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05-04-01: Celtic
Fiddler To Perform At Royce Hall
05-03-01: For
MacMaster, It's More Than Fiddlin' Around
04-29-01: MacMaster's A
Fine Lassie With A Fiddle
04-27-01: Fiddler Finds
Inspiration In Her Roots
04-26-01: Fiddling With
Stardom
04-25-01: Cape Breton Soul
04-20-01: It's A Family
Affair
04-19-01: Her Roots Are
Showing
03-01:
Fiddle Whiz Brings Cheer and Tunes to Sick
Kids
03-01-01: Natalie Carries
On The Tradition
02-22-01: No Grammy for
Natalie
02-21-01: Natalie's
ready for Grammys, Ears and all
02-21-01: Mac-tastic
Natalie readies for tonight's Grammy Awards
02-21-01: MacMaster
Gears up For Grammy's
02-21-01: MacMaster
joins Chieftains at MusiCares benefit concert
02-20-01: Fiddler On Top
Of The World
02-18-01: MacMaster Up
for one of 13 Canadian Grammy Nominations
02-17-01: Natalie
MacMaster has one thing on her mind: What to wear to the Grammys?
01-24-01: MacMaster and
The Chieftains
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December
28, 2001
A Year of
Diverse Musical Moments
By Don Heckman -
LA Times (excerpt)
The
2001 world-music year started relatively inauspiciously. No surprise
there; American music listeners tend to focus on familiar sounds and
familiar languages rather than venture into new and challenging musical
landscapes. The exceptions tend to be those ensembles that can offer
infectious, easily accessible rhythms - the Gipsy Kings, for example - or
moody, atmospheric soundtracks (try Enya).
The
Grammy for world music was awarded to the great Brazilian bossa nova
singer-guitarist Joao Gilberto. Justified though the honor may have been,
it hardly reflected the enormous diversity of choices available from
younger, more adventurous artists from every part of the globe.
Add
to that the fact that a quick look at the international and world music
listings reveals an equally narrow perspective. For example, Yahoo's top
10 international music favorites at the moment include two Andrea Bocelli
albums, a pair of Ricky Martin CDs, a couple of Marc Anthony releases and
the Baha Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out." Billboard's presumably
more musically knowledgeable listings from mid-December included a CD from
a single authentic world-music diva, Cesaria Evora ("Sao Vincente Di
Longe"); a pair of releases (one a remix of the other) from
Gilberto's daughter, Bebel Gilberto; the Gipsy Kings' "Somos Gitanos";
and, yes, the Baha Men again.
Depressing?
Well, sure, and there's no doubt that the category generally described as
world music--that is, the 88% or so of recorded music that is not American
and British pop or European classical - is largely a niche market, in
terms of sales and popularity. But it would be even more bothersome if
listings of this sort reflected a genuine inability to find and experience
world music in its infinitely varied forms.
Among
the year's standout memories (in no particular order):
* Two brilliant gypsy ensembles--Fanfare Ciocarlia (at the Cerritos Center
for the Performing Arts) and Taraf de Haidouks (at El Camino College's
Marsee Auditorium)--whipped through irrepressibly rhythmic music, proving
that it's possible to play fast and from the heart at the same time.
*
Gal Costa and Lila Downs at the Greek Theatre. Two generations of divas on
the same stage--Costa, the great Brazilian veteran of the Musica Popular
Brasileira movement of the '60s and '70s, and Downs, nominally Mexican
American and superb with roots music from south of the Rio Grande, but
capable of performing brilliantly in virtually any style.
*
Djavan, yet another veteran Brazilian star, was in full flower at the
Hollywood Bowl, his ebullient performance an interesting contrast to a
more low-keyed, inner-looking appearance at Largo by young Brazilian
singer Moreno Veloso (son of the legendary Caetano Veloso), in the early
stages of what may be an important career.
*
A flurry of important African artists arrived throughout the year, the
range of their styles only hinting at the continent's astounding array of
music. Among them, the singular Baaba Maal at the Hollywood Bowl, defining
what a world music concert can be in its most entertaining manifestation;
the long-lived Super Rail Band from Mali--the incubator for, among others,
Salif Kaeta--at Grand Performances; and, at the same venue, the
charismatic French Tunisian singer Amina, applying her visceral performing
qualities to a North African-styled variation on the Billie
Holiday-associated standard "My Man."
*
The Celtic group the Chieftains surfaced in Cerritos, once again proving
their ability to put together an immensely entertaining show by
concentrating on traditional material, and occasional guest stars (in this
case, Natalie MacMaster and Joan Osborne), and tossing in some
spirited step dancing.
