Hugh Alan "Buddy" MacMaster (October 18, 1924 – August 20, 2014) was a Canadian fiddler. He performed and recorded both locally and internationally, and was regarded as an expert on the tradition and lore of Cape Breton fiddle music.

Early life

MacMaster was born in 1924 into a

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

-speaking home in

Timmins Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 (2021). The city's economy is based on natural resource ext ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

to John Duncan MacMaster and Sarah Agnes MacDonald MacMaster. The family was originally from

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

in Nova Scotia, and in 1928 they returned to Cape Breton to settle in the town of Judique. MacMaster's father played the fiddle, but his mother sang to him from birth,

lilting Lilting is a form of traditional singing common in the Goidelic speaking areas of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Mann. It goes under many names, and is sometimes referred to as ''diddling'' (generally in England and Scotland), ''mouth music ...

with a Gaelic inflection peculiar to the area. At an early age, MacMaster began to play the

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

. At age 12, he had his first public performance at an amateur hour in Port Hood, Nova Scotia, and at age 14 he played his first professional gig at a

square dance A square dance is a dance for four couples, or eight dancers in total, arranged in a square, with one couple on each side, facing the middle of the square. Square dances contain elements from numerous traditional dances and were first documente ...

in the nearby town of Troy.

Career

McMaster continued to play nights at

s across Nova Scotia, while taking on a career as a station agent and

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

er for the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

to support himself and his family. In 1943, he made his first radio broadcast from the town of

Antigonish , settlement_type = Town , image_skyline = File:St Ninian's Cathedral Antigonish Spring.jpg , image_caption = St. Ninian's Cathedral , image_flag = Flag of Antigonish.pn ...

, Nova Scotia in 1948. In the 1970s, he played regularly on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

's '' Ceilidh'' show. After his retirement from the railroad in 1988, he went on to play full-time as a professional musician, often accompanied by piano. He continued to play music of mainly Scottish origin, supplemented with traditional Cape Breton and Nova Scotia tunes, and gained an international reputation, touring in Europe and the United States. He was one of the first Cape Breton fiddlers to be asked to teach in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. In 2005 he recorded an album with his niece, fiddler

Natalie McMaster Natalie MacMaster (born June 13, 1972) is a Canadian fiddler from Troy, Inverness County, Nova Scotia who plays Cape Breton fiddle music. MacMaster has toured with the Chieftains, Faith Hill, Carlos Santana, and Alison Krauss, and has recorded ...

Awards

MacMaster was awarded an honorary doctorate from

St. Francis Xavier University St. Francis Xavier University is a public undergraduate liberal arts university located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a member of the Maple League, a group of primarily undergraduate universities in Eastern Canada. History St. Franc ...

Antigonish , settlement_type = Town , image_skyline = File:St Ninian's Cathedral Antigonish Spring.jpg , image_caption = St. Ninian's Cathedral , image_flag = Flag of Antigonish.pn ...

in 1995, and in 2000 he was awarded the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

for his contributions to Canadian culture. ''

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available fo ...

'' states that the citation for the Order of Canada read "as ambassador of Canadian music and a mentor to many, he is leading a Gaelic renaissance in Canada and abroad." He has appeared through Nova Scotia, Canada, the US and the UK for dances, in concert and in festivals such as the Atlantic Fiddlers' Festival, Cape Breton Fiddlers' Festival, Celtic Colours International Festival, Nova Scotia Highland Village Day, Cape Breton Fiddlers' Festival, the Nova Scotia International Tattoo, and the Celtic Sundance Festival,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. He also received the

Order of Nova Scotia The Order of Nova Scotia (french: Ordre de la Nouvelle-Écosse) is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Instituted on August 2, 2001, when Lieutenant Governor Myra Freeman granted Royal Assent to the Order of Nova ...

in 2003 for outstanding achievement benefiting the province and its residents. In October 2006, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from

Cape Breton University , "Diligence Will Prevail" , mottoeng = Perseverance Will Triumph , established = 1951 as Xavier Junior College 1968 as NSEIT 1974 as College Of Cape Breton 1982 as University College of Cape Breton 2005 as Cape Breton ...

in a special ceremony held in Judique.

Personal life

MacMaster married Marie Beaton in 1968. They have two children, Mary Elizabeth MacMaster MacInnis (also a musician) and Allan Gerard MacMaster. MacMaster's youngest sister, Betty Lou Beaton, is one of Cape Breton's finest pianists and is married to well-known fiddler and composer

Kinnon Beaton Kinnon Beaton (born March 26, 1956) is a Canadian musician from Mabou, Nova Scotia. He is the son of Donald Angus Beaton and Elizabeth MacEachen. He plays the fiddle in the Scottish genre famous throughout Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Is ...

. He is also the uncle of

Natalie MacMaster Natalie MacMaster (born June 13, 1972) is a Canadian fiddler from Troy, Inverness County, Nova Scotia who plays Cape Breton fiddle music. MacMaster has toured with the Chieftains, Faith Hill, Carlos Santana, and Alison Krauss, and has recorded ...

, another Cape Breton fiddler who has toured extensively and gained an international following. His son, Allan, was elected to the

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (french: Assemblée législative de la Nouvelle-Écosse; gd, Taigh Seanaidh Alba Nuadh), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia of the province of Nova Scotia ...

in October 2009, representing the electoral district of Inverness as a Progressive Conservative.

Death

MacMaster died at his home in Judique, Nova Scotia on August 20, 2014. He was 89.

Discography

* ''Judique on the Floor'' (1989) * ''Glencoe Hall'' (1991) * ''The Judique Flyer'' (2000) * ''Cape Breton Tradition'' (2003) * ''Traditional Music from Cape Breton Island'' (2005) with Natalie MacMaster He has also released a video, ''Buddy MacMaster, Master of the Cape Breton Fiddle''.

References

External links

*
Biography
at BuddyMacMaster.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Macmaster, Buddy 1924 births 2014 deaths Members of the Order of Canada Members of the Order of Nova Scotia Musicians from Nova Scotia Musicians from Timmins People from Inverness County, Nova Scotia Canadian people of Scottish descent Cape Breton fiddlers Canadian male violinists and fiddlers Atlantic Records artists 20th-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers 20th-century Canadian male musicians