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Please allow the page to load completely before clicking links 12-30-99:
1999 The
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08-03-99:
Four Acts
Show Wide Range Of World Music In North America ......................................................................................................................................... OLDER PRESS: 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999
December
30, 1999 Many talented members of our arts community took a giant step forward this year. As the new century begins, watch out for those who make up our honour roll. NATALIE MACMASTER, musician The fiddling sensation from Troy, Cape Breton continues to win new fans and impress old ones as she made her singing debut on her new CD In My Hands this year. On the title track MacMaster does a sultry songspeak ode to her closest companion, her fiddle. She also sings a duet with Alison Krauss, Get Me Through December. The 27-year-old with the cascading blond curls leads the nominees for the 2000 East Coast Music Awards with seven. MacMaster is nominated in the female artist category, entertainer of the year, video of the year, best album, best single, roots-traditional solo artist, and SOCAN Songwriter of the year for In My Hands with Gordie Sampson. The multiple ECMA winner picked up her first Juno this year for best instrumental album and a Gemini for her performance on this year's Juno show in Hamilton, a duet with flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook of Toronto, who also appears on In My Hands. And MacMaster, who has appeared in commercials for Tim Horton's and GM's Pontiac, will continue making her mark in television. An episode of Pit Pony was written for her in which her Cape Breton neighbour Ashley MacIsaac also appeared. MacMaster will be at sea when the millennium hits. On New Year's Eve she'll be taking part in a five-day "ecotour" cruise from the tip of South America to the coast of Antarctica. Fan favourite MacMaster is providing entertainment on a superluxury cruise liner, along with jazz siren Diana Krall and her old friends The Chieftains." ......................................................................................................................................... December
15, 1999 Since she began playing as a teenager, Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster has been captivating folk music fans -- first in Canada and then abroad -- with her fiery performances and virtuoso fiddling. Her new album, In My Hands, is her most ambitious project to date, and more than hints at the possibility that MacMaster may be on the verge of a crossover success that few traditional musicians ever experience. While in Tampa, Fla., recently, MacMaster spoke about the title song from In My Hands, a wonderful, intricate, highly contemporary song that is destined to hook rock audiences. "The song came about because I'm looking for more variety in my work, especially in my live show," MacMaster explains. "Since I do fiddle every number, I thought it would be nice to represent myself vocally, you know, so people could hear my voice. That thought came and went for a while. When it came time to do this album, I thought this might be a good time to try something like this. So I decided I'd write about my music, since that's a topic that's real and honest. "I wrote several different things, but nothing was really diggin'," she continues. "Finally I thought I'd write the song about a fiddle, since a fiddle can be so much like a man, and the song will sort of fool people into thinking that I'm writing about a guy. But then I canned that idea, because as I got into more meaningful stuff my thoughts on music got deeper and it was all about Cape Breton music and the people who play the music. I mean, how many years has our music thrived in Cape Breton? The people back home are still very passionate about their music and most of the song is written about that passion." After refining the lyrics with co-writer Amy Sky, MacMaster took the song to her producer, Gordy Sampson. "He just sat in the studio and listened to the lyrics, and then the first three chords he played on his guitar were perfect -- they became the riff you hear throughout the song," Macmaster marvels. "He's just got a really cool way of putting things together. For me, the thing that makes 'In My Hands' settle so well is the groove and the chord progression underneath it. And that's all Gordy's doing." The rest of the album is dedicated to what MacMaster refers to as "the hunt for good tunes," and attempting to incorporate styles and sounds she digs into her music. "Every time I hear a groove that I like, I always think, OK, how can I play that.'" MacMaster explores electronica on "Space Celidh" and takes a rip at flamenco with "Flamenco Fling." She also succeeded in getting Alison Krauss to sing "Get Me Through December" for In My Hands. Asked if she was pleased by this coup, MacMaster replied: "I was completely ecstatic. I still am. I can't believe she's on my album. And now we're doing a video together." MacMaster realizes that her talent, and the electricity she generates in concert, may take her beyond the bounds of the Gaelic-influenced music that is her roots. "The more that I achieve, the more I realize that there's even more to achieve than I let on to myself," she allows. "You know, people say, 'Dream the impossible dream,' but I've never been one to do that. I know I'm capable of doing a lot of things, musically, but I never assume that I'm going to achieve all these things. I keep myself low-keyed. I don't really know what the future holds for me, but I'm very excited about it. I'll go wherever my music takes me. I'm game for anything. I'll do anything. I'll go anywhere." ......................................................................................................................................... December
15, 1999 NEW WATERFORD - The coach of the Breton Education Centre (BEC) Bears boys basketball team says Natalie MacMaster came through for them. Lowell Cormier says the boys and girls division one basketball teams have been fund-raising for the past seven months to raise money for a trip to the United States but still needed more money. He said they planned a Christmas ceilidh as their last fund raiser and MacMaster agreed to make a guest appearance. You could say Natalie MacMaster came through for the Bears. The ceilidh is being held 7 p.m. Saturday at BEC. Cormier said it will be an event to remember, with other entertainers to include Richard Burke, Dougie MacPhee, Kintyre, Nipper MacLeod, Bhreagha McIsaac. Tickets are available at MusicStop in Sydney, Shoppers Drug Mart in Glace Bay, Brineís Hairstyling Ltd., in New Waterford, or Cormier at 862-3462. Cormier said the teams will be travelling to Boston, New York and North Carolina from Jan. 2-14. ......................................................................................................................................... December
14, 1999
