of Kevin and David MacMaster. She is the cousin of two other Cape Breton fiddlers,
Ashley MacIsaacAshley Dwayne MacIsaac is a Canadian professional fiddler from Cape Breton Island.His album Hi™ How Are You Today?, featuring the hit single "Sleepy Maggie", with vocals in Scottish Gaelic by Mary Jane Lamond was released in 1995...
and Andrea Beaton. She was born on June 13, 1972. In 2002, she married fiddler Donnell Leahy of the
LeahyLeahy is the name of a Canadian folk music group. The eight band members, all from the Leahy family of eleven siblings, are from Lakefield, Ontario and have been actively touring Canada and internationally since the early 1980s when they were known as The Leahy Family...
family band, and moved to Lakefield, Ontario. In 2011 she moved to Douro, where she built a new house. In December 2005, she gave birth to a daughter, Mary Frances Rose. Her second child, a son, Michael Joseph Alexander, was born in June 2007. In 2007, MacMaster learned she was related to
Jack WhiteJack White , often credited as Jack White III, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and occasional actor...
. Her third child, a daughter, Clare Marie, was born in February 2009. Her fourth child, another daughter, Julia Elizabeth, was born in January 2011.
MacMaster began playing the
fiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
at the age of nine, and made her performing debut the same year at a square dance in Glencoe Mills, Nova Scotia. When she was sixteen she released her first album, Four on the Floor, and a second album, Road to the Isle, followed in 1991. Both of these self-produced albums were initially released only on cassette, but
Rounder RecordsRounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
omitted a few tracks and re-released as
A Compilation in 1998.
In recent years she has expanded her musical repertoire, mixing her
Cape BretonCape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
roots with music from
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and
IrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, as well as American
bluegrassBluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
.
She has received a number of Canadian music awards, including several "Artist of the Year" awards from the
East Coast Music AssociationThe East Coast Music Association is a non-profit association that hosts an annual awards ceremony based in Atlantic Canada for music appreciation on the East Coast of Canada...
, two
Juno awardsThe Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
for best instrumental album, and "Fiddler of the Year" from the
Canadian Country Music AssociationThe Canadian Country Music Association was founded in 1976 as the Academy of Country Music Entertainment to organize, promote and develop a Canadian country music industry. The association changed its name to the Canadian Country Music Association in 1987.-Awards:The CCMA held the first Canadian...
. MacMaster was also awarded an honorary doctorate from
Niagara UniversityNiagara University is a Catholic university in the Vincentian tradition, located in the Town of Lewiston in Niagara County, New York. Originally founded by the Congregation of the Mission in 1856 as Our Lady of Angels Seminary, it became Niagara University in 1883. The University is still run by...
in New York in 2006. In 2006, she was made a member of the
Order of CanadaThe Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
.
Albums
Singles
Music videos
Other appearances
- Traditional Music From Cape Breton Island, Nimbus NI5383, 1993 (two tracks)
- Celtic Colours — The Road Home, 1997 (one track)
- Celtic Colours — The Second Wave, 1998 (one track)
- Celtic Colours — Forgotten Roots, 1999 (one track)
- Roots Music: An American Journey, Rounder 0501, 2001 (one track)
- Songs for the Savoy, 2001 (one track)
- Celtic Colours — The Colours of Cape Breton, 2002 (one track)
- Celtic Colours — Volume VII, 2003 (one track)
- Yo-Yo Ma & Friends: Songs of Joy and Peace; Songs:A Christmas Jig/Mouth of the Tobique Reel; 2008 (Sony BMG)
- Thomas Dolby: Amerikana EP, Songs:Toad Lickers and 17 Hills, 2010 (Lost Toy People, Inc)
External links