*
Baaba Maal, "Missing You" (Palm Pictures). The sound of Maal's
penetrating voice, soaring above a caldron of acoustic sounds, is one of
the glories of African (in this case, Senegalese) music. Aided by the
presence of Maal's longtime close friend, guitarist Mansour Seck, it is a
classic outing, up close and personal.
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December
27, 2001
Natalie MacMaster
Named Herald's Artist of The Year
Halifax Herald
Troy's
Natalie MacMaster began 2001 on a high note. The golden-tressed fiddler
was nominated on Jan. 3 for her first Grammy for best traditional folk
album for In My Hands.
While she didn't win, MacMaster had a fabulous experience attending the
ceremony at the Staples Center in L.A. then heading off to the Biltmore
Hotel for the official Grammy party. Not since Anne Murray has a Nova
Scotian been in the running for music's most prestigious prize.
She also played with the Chieftains and Joan Osborne at the MusiCares gala
tribute concert honouring Paul Simon at the Century Plaza Hotel ballroom
in the company of Stevie Wonder, Steve Martin, Elton John, Gloria Estefan,
Shawn Colvin and Macy Gray.
In February, she picked up her seventh East Coast Music Award for
instrumental artist of the year. She's nominated again this year as
Entertainer of the Year. She played Canada Day in Central Park in New York
with the Cowboy Junkies and Sarah Harmer and was named best roots artist
at the Canadian Country Music Awards, the first time Canadian country has
honoured the genre in September.
That month she was also part of the first national Get Caught Reading
campaign to promote literacy in Canada with former wrestler Bret Hitman
Hart, among other celebrities.
In early December, more than 650,000 people tuned into her one-hour
special on CBC TV, My Roots Are Showing, with bluegrass artist Alison
Krauss and Jann Arden. It was also simulcast on CBC Radio Two with Shelagh
Rogers.
MacMaster will end the year on ABC's nationally-televised New Year's Eve
program, airing live from the Rose Planetarium at the Museum of Natural
History in New York City. Peter Jennings hosts the show, which also
features U2, Sting, Tony Bennett, Alicia Keyes, Diana Krall, Wynton
Marsalis and James Taylor performing on-site or through simulcast.
In January 2002 MacMaster will tour California. She is planning a February
release of a live-concert recording and hopes to be back in the studio in
May.
For all of this, The Herald names MacMaster the artist of the year.
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December
16, 2001
Author pens tribute
to musical heritage
Budge Wilson's newest charming tale set in Cape Breton
By Margaret Poole
- Halifax Herald
BUDGE
WILSON'S newest book for children has its roots deep in Nova Scotia's
musical tradition.
An attractive picture book for all ages with appealing illustrations by
Halifax-based artist Susan Tooke, A Fiddle for Angus (Tundra Books,
$18.99) celebrates music as a pastime and a way of life for families and
communities across the province. It also follows one child's journey to
self-expression through his love of music.
Angus hums along with his family as they play music together - his mother
on accordion, dad on the whistle, his older siblings Tom playing guitar
and Molly singing in her beautifully clear, high voice. When suddenly it's
not enough any more to be on the edge of all the music, Angus gets the
chance to pick an instrument of his own to learn, and eventually to truly
join in with the rest of the family in their music-making.
Not surprisingly, the story is set in Cape Breton. Susan Tooke's striking
paintings, many with sweeping views of shoreline and fishing village,
create a wonderfully familiar backdrop for Nova Scotia readers, many of
whom will also be able to hear the music of Cape Breton dancing out of
Angus's fiddle and through the pages of the book.
Wilson's own roots are in Nova Scotia's south shore, where she lives with
her husband and writes in a cabin at the ocean's edge. She says the family
in her story, and the culture portrayed in it, could easily have been from
the South Shore or other parts of Nova Scotia, but that using Cape Breton
as the setting seemed right as the "home of fiddling" in Nova
Scotia.
In fact, one of Cape Breton's most famous fiddlers makes an appearance in
the book. When Angus goes to a neighbouring village's ceilidh, he is
struck by a girl named Natalie, whose fiddling is like "the wind and
the waves and every happy thing...." It is after hearing her play
that he decides that the fiddle will be his instrument as well.
Wilson explains that, although it was something of a challenge to track
down Natalie MacMaster, the busy musician was quite willing to have a part
in the story.
She agreed to be photographed by Tooke as her own model for the
illustration she's featured in - and there is no mistaking that the flying
golden hair and stomping feet in the picture are MacMaster's.
Wilson says that although A Fiddle for Angus was written as an "older
children's picture book" - there is more text on each page than in a
typical picture book for preschoolers - she likes to write picture books
that adults will enjoy as well, especially since they are often the ones
actually reading the story.