"Listen to it,'' Chapman says as the giggles die down and the class gets under way. "Let your ears tell you what to do.'' There is little to indicate that this gentle, rumpled man is a legend among those who love the haunting, lively tunes of Celtic music, that his name alone inspires awe among those who strive to play like the Cape Breton greats. For Chapman, 53, has produced more fiddle masters than anyone else in Canada, maybe anyone else on the planet. Nine of his former students have gone on to professional recording careers. Two of them - Ashley MacIsaac and Natalie MacMaster - are known around the world. He looks genuinely bewildered when asked the secret of his success. "Luck?'' he offers tentatively, running a thick hand through dark brown locks. ``I was lucky to have some really good students, I guess. Several have done awfully well, but I don't know if it's because of me or in spite of me.'' Chapman has been teaching music in public schools for 27 years, never more than a few hours' drive from the Pictou County home where he grew up. He started a private fiddle class in Antigonish in 1975, first in the legion hall, then in a high school music room. That class produced many of the musicians who fuelled an explosion of Celtic culture in the 1990s. Chapman credits the immense musical culture of the area for much of his success. Most of his best students came from families where the fiddle had been played - or at least appreciated - for generations. "A lot of them had heard the music since they were in the womb,'' he says. "They were all exposed to the music before they came to me. Their ear was accustomed to those sounds already, and that's tremendously important.'' Five years ago, Chapman quit. He closed down his private classes and decided to teach only in the public school system. Many wonder why one of the world's best fiddle teachers would stop taking some of the world's best students, but Chapman says it's simple: he just doesn't have the time. Nine years ago, Chapman married. It was only then that he began to explore the many joys of life beyond helping a youngster find the spirit and notes of a new song. "I like to have time for a swim, to go out on the boat, or just putter around,'' he says. "Maybe after I retire I'll start up again. I'm not saying I'll never have another private class.'' Kendra MacGillivary is one of the many professional musicians who first touched bow to string under Chapman's eye. MacGillivary, 27, is now working on her third CD. Both MacIsaac and MacMaster were in the classes that MacGillivary began when she was 9 years old. "It was always, always fun,'' she says. "He was very patient. I don't remember ever being pushed.'' Chapman is the antithesis of the tough-talking teacher who drives their students to excel. He hated fiddle competitions as a child and never wanted any of his students to enter them. Nor did he ever push his students to record. "I never imagined in a million years that these kids were going to make records, make a living, with the fiddle,'' he says. "If you had asked Natalie (MacMaster) what she was thinking of back then, she would have said she hoped to play for a few dances, maybe a wedding. That's about it.'' These days, Chapman teaches general music to 20 different classes in two public schools and offers fiddle as an extra-curricular activity. Chapman says his patience comes from his own struggles in learning to play. "I don't consider myself a great player. I find if you have to work at something yourself, it's easier to accept the mistakes of others. If everything comes very naturally, maybe it's harder to understand why someone else has difficulty.'' When Chapman reminisces about his career, it's not just the famous pupils he remembers. One of his biggest lessons came from one of his slowest students. Both MacMaster and MacIsaac played a tune within five minutes of their first lesson, he says. But another student took six months to learn half of a simple song. "It was really excruciating,'' says Chapman. "He just couldn't seem to get it.'' The student's parents finally came to Chapman and asked if their son would ever be a fiddler. "I didn't know what to say,'' he recalls. ``I almost said `No,' but then I thought, maybe he can if he tries hard enough. "Today, he isn't just good, he's excellent. He plays dances. He composes. He has real talent. People learn at different speeds. Just because it's hard for someone doesn't mean they won't be just as good, over time, as the person who learned easily.'' One of Chapman's purest pleasures is hearing new talent for the first time. Two years ago he was leaving a Cape Breton concert when the sound of a new fiddle player stopped him in his tracks. He turned to see a 13-year-old boy on stage. "When I hear somebody who's really good, who's new, it gives me the shivers. It makes the hair go up on the back of my neck.'' ......................................................................................................................................... December
6, 1999 Her roots are still showing, but has Natalie MacMaster matured into a seductive songstress? Just the fact she applies a brushstroke of soft sultry vocal rapping on a canvas of dreamy trip-hop to In My Hands, the title track from her sixth CD, marks a new direction for the 27-year-old blond fiddling sensation from Cape Breton. "I see your shape and I'm attracted/I touch your neck and I'm tempted/I feel the spirit that lies within/When I hold you in my hands," she sings, actually referring to the moment her grand-uncle Charlie gave her her first fiddle when she was nine. "I always wanted to try singing," says MacMaster, who brings her fine Cape Breton fiddling, step-dancing, accent and charm to the National Arts Centre tonight at 8 p.m. 'ADDS VARIETY' "It was an idea I'd been toying with. Then a year ago, I got together with my pal Amy Sky and (guitarist) Gordie Sampson and they helped me figure out how I wanted to get this across. "It adds a bit of variety to the album." Additional contributions to the CD include flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook -- with whom MacMaster duetted in an electrifying performance at this year's Juno Awards -- and bluegrass fiddler Alison Krauss. The shift also speak volumes about MacMaster's maturing career. Willing to explore new avenues, MacMaster has ventured into acting, appearing on the CBC series Pit Pony and in well-publicized commercials for Tim Horton's. Music, however, remains her sole focus. In the U.S., MacMaster recently inked a deal with Rounder Records, which released In My Hands. A SOFT SPOT FOR ITALY And her precision fiddle playing and toe-tapping step-dances, combined with her friendly, Maritime girl-next-door appeal, have captured the hearts of audiences the world over. MacMaster admits she has a soft spot for Italy ("Just an absolutely beautiful place!"), while she earned a new fan in Ireland -- a visiting Prime Minister Jean Chretien ("He gave me flowers for my birthday, it was totally unexpected."). Still, MacMaster says her heart will always come back to Cape Breton Island. "The quality of life there, the strong morals, and just the beauty of the place, it's so peaceful," MacMaster says. "It's like Alexander Graham Bell once said, 'For simple beauty, Cape Breton outrivals them all.' " As to how her older, more traditional rivals would react to In My Hands, MacMaster says not to worry: "The whole CD is still me." ......................................................................................................................................... December
