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Natalie MacMaster (born June 13, 1972) is a Canadian
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, the ...
r from Troy, Inverness County,
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Engl ...
who plays
Cape Breton fiddle music Cape Breton fiddling is a regional violin style which falls within the Celtic music idiom. Cape Breton Island's fiddle music was brought to North America by Scottish immigrants during the Highland Clearances. These Scottish immigrants were pr ...
. MacMaster has toured with
the Chieftains The Chieftains are a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous ...
,
Faith Hill Audrey Faith McGraw (; born September 21, 1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American singer and actress. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. Hill' ...
,
Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound feature ...
, and
Alison Krauss Alison Maria Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer and musician. She entered the music industry at an early age, competing in local contests by the age of 8 and recording for the first time at 14. She signed with ...
, and has recorded with
Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma (''Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...
. She has appeared at the
Celtic Colours Celtic Colours International Festival is a Celtic music festival held annually in October in communities on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. First held in 1997, the festival has featured musicians from the Celtic world and attracted vis ...
festival in
Cape Breton 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. ...
, Celtic Connections in Scotland, and MerleFest in the United States.


Background

MacMaster is the daughter of Alex and Minnie (née Beaton) MacMaster and the sister of Kevin and David MacMaster. She is the niece of the late renowned Cape Breton fiddler
Buddy MacMaster 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 l ...
and the cousin of two other fiddlers,
Ashley MacIsaac Ashley Dwayne MacIsaac (born February 24, 1975) is a Canadian fiddler, singer and songwriter from Cape Breton Island. He has received three Juno Awards, winning for Best New Solo Artist and Best Roots & Traditional Album – Solo at the Juno A ...
and Andrea Beaton. She is also distantly related to
Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975), commonly known as Jack White, is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the duo the White Stripes. White has enjoyed consistent critical and popular success and is widely c ...
. In 2002, she married fiddler Donnell Leahy of the
Leahy Leahy is a Canadian folk music group. The eight band members, all from the Leahy family of 11 siblings, are from Lakefield, Ontario and have been touring Canada and internationally since the early 1980s, when they were known as The Leahy Family ...
family band, and moved to Lakefield, Ontario. Leahy and MacMaster have seven children, and have performed and recorded together as a duo, and occasionally include their children, who also play fiddle, in their performances.


Musical career

MacMaster began playing 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, the ...
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. Her first album was self-produced, while her second was co-produced by John Morris Rankin (
The Rankin Family The Rankin Family (originally known as The Rankins) are a Canadian musical family group from Mabou, Nova Scotia. The group has won many Canadian music awards, including 15 East Coast Music Awards, six Juno Awards, four SOCAN Awards, three Cana ...
) and Tom O'Keefe (as per original cassette jacket). Both albums were initially released only on cassette, but
Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by Ali ...
omitted a few tracks and re-released as ''A Compilation'' in 1998. In 1999, she performed at the Juno Awards show in Hamilton. In recent years she has expanded her musical repertoire, mixing her
Cape Breton 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. ...
roots with music from
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 th ...
and Ireland, as well as American bluegrass. In 2004, MacMaster appeared on
Sharon, Lois & Bram Sharon, Lois & Bram (also known as Sharon, Bram & Friends, Sharon & Bram or Sharon & Randi) are a Canadian children's music group founded in Toronto, Ontario, 1978. The group's original lineup consisted of Sharon (née Trostin) Hampson, Lo ...
's 25th Anniversary Concert special titled "''25 Years of Skinnamarink''" that aired on CBC on January 1, 2004 at 7:00pm. She performed two songs with the trio: "C-H-I-C-K-E-N" and "Grandpa's Farm".


Awards

She has received a number of Canadian music awards, including several "Artist of the Year" awards from the
East Coast Music Association The 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. Its mission is to develop, advance and celebrate East Coast Canadian mus ...
, two
Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall o ...
s for best instrumental album, and "Fiddler of the Year" from the
Canadian Country Music Association The Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) was founded in 1976 as the Academy of Country Music Entertainment to organize, promote and develop a Canadian country music industry. The groundwork for the association began on June 3rd, 1973 when a g ...
. MacMaster was also awarded an honorary doctorate from
Niagara University Niagara University (NU) is a private Catholic university in the Vincentian tradition in Lewiston in Niagara County, New York. It is run by the Congregation of the Mission and has 3,300 undergraduate students in 50 academic programs. Approx ...
in New York in 2006. In 2006, she was made a member of the
Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with ...
, and in 2020, she was made a member of 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 ...
.


Discography


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) * '' The Rough Guide to the Music of Canada'', 2005 (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)


References


External links

* * *
"Cape Breton fiddling in reel time" (TED2002)
*
"Fiddling in reel time" (TED2003)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macmaster, Natalie 1972 births Living people 20th-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers 20th-century Canadian women singers 21st-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers 21st-century Canadian women singers Canadian female dancers Canadian Folk Music Award winners Canadian folk singers Canadian folk violinists Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian women folk singers Canadian women pianists Canadian women violinists and fiddlers Cape Breton fiddlers Juno Award for Instrumental Album of the Year winners Members of the Order of Canada Members of the Order of Nova Scotia Musicians from Nova Scotia Nova Scotia Teachers College alumni People from Cape Breton Island People from Inverness County, Nova Scotia Rounder Records artists 20th-century women pianists 21st-century women pianists