"Good picture books should really be for all ages - I would like to
see the barriers fall between categories of books.
"A book should just be a book."
Certainly, Wilson's own books, including A Fiddle for Angus, go a long way
towards making her case.
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December
08, 2001
Fiddler's
Anger a Sound To Behold
Sandy MacDonald -
Halifax Daily News
DAROL
ANGER - Diary of A Fiddler (Compass Records)
Dear
Diary: Here's my idea for my latest CD. Invite a dozen of the world's
finest fiddlers, bring along my baritone fiddle and blast through some of
the most innovative, exploratory fiddle music being made these days. Might
just work - Darol.
And
that's just what he did over three years. The virtuoso fiddler breathes in
music like air, refusing to see boxes around musical styles - everything
is part of a fluid medium called music.
He
uncorks this 1999 collaborative album with a roaring duet with Natalie
MacMaster. Anger wrote Melt The Teakettle for this project, to approximate
the Cape Style of fiddling. But as MacMaster told The Daily News last
week, "that was one of the most challenging pieces I've ever
played."
Anger
plays baritone violin (a normal acoustic violin with thicker strings to
lower the instrument's register), without any other accompaniment. The
melody twists and turns as the two fiddlers trade lines. It's has a droney
Appalachian feel, lifted by MacMaster's driving reel. The two fiddles pull
and tug at the tune, creating a powerful tension, and sparks are quickly
flying.
(MacMaster
is planning to go into the recording studio in the spring with Anger to
work on tracks for her follow-up album to In My Hands.)
From
the edgy duet with MacMaster, Anger pulls out his bluegrass licks for a
sit-down with Stuart Duncan on the traditional Lee Highway Blues. Anger
churns a rhythmic pulse on the baritone while Duncan's sweet-as-cider
fiddle rolls down the highway.
The
Oakland, Cal.-based musician, producer and educator embraces every style
and nuance with excitement - Suzy Thompson brings in the Cajun moan;
Martin Hayes teams up for a lilting Irish jig Banish Misfortune, and a
melancholy duet on the Beatles' A Little Help From My Friends.
Anger
assembles the cleverly-named Nashville Lumberyard (including Vassar
Clements, Sam Bush, John Hartford, Matt Glaser, Tim O'Brien and bassist
Derek Jones) for a superstar barrage on the deeply-grooved nugget John
Henry. Rarely has so much fiddle firepower aimed its sights on one target.
There's
a haunting Celtic duet with Scottish ace Alasdiar Fraser on the Aran Boat
Song, and a swinging trio as Anger performs with up-and-coming fiddlers
Hanneke Cassel and Casy Dreissen.
The
album is a fascinating listen, exploring the varied possibilities for
traditional fiddle music with roots in British Isles. Anger can play jazz,
classical, traditional and progressive music - and sometimes all in the
same piece.
He's
performed with the jazz-oriented Turtle Island String Quartet, the "chambergrass"
ensemble Newgrange and sparked the David Grisman Quintet among his lengthy
credits.
Anger
constantly astounds, with his four-string instrument, and an imagination
to explore its limitless horizons.
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December
2, 2001
After a star-maker
year, Natalie MacMaster is
now the master of her touring and TV special
Sandy MacDonald -
Halifax Daily news
 Natalie
MacMaster settles briefly into the downtown Halifax office of her record
company, her tiny cellphone close at hand. She uncaps a bottle of water
and explains the motivation behind her first television special, My Roots
Are Showing. (The hour-long special airs tonight on CBC at 8 p.m., and
will later be broadcast on Bravo in the U.S. in March.)
“I
guess it’s like a package of chocolates,” she says, inadvertently
straying into Forrest Gump philosophy. “People are saying they are the
best chocolates. But you can’t be sure until you taste one. With TV, the
reaction is automatic‚ you immediately know what you get - it’s
instant gratification for the viewer.”
MacMaster’s
solid-gold career has been gratifying, but certainly not instant. The
acclaimed fiddler and entertainer has built a loyal fan base over the past
decade with her constant performing - from Judique to Japan. Her TV
special drops viewers into one of MacMaster’s soft-seater concerts to
experience the excitement first hand.
“I’ve
done tons of TV over the years,” says MacMaster, 29. “But most of it
was on someone else’s agenda. Most was taped at home in Cape Breton -
trying to capture that down-home thing on camera.”
This,
time, the show moves uptown. It was taped one night last July at the
Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, Ont. Sure, there is a short B-roll
segment from a square dance at Glencoe Mills, and shots of a windblown
MacMaster filmed on a beach near Mabou.