6, 1999 OTTAWA - It's a safe bet that when it comes to performing, Natalie MacMaster has mastered the art of pleasing a crowd. Just give the soft-spoken 27-year-old blonde a fiddle, mix in some traditional jigs and reels from Cape Breton or Scotland -- maybe something a little more contemporary -- add some down-east friendly charm, accent and wit, and top it off with some solid tap-dancing. MacMaster and her clean-cut gentlemen quintet offered exactly that winning formula in front of a near-capacity crowd at the National Arts Centre last night. The end result was a pleasant evening to savour, as MacMaster and her fine fiddle playing were out to win audience approval. While other performers of her calibre (Ashley MacIsaac, Richard Wood, Eileen Ivers) have taken more fashionable risks, be it hip hop, high energy shows or, say Riverdance, MacMaster is happy to stick mainly within her traditional let's-please-everyone comfort zone. Sure, once in a while she'll try something different: Flamenco Fling, that Jesse Cook number for which he and MacMaster garnered raves at the Juno Awards earlier this year; In My Hands, MacMaster's first "song" featuring her sweet singing debut of which, frankly, she should do more; and a lovely piano-and-violin piece she plugged as The Tim Horton's Song (she appeared in spots for the company). But not for long. Then it's back to Josephine's Waltz, Blue Bonnets Over the Border, multi-part jigs and reels, and a little bit of tap-dancing in the first half, followed by a more powerful second helping of tap, tango (best use yet of Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street) and eight talented dancers from the audience who graced the stage. But hey, it's her show. And if MacMaster is content with playing it safe, the more power to her. ......................................................................................................................................... December
4, 1999 After putting out four albums, Natalie MacMaster decided she wanted to try something different with her latest effort In My Hands. "I've never wanted to be a singer, but with all my years of fiddling, fiddling, fiddling and doing live shows one after another, I thought it would be so nice if I could put a song in there so people could hear me speak the music," she says, sounding a little worn out after a month-long tour of the U.S. and a one-day trip to Dublin, where she shot a segment for a New Year's Eve special for the BBC. MacMaster, known for her virtuoso fiddling and frenzied step-dancing, tested her vocals on the CD's title track. It turned out to be the first single. The result was an exceedingly radio-friendly release from an already popular instrumentalist. The single took off. "I didn't expect it to do anything like what it did," she says. "I did it for a little change, that's all. A little variety... I certainly didn't think it would be a single." Despite the song's success, MacMaster says she's not shifting her musical priorities. "I'm not a singer and I'm not comfortable with it, really," the 27-year-old Cape Breton native admits. "But I figured, 'Well I don't necessarily have to be a great singer.' I thought I'd just write some lyrics. Amy Sky helped me with some of that. I figured, I'm just gonna say what I want to say." What she wanted to say was essentially an ode to something that has been close to her since she was nine years old -- her instrument: "I see your shape and I'm attracted/ I touch your neck and I'm tempted/ I feel the spirit that lies within/ When I hold you in my hands." MacMaster's Canadian tour, which started a few days ago, brings her to the stage of the National Arts Centre Monday. MacMaster performs about 250 gigs a year. She says her recent stint in the U.S. went particularly well. "It was our best American tour," she says. "Canada is much more open to Celtic-y things, but the States have much bigger festivals. They have everything we have, but it's 10 times bigger." MacMaster says she gets as much enjoyment from playing for crowds of thousands as she does in an intimate hall. "I need both," she says. "We do festivals in the summertime, so by the end of the summer I'm very anxious to get back to the theatres. We do that for fall and spring and then I'm anxious to get out on the big stage." MacMaster says the popularity of Celtic music shows no signs of waning. And although a steady stream of musical and fiddling talent has come from Cape Breton in recent years, MacMaster says standing out from the pack hasn't been a problem. "I'm unique because I'm a different person," she says. "I have never wanted to get away from Cape Breton and what it is Cape Breton gave me. Playing the music there is my number one love." Though her singing debut has been a success, she isn't sure if she'll do it again. "If I didn't do it again, I wouldn't be surprised," says MacMaster. "And if I did do it again, I wouldn't be surprised. I'm not going to force anything." ......................................................................................................................................... November
30, 1999 Natalie MacMaster doesn't drink much coffee. But when she does, she prefers Tim Hortons over any other brand. So the commercial that aired last year, with MacMaster's band piling out of the tour bus and into a friendly neighbourhood doughnut shop, was based on fact. "We usually have early mornings. So first thing, the bus stops at Tim Hortons and while the guys are doing the coffee thing, I'm in there getting orange juice and a toasted everything bagel with butter. "That's my Tim Hortons experience. If it's the afternoon I usually get a coffee and a honey cruller. Medium double double." The Celtic fiddler from Cape Breton has recent fond memories of Hamilton. The last time she was here, it was March and the Junos were in town. The night was hectic for MacMaster, to say the least. Not only was she performing, she was up for two awards and had to keep changing her costume. "It was like, 'Oh my God.' The whole day I don't think I hardly ate a thing and I was on 11 all day. "Haven't you heard that expression? You know, ten is all the way on a scale of zero to 10? Well, I was on 11." The 27-year-old obviously didn't let the anxiety overcome her talent. Her act with Jesse Cook on those Juno awards won a Gemini for best live performance in a variety program or series. She also took home the Juno for best instrumental album for My Roots Are Showing. Now MacMaster has a new album out and it's not purely instrumental. On In My Hands, MacMaster is credited with vocals for the first time. In the title track she speaks in time to the music and sings backup. "I see your shape and I'm attracted/I touch your neck and I'm tempted/I feel the spirit that lies within/When I hold you in my hands." Although MacMaster is happy with how her voice sounds on the recording and has had positive feedback on the song, she's not sure she'll ever sing again. She's just not very comfortable with vocals. "You can do something at home that you just sort of frig around with, like if you sing when you're cooking or in the shower. But when you go into the recording studio - even if you're used to performing - it has a totally different element." The original idea was to do something a bit different on the album and to be able to shake up her audiences. For MacMaster, the best compliments after a concert came from the people who hated fiddle music but were dragged there by friends, and ended up loving the show. "I originally wanted to do this because my concert is always fiddle, fiddle, fiddle. I want people who aren't into fiddle music to enjoy the show as well." MacMaster says she never thought the song would take off the way it has. When the recording was close to completion, her record company wanted to make the song a single, and thereby make it radio-friendly. For an artist known solely for great fiddling, getting on the radio is not an easy task. Radios like voices, so MacMaster hadn't really broken into that far-reaching market before. "I'm not a huge pop star or anything, but the song has opened markets that I hadn't been able to tap into before." Celtic music seems to be on a bit of a decline since hitting a peak over the past few years, but MacMaster says her career just keeps getting better. She chalks her success up to a number of things, including the resurgence of Celtic music, her personal popularity, her 18 years of experience, good publicity from her record company, and a fresh, contemporary new album. But MacMaster's enduring success comes at the expense of years of touring all the "nooks and crannies" of the country. She is popular above all because she is lively and engaging onstage. You see MacMaster's energy and her long blond curls go a-bouncing and you have to get up and dance. Then you tell your friends about the time you had. Although her career has been an exhausting journey down different roads to different holes-in-the-wall, there were only three or four times where MacMaster felt she couldn't go on. "Then I just pray. I pray to God that I'll get over it." MacMaster's learned to take things one day at a time, and she finds that the band gets better with every tour. She just finished a jaunt through the States and says it was possibly the best tour she's done. "But we had fewer shows throughout the week, we have the tour bus now, we have more people looking after us, we stay at nicer places, we work with better people and we play at nicer venues. It makes a difference. "That's when, because you've done the harder stuff, you can appreciate what is happening, and you kind of get inspired by that." ......................................................................................................................................... November
27, 1999 Natalie MacMaster, known for her wholesome overalls and angelic blond curls, is suddenly sexy as she whisper-sings on the title track of her new album, In My Hands. "I see your shape and I'm attracted/I touch your neck and I'm tempted," the Cape Breton fiddler coos, amid a dreamy mix of fiddling, drums and ambient music. But MacMaster, who was once featured in East Coast milk commercials, maintains that a diva makeover was not her plan when she decided to try songwriting and singing on this album. "With the words and the lyrics and the performance, the farthest thing from my mind was trying to make it sensual," she says. "So if it is, it is au naturel. Maybe I'm just a sensual person." MacMaster, who was in town last night to co-host The 1999 Prime Minister Awards at Roy Thomson Hall -- and plays Convocation Hall next Saturday -- says the song is actually about her love for the fiddle. But she can see how people may read more into it. MacMaster was apprehensive about her vocal debut. "I've always wanted to use my voice," she says. "I started writing some lyrics -- I didn't know whether they were good or bad. I was absolutely petrified. The first time I tried it in the studio, it was just awful. I was at the point where I thought it was a stupid idea." Wrong. In My Hands is the best-selling of her seven albums. MacMaster, 27, calls it more contemporary and more accessible than its traditional predecessors. "I was talking to mom last night and she was telling me about all the fan mail I've been getting about my song. That's really encouraging." Her sultry voice and CD cover have raised eyebrows, however. The picture shows MacMaster with her head down, face obscured by curls, while sitting in a short skirt and showing off her legs. "I was in Boston, and this woman came over to me and said the album cover made me look like some sort of drug addict sitting on the toilet strung out on coke," says MacMaster. "She kept asking, 'Where is the sweet Natalie we all know, the milk girl, the young, sweet precious Natalie?' "I haven't changed," she adds. "I'm still the same old Natalie." Yes that's for sure. MacMaster had to cut this interview short to avoid being late for Mass. ......................................................................................................................................... November 16, 1999Natalie MacMaster: All Grown Up By Ross Porter - The National Magazine CAPE BRETON - If the soul of a place can be found in its music, Cape Breton is a land of high spirits. Its unmistakable and infectious style of music is as natural a part of the landscape as the rock and the rain. Now the latest embodiment of that rich tradition is the fiddler Natalie MacMaster. Her popularity extends well beyond the shores of Cape Breton, as you can see from her hectic touring and recording schedule. The little island has produced yet another global star, but for Natalie MacMaster home is never all that far away. MacMaster might be the busiest woman in Canadian show business. Fans around the world are scooping up copies of her CDs. "I've been out there in big cities and playing all the big things," she says, "and it's truly wonderful. It makes you feel like a real star." With non-stop touring, her audience keeps growing and she's selling out concerts worldwide. It's success many only dream of, but for Natalie, she's just a fiddler from Cape Breton. "When I get back and get a little taste of home and hear the music, which is the greatest music in the world, as far as I'm concerned," she says. "It just makes me itchy to do that, to go that route." Natalie MacMaster recently played to a sold-out crowd at the community centre in Judique. What was different about that show was that there was no tour bus, no tractor trailers filled with lighting and sound gear, and Natalie's band had a rare night off. She played with her uncle Buddy, her mom Minnie and her brother Kevin (who, by the way, hasn't played in public in years and agreed only after Natalie had said she'd pay for a trip to the Vatican.) Natalie comes from a closely knit family with a strong set of religious and family values. She's the youngest of three children, raised by Minnie and Alec. Alec has retired from the pulp mill, where Natalie's brothers now work. Her mom runs the fan club and checks the books. "I get nervous playing at home, and I'm not nervous very much at all," says MacMaster. "I can play in front of thousands and thousands of people. But just even a little group of 500 people like last night in the hall -- I was nervous because the music is so much theirs and it's so much Cape Breton and I guess you can't get away with anything, really. You have to make sure you're in top form and the tunes are played right, and that sort of thing because that's where it comes from, right there." Cape Breton is an island rich in musical tradition. Many of Canada's best fiddlers have come from here -- including Natalie's uncle, Buddy MacMaster. "She's my niece and I'm very proud of her," says Buddy MacMaster, "and she's a very talented girl and a likable girl. It hasn't gone to her head at all; she's still Natalie, the same as she always was. And it's nice to see her come back here to play in Judique." Judique is close to where Natalie grew up. When she was nine, a child-size fiddle arrived from an uncle in Boston. She quickly became a fiddling sensation on the island; Natalie had a knack for winning people over. One was Ashley McIsaac, who grew up down the road. For him, her talent is obvious. "She is part of the tradition," says McIsaac. "It's her rhythm, her blonde hair -- both flying off her bow and her fiddle, and probably just the sound." Natalie's success has brought all kinds of opportunities including acting. She shot a segment for the TV series The Pit Pony. Both Natalie and Ashley were asked to appear as characters from the turn of the century but Natalie says she doesn't want to become an actress just yet. "What I do wanna do, is play little roles here and there and things," she says. "I haven't felt it, I'm not saying that 10 years down the road I wouldn't answer differently to your question but right now, if you ask me do I wanna be an actress, I'd say no." She has a lot on her plate, including offers of marriage from her longtime friend Ashley MacIssac. "I have been a bachelor fiddler my whole life," says MacIsaac, "but by God, I swear I would marry this girl if she would have me." Despite such proposals MacMaster, at 27, is single. "The only person I really have to think about right now is myself," she says, "and so I have freedom to do these things, which is great and that's a big part of the reason why I'm keeping myself so busy now and accepting all these offers that are coming in. Because I want to take advantage of them now while I can; while I have the great opportunity to. "I'm starting to think ahead a little more now and I think that there's definitely going to come a point where I'm gonna wanna have kids. Now I'm a long ways away from that, and I don't even know if that will ever happen for me, but I hope it would." "I'd love to be a mom and even just doing normal things like running the house, running the household." says Natalie MacMaster. "Mind you, I've got the worst domestic skills of anybody I know. I can't cook worth a darn. But there's hope. There is hope." In the meantime, there is a career to focus on. Natalie has fans around the world. she was part of a Celtic music special being prepared by BBC Radio. "I think when you get Natalie playing and dancing, it's an unbeatable combination," says Ian Anderson is from BBC Radio in Scotland. Natalie started dancing before she played the fiddle and she's good at it. Even Michael Flatley offered her a spot in his show Lord Of The Dance. Natalie passed so she could concentrate on her music. "I should say the only thing after each show that bothers me is my feet. Which really -- it's not what you would think, with all this movement up here. Then again, I've got lots of movement down here too, I suppose people would say." People such as the BBC's Ian Anderson say apart from this technical virtuosity she brings a dose of glamour to a scene that is essentially unglamourous. That's thanks to Natalie being marketed in an astute way. There's a website; there are music videos; merchandise such as clothing. The packaging of each album has become more and more sophisticated. On her latest CD, Natalie's fiddle has been left off the cover. "That's because first of all, all my other albums have fiddle," says MacMaster. "And I wanted to do something different. I just wanted to have a departure from that." It's a departure that Andre Bourgeois, Natalie's manager, supports. "Rather than the way that she'd been presented as everybody's you know daughter," says Bourgeois. "The daughter-next-door. She's now being presented as her own fully grown, fully mature, fully independent person and a woman, not a young, not a young girl. "I think a lot of that came from the fact that she started so young. You know she started when she was a young girl, so there were images, photos and so on of her performing when she was 15, 16, 17. And for a lot of people, those images stayed with them. So we almost wanted to erase some of that and create a sense of arrival at a new level." Another departure, aimed at increasing her appeal, was including Natalie's vocals on her new CD, In My Hands. "Natalie's situation is very different from most artists right now in that she does in fact pay for, or finance, her own recordings, her own videos and many of the other things that surrounds all the label activity," says Bourgeois. "For that reason, again, she's able to retain ownership and full control of her masters and that means that 10 years from now, should she want to do something with her material -- whether it's put it in a motion picture or put it on a compilation or re-record it or re-release it, those options are all there for her. And only one person really has to agree, and that's her." Even the dodgy area of being identified with a product is something Natalie managed to finesse. A commercial for Tim Horton's ended up being more about Natalie than doughnuts. And just how well is Natalie financing herself? "Well it varies. I'm not trying at all to dodge the question," says Bourgeois. "It depends on the type of event. Most of our highest-paying work is she does a fair amount of corporate work in playing private conventions for large companies, that sort of thing. "The corporate world seems very comfortable with her image and they seem to want that sort of thing. That work pays very well. Natalie commands as much as $30,000 or $40,000 a night. At the same time, at the other end of the scale, she'll play back home in Cape Breton for the love of the music and $200 or $300." Natalie herself says she's very satisfied with the structure of the business. "It is a business, in many senses," she says. "Here I am playing music that I love and that's what's important to me. But you have to have the other stuff together too; you have to have management and agents. "You know I've got agents in three different countries and three different record companies and it's a big business. It's a big old machine that runs, that operates and it doesn't stop; it just keeps going and going and you have to make sure. I mean Andre, my manager, he's the guy who makes sure that everything's in place and that everything's working properly. But you know you have to accept it, that it is a business." The record business is fickle. Natalie's potential to have a career that spans years is great. She has three important elements that never fall out of favour: honesty, integrity and talent. ......................................................................................................................................... November 15, 1999MacMaster And Friends The Boston Globe Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster may have been hundreds of miles from home on Saturday, but there were familiar faces in the audience at her sold-out Berklee Performance Center show. Chief among them, her parents, Alex and Minnie MacMaster (a former stepdancer), seated in the center of the auditorium nearly a dozen rows back from the stage. The couple had driven down from Cape Breton for Friday night's concert in Manchester, N.H, before catching the Boston show. During a break in the 2 1/2 hour show, MacMaster chatted with the audience, asking how many Canadians were on hand. When she received a large response, she kept narrowing it down to hometowns in Cape Breton, concluding that one audience member in the balcony must have been a relation. ......................................................................................................................................... November 12, 1999Natalie MacMaster Keeps Her Cape Breton Sound Pure Scott Alarik - The Boston Globe "Not true. Nope. Never happened. I don't even know how that story got started." Says the Cape Breton fiddle sensation Natalie MacMaster. Her normally shy, soft voice turned suddenly testy. As she has grown from fiddle prodigy to international star, a certain folklore has also grown about her beginnings on the far Canadian isle of Cape Breton. The particular myth she was hotly denying, which has been widely reported as fact, is that she was once urged by a record executive to lose her Cape Breton accent. "I'm asked about that all the time." she said with a sigh. "I think people keep printing it because it sounds good, but it never happened. I haven't come into any pressure along the way. Not to talk different, not to play different. That's why the story is kind of boring I guess. There's no juice, no gossip. It's really kind of perfect and fairy-tale-ish." While her saga may not be filled with backstage Svengalis, Machiavellian show-biz manipulations, or tawdry scandals, it is certainly the stuff of a modern-day fairy tale: A little girl grows up in a humble, music-filled and loving household. Going to sleep every night listening to the vibrant Scottish-based traditional music of her Cape Breton home. One day a child-sized fiddle arrives in the mail from an uncle in Boston. Anyone who wants to play it can have it and 9 year-old Natalie scoops it up, as everyone in the family knew she would. Her little head is so filled with music that she is immediately able to scratch out tunes. At 16 she makes her first CD, and by the time she is 27, as she is now, she is a bona-fide world star who has toured with the Chieftains, been featured on their "Tears Of Stone" CD alongside Joni Mitchell, Diana Krall, The Corrs and Bonnie Raitt and recorded with Mark O'Connor and Alison Krauss who join MacMaster on her adventurous Rounder CD, "In My Hands". Her concert tomorrow at Berklee is already sold out. "Being a fiddler was never a decision for me, something I wanted to be taught." she said. "It was more like learning to walk. Everybody around you is doing it; you're seeing it all the time. You can do it, you just have to practice. That's basically all it was, like a language or any of the essentials. I got this fiddle and knew fiddle music as well as I knew anything." The organic mastery sparks everything she plays. Her music is passionately joyful. Her bow at once raw and tender, muscular and sweet as she drives through ancient tunes that many experts, including Scottish fiddlers Aly Bain and Alasdair Fraser believe are closer to what Scottish music sounded like 300 years ago that what can be heard in Scotland today. That belief comes less from the remoteness of Cape Breton than from how the music remains such a living tradition. Played to the thundering pulse of hundreds of clogging feet at square dances. Single malt, whoop-it-up weekend music. ......................................................................................................................................... November 8, 1999MacMaster Sings In Praise Of The Fiddle 'In My Hands' By Serena Yang - CNN World Beat
"Living in Cape Breton, it's really all about fiddle music," she says "so it's not like there were other instruments out there that tempted me and it was like I had to decide which one. It was automatically fiddle, because it's the predominant instrument in Cape Breton Island."MacMaster, who's been playing the fiddle since age 9, breaks stride with her sixth and latest album, "In My Hands," in which -- for the first time -- she sings, pairing her alto on some songs with country star Alison Krauss' soprano. "'In My Hands,' the title track, is my very first vocal attempt and I'm not a singer as such," she says. "But I've always wanted to express myself vocally on my albums and I don't really have much of a capability for singing. The strength is in, I think, the lyrics and just speaking. It just comes from inside." Ultimately, she says, fiddling is the thing for her -- and not just any fiddling, but fiddling that promotes the Cape Breton style. "That's what makes me unique and I want to hold onto that. It's full of soul, it's full of fire and power and zest and it's so natural and so honest, it's such an honest music." "And I think we're just very fortunate in Cape Breton. For some reason it's maintained its very traditional sort of sound." The niece of influential Cape Breton fiddler Buddy MacMaster says the fiddle forms the core of any Cape Breton-style music. "If you took away even the drum section or the rhythm section with the drums and the bass and the piano and the guitar and all that, still the meat and potatoes is all there, just in the fiddle itself," she says. "It's a very rhythmical music and it's so closely associated with the dancing -- those steps are very much tied in with the rhythms pressed into the violin itself. ... It's very much dance music and very much an expression." Two of MacMaster's records have gone gold in Canada, and she's won her share of music industry awards. Most recently, she was named female artist of the year at the 1999 East Coast Music Awards. And earlier this year, she earned a Juno Award for best instrumental album, for "My Roots Are Showing." Although her album sales and near-constant touring schedule mean she's one of the most active proponents of Celtic music, she's modest enough to say the musical style doesn't need her to survive. "Celtic music will always be around, even if with the mainstream crowds it dies out," she says. "It doesn't matter if it's a fad or not, it will. It's been here for centuries and it will continue to live and thrive, especially in Cape Breton." ......................................................................................................................................... November 5, 1999Modernism Evolves In Fiddling Capital Jim McGuinness - The Bergen Record She's a traditionalist at heart. But the way fiddler Natalie MacMaster sees it, an artist should be allowed to add new ideas without losing hold of the old audience. A native of Canada's "fiddling capital" of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, MacMaster is very much in tune with the region's Celtic tradition (her uncle is influential Cape Breton fiddler Buddy MacMaster). But like her cousin and neighbor, fiddle sensation Ashley MacIsaac, she enjoys modern music and likes to incorporate some into her sound. "I love traditional music, and it's the bulk of what I do," MacMaster said in a recent phone interview. "But I also like a lot of other music and have a natural tendency to try different things. I don't want to feel stifled because of where I grew up." MacMaster's penchant for experimentation has helped make her a star in her homeland. At 27, she has already taken home six East Coast Music Awards (including 1999 female artist of the year), a 1999 Juno Award (best instrumental album), and two Canadian Country Music Awards (1997 and 1998 fiddler of the year). Her magnetic personality and delicate features have also led to Canadian television commercials, with the highlights being a national campaign for Tim Horton Donuts and a General Motors Pontiac spot where consumers were given a free MacMaster CD with a car stereo system. Meanwhile, MacMaster's vibrant stage show -- which includes backing by a five-piece, electric band -- makes her a must-see live performer. Like many Cape Breton fiddlers, MacMaster step-dances as she fiddles. She also throws in a few other moves, including an Appalachian clogging step called the wagon wheel, a few Irish steps, and a moonwalk that would make Michael Jackson proud. For MacMaster, who has been dancing since age 5 and fiddling since she was 9, it's a matter of keeping the audience in step with her music. "Step-dancing is part of our tradition," MacMaster said. "The other stuff I do, like the moonwalking, is just for show. I like to be an entertainer, so I throw those steps in for the entertainment value." MacMaster's yen to push the envelope can be heard on "In My Hands," her latest Rounder album. Produced by fellow Cape Bretonite Gordie Sampson, the album mixes a number of outside influences with MacMaster's Gaelic-based sound. "Blue Bonnets Over the Border," recorded with Holly Cole's band, has a cool jazz timbre, while "Flamenco Fling," which features Canadian Spanish-styled guitarist Jesse Cook, has an energetic Latin feel. MacMaster also utilizes electronic dance rhythms on the futuristic "Space Ceilidh." But the album's big surprise is the title track, which features MacMaster's first-ever vocal performance. On the cut, MacMaster recites a poem over a light hip-hop beat, interspersing the musical refrain from a traditional Irish reel known as "The Drunken Landlady." "I never wanted to become a singer and I still don't," MacMaster says. "But I always wanted to do some sort of vocal thing. I thought it would be cool for people to hear me speaking to them." MacMaster also ventured to Nashville to record with bluegrass star Alison Krauss. The collaboration with Krauss is interesting in that she, like MacMaster, has taken some heat in certain circles for veering away from her original artistic vision. "What really bothers me is when an artist starts in one place and people try to keep them there," MacMaster said. Despite her crossover potential, MacMaster is wary of straying too far from the traditional style she grew up with. At the same time, she tries to provide something for the non-traditionalists who might attend one of her shows. "I try to mix it up," she said. "Not everyone in the crowd is going to be a traditionalist. The coolest comment to me is when somebody comes up to me after a show and says, 'I don't like fiddle music, but I liked the show.' Usually they're there because somebody dragged them to the show -- and they come away being a new fan." ......................................................................................................................................... November
4, 1999 Germaine runs a bed and breakfast in the heart of Cape Breton Island's Acadian west coast. She's a booster of all things French, proudly directing my wife and I to the region's "best" food, woodcrafters and shopkeepers ... all French, but she has her standards. When I asked about Acadian musicians, Germaine smiled and said "Ah, the French fiddlers are good, but they're not Natalie." That would be Natalie MacMaster from the decidedly Scots branch of Nova Scotia's family tree. It's like this throughout the province, where MacMaster's fiddle licks waft from public sound systems and her videos line shop shelves. Anyone who's ever seen MacMaster knows why Nova Scotians of all ethnic stripes are so proud of their native daughter. For MacMaster, playing the fiddle is a total body experience. She not only plays flawlessly, she often breaks into step dancing in mid-bow. Think Michael Flatley with a fiddle and without the ego. Though MacMaster was dubbed a child phenomenon, recorded her first album at 16 and has wowed audiences around the world, she remains at heart a country girl. "I had the sense to go into recording young," she said, "and my promoters put me more in the public eye, but that's got more to do with publicity than ability. There's nothing special about me. There's lots more fiddlers like me around Cape Breton." Yeah, and there are lots of Rembrandts in the Riijksmuseum. But MacMaster is not modest to call attention to the island's musical riches. There are probably more fiddlers per capita on Cape Breton than anywhere else on the planet. Residents include luminaries like Jerry Holland, Howie MacDonald, the Rankins and Natalie's uncle, Buddy MacMaster. She hails from Troy, just across the narrow Canso strait separating Cape Breton from the Nova Scotia mainland. Troy is little more than a postage-sized village, but the community spirit of like-minded hamlets has kept musical traditions vital. Especially Scottish traditions. Many families settled there before the 1707 Treaty of Union that made Scotland part of Great Britain, and before Scots music was influenced by Victorian parlor stylings. Today Scots musicians come to the island to study their own indigenous traditions. "Cape Breton fiddling is different that what you hear in Scotland today," said MacMaster. "We have a 'backwards grace note' where instead of gracing the note above on the scale, we grace the one below." Islanders also play a "strathspey" a rhythmic melody favored by dancers that's nearly extinct in Scotland. Dance tempo so infuses the music that many, including MacMaster, learned step dancing before they picked up the bow. But heritage and luck will only take you so far. MacMaster has matured from a gangly teen who dazzled with rapid-speed jigs and reels into her current portrait of poise and grace. When I interviewed MacMaster in 1995, she expressed frustration with her command of slow tunes. When she took the stage at this summer's International Fiddles of the World Festival in Halifax, she opened with a slow air, holding an audience of several thousand silent while she patiently built the set. "As I've traveled I've gained more experience," MacMaster said. "I've had to learn to play with my hand in a different position to get the vibrato better. We don't concentrate on slow playing as much in Cape Breton because there's so much interest in dance." Just finding time to work on her art is a challenge; MacMaster is on the road well over 200 days a year. "I never systematically worked on playing slowly," she said. "I guess it's just a maturity thing." Her willingness to expand her musical horizons has paid off as well, especially her collaboration with Grammy award winner Mark O'Connor. "I first heard Mark's music eight years ago and I had never heard any fiddler like that in my life," MacMaster said. "It was like a flash: Technically he was a wizard and his tones were the smoothest and cleanest I had ever heard." MacMaster enrolled as a student in O'Connor's summer camp, but was asked to return as an instructor. She has done so every summer since and recorded a duet with O'Connor for her new Rounder album "In My Hands". That album sees MacMaster branching out in numerous ways. In addition to trademark jigs and reels, there are departures into everything from a spoken-word meditation to Flamenco and a postmodern bit of tradition-meets-techno called "Space Ceilidh". It's quite a contrast to her previous recording - to be released in the States in April - titled "My Roots Are Showing". That one featured traditional Cape Breton tunes served with consummate skill but minimal innovation. MacMaster insists that Cape Breton music is "dearer to my heart than anything else," but she wishes the purity-versus-innovation debate would just go away. "I'm from Cape Breton Island but I love all kinds of music," she said "I have to be aware of my audience. Those who understand traditional music would find two hours of it awesome, but it would just be awful to those who don't know it. I like to put some pizzazz into my performances to interest the ears of those who don't think they like fiddle music. But people get too caught up in the analysis. It's all music. Just listen and if you like it, great; if not, stop listening." No fear that MacMaster's audience will stop listening. But she's steadfast in how far she'll go. "If all you do is try to be 'worldly', where's your identity?" she asks. "What I do may not be traditional, but it's still valid. And if you take away the bass, the drums and the guitar, my fiddle is Cape Breton to the core." Just like Natalie MacMaster. ......................................................................................................................................... October
7, 1999 Natalie MacMaster has a cold. But the audience never would have guessed if the lively Maritime fiddler hadn't announced the unfortunate news, begged for sympathy and pointed to the tissues near her feet. But no lousy virus slowed her down when she took to the stage Wednesday at the Jack Singer Concert Hall for a raucous, toe-tappin', step-dancin', hand-clappin' Cape Breton kitchen party. MacMaster,
27, concentrated on playing songs from her seventh and most recent
recording, In My Hands, including the dreamy fiddle-pop tune of the same
name, Blue Bonnets Over The Border and Welcome to the Trossachs (written
by her cousin, Wilfred Gillis). But she also She took the time to remind the audience that she and Canadian flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook have been nominated for a Gemini Award (to be announced Nov. 7) for their duet performance at this past spring's Juno Awards. Constantly on the move, MacMaster is an energetic performer who throws a step dance or two into every concert. Even one of her two keyboardists, Mac Morin, jumped up and danced for a tune. But MacMaster's between-song banter is every bit as entertaining as her music. She garnered plenty of laughs with silly stories and puns like "Did Juno, I won a Juno?" (She won one this spring for best instrumental album.) At
one point, she even admitted that she's the same blond musician in a
popular Tim Horton's There was a down-home intimacy to the show that is seldom seen on a big stage, and the audience -- awestruck little girls, grandparents, families, couples on dates and fellow musicians -- lapped it up and clapped along. There probably wasn't a person in the crowd who wasn't completely charmed by her folksy mannerisms, fiery fiddling and lilting Cape Breton accent. Anyone who finds fiddle music old-fashioned and boring should be given a healthy dose of MacMaster's tunes (or better yet, one of her concerts.) ......................................................................................................................................... October 7, 1999Talent In Her Hands. Celtic Fiddler Natalie MacMaster Is The Master Of Putting An Audience At Ease By Lisa Walton - Calgary Sun Her
laid-back stage presence and conversational manner charmed the
crowd of 1,300 at the Jack Singer Concert Hall last night. Her
tall, slim frame was outlined by a blue backlight until a burst of
lights revealed her stylish stagewear: Loose-fitting black pants and a
draping, black sequinned halter top. ......................................................................................................................................... October 6, 1999Master Of Her Domain. Fiddling Is Her Passion, Her Destiny By Dave Veitch - Calgary Sun It's
not exactly Love To Love You Baby, but Natalie MacMaster sounds like
she's in the throes of erotic rapture on the title track of her seventh
and latest album, In My Hands. That
gramma was one wise lady. ......................................................................................................................................... October 5, 1999The Seduction of Natalie MacMaster Alison Mayes - Calgary Herald "I see your shape and I'm attracted," purrs a sultry Natalie MacMaster. "I touch your neck and I'm tempted. . ." What's this? The golden-haired sweetie-pie of Canadian Celtic music sounding as if she's dizzy with erotic desire? Well, yes, but the object of lust in MacMaster's first-ever vocal performance is, in fact, her fiddle. In
My Hands, the title track on the Nova Scotian's seventh album, is a
seductive spoken ode to the instrument that initially fools the listener
into thinking she is "talking about a guy," as she says from a
tour stop in northwestern Ontario. The romantically
unattached MacMaster actually penned the above-quoted lines while
recalling the moment her grand-uncle Charlie gave her her first fiddle
when she was nine. It was an old, three-quarter-size instrument of "As
soon as I saw it, I was attracted to its shape," she remembers.
"I was attracted to its size -- it was perfect for me. As soon as I
picked it up I had the desire to play it, right from the first The
down-to-earth string goddess has nothing left to prove as a captivating
performer of the traditional Scottish reels, jigs, marches, airs and
strathspeys she learned while growing up in Cape Breton, as well as of
contemporary Celtic compositions. Her talent and lively persona
have taken her to stages around the world. She's in demand as a guest
fiddler with revered acts such as Ireland's The Chieftains. Her own
guests on In My Hands, released in Canada in August and south of the
border last month, include bluegrass superstar Alison Krauss, country
fiddle great Mark O'Connor, Irish accordionist Sharon Shannon and
flamenco guitarist Jesse MacMaster
step-dances as confidently as she plays. But she has never felt at ease
with using her voice, and she was determined to overcome that barrier by
recording the track In My Hands. "I've always wanted to do
something vocally," she says. "I wanted to tell people
something, and I knew it had to be something honest, that meant a lot to
me -- something I After tinkering with lyrics for several months, MacMaster asked her friend, Toronto singer-songwriter Amy Sky, to help her polish her ideas. East Coast musician-producer Gordie Sampson added the hypnotic music. The song mentions "the old times and old memories called to life beneath my bow." MacMaster, who is the niece of legendary fiddler Buddy MacMaster and the cousin of renegade bowmaster Ashley MacIsaac, never forgets the legacy of the rugged Cape Bretoners who came before her. "The music I have today comes from them. Through the years, fiddles have been passed down from generation to generation. There's a lot of stories in those fiddles, if they could ever talk." Cape
Breton fiddling is a unique style, distinct from what is heard in
present-day Scotland. It's special enough that MacMaster has taught
classes in the style for the past six years at Mark "The
best way is just to get both players to play the same tune -- then you'd
hear it," she says. "But if I had to explain it, there's a
rhythm -- a certain timing, a certain tempo, a certain pulse -- that's
very strong within all the tunes we play (in Cape Breton). I think it
comes from the |
The
girls are giggling. Sheet music has tumbled to the linoleum floor and a
string has slipped on a fiddle that has just been tuned. It's a
typical Tuesday afternoon at St. Andrews Consolidated School, where
teacher Stan Chapman is getting ready to coax ancient Scottish battle
tunes from a gaggle of pre-teens in bell bottoms and oversize
sweatshirts.