The
hour-long special focuses on the music of MacMaster and her band, joined
by special guests including Alison Krauss, Jann Arden, and a half dozen
step-dancers, including Natalie’s mother, Minnie. The concert went so
well, MacMaster is planning to release a live CD and DVD from the show in
February.
Ontario
tour a high point
It’s
been a star-making year for the fiddler from tiny Troy, Inverness Co., on
the western coast of Cape Breton. Barely four days into the new year,
MacMaster was nominated for a Grammy award for her traditional album My
Roots Are Showing. Two weeks later, she appeared on Jay Leno’s Tonight
Show with The Chieftains. She later added a Gemini, a Canadian Country
Music Award and a couple of East Coast Music Awards to her already bulging
trophy case. But she doesn’t hesitate when asked about the highpoint -
her sold-out 15-date tour through Ontario and western Canada with
guitarist Jesse Cook.
“It
was an incredible combination of personalities and talent,” says
MacMaster, who last week jumped up on stage as an unannounced guest during
Cook’s Halifax concert.
“But
the best part was how everyone got along - there was something special
about that tour.”
When
Cook’s flamenco guitar lays down the hip-swaying rhythm, McMaster’s
fiddle slides beautifully over the top.
“That
groove over my groove just blends beautifully.”
MacMaster
is charting a fair-wind course with her career - playing about 150 shows a
year (down from more than 250 three years ago). Now travelling means a
comfortable tour bus and full crew on the road instead of a cramped van.
Her
five CDs, from her ’93 debut Fit As A Fiddle to last year’s
Juno-winning In My Hands, have sold more than 400,000 units, without much
commercial radio play. Most high-profile artists build careers around
singles and radio play, but not MacMaster.
Headed
to the studio
“As
a Celtic artist, radio play isn’t as much of a concern. So our touring
schedule isn’t dictated by our record releases. We’re able to tour all
the time.”
But
now it’s time to get off the road and back in the studio, she says.
“I’ve
kind of put it off. Last fall, I had plans, but things didn’t pan out. I
just wasn’t in the frame of mind to record.”
She’s
planning to spend some time in the studio in May with fiddler Darol Anger,
one of America’s most forward-thinking fiddlers. MacMaster dueted on his
last album, Diary Of A Fiddler, performing Anger’s Melt the Tea kettle,
written specially for her.
MacMaster
has been writing some tunes of her own lately. Never a prolific composer
like fellow fiddlers Jerry Holland or Brenda Stubbert, MacMaster has long
borrowed the tunes of others and shined them up with her own style.
“But
last year I got a creative surge and wrote 10 tunes. I was home and just
messing around with the fiddle – it was a situation of opportunity.”
MacMaster
performs two of those new tunes on the TV show - Daniel’s Jig (named for
her now ex-boyfriend Daniel deSilva) and Valerie Pringle’s Reel.
“I
had that tune written for a longtime but without a name. I got a call to
surprise Valerie for her last day on air on Canada AM.” So she
christened the tune in Pringle’s name, and played it live - “and
Valerie cried on the air.”
MacMaster
is enjoying some rare down time until after Christmas, split between her
apartment in Halifax, and her room at Minnie’s house in Cape Breton.
Though
her career continues to be red-hot, MacMaster looks down the road to the
day she’ll have a family and maybe raise the next generation of
MacMaster fiddlers.
“I’m
very much a family person,” says MacMaster, who has two older brothers.
“But the more I do this, I realize how much I love what I’m doing.
“When
a family eventually comes along, I’ll definitely have to keep a hand in
music. The priority will be wife and mother,” she smiles, “but music
is right behind.”
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November
30, 2001
A Special
Song, Dance From MacMaster, Friends
Pat Lee - Halifax
Herald
It
turned out to be all hands on deck for Natalie MacMaster during the taping
of her television special.
Not
only was MacMaster fiddling and doing what she does best, but mom Minnie
even chipped in during a step-dancing segment.
"That
was so last minute," the Cape Breton fiddler now recalls about the
moment her mom took to the stage. "I said 'mom, please come out.'
That never happens, except sometimes when I play at home."
After
an initial hesitation over not having the right shoes, her normally
stage-shy mom ended up hoofing it in stocking feet during a spirited
step-dancing set, a highlight of the hour-long concert special Natalie
MacMaster - My Roots Are Showing, airing Sunday at 8 p.m. on the CBC (and
simulcast on CBC Radio Two with Shelagh Rogers interviewing MacMaster
during the television commercial breaks).
But
then that's what Cape Breton-style entertaining is all about, right?
Family,
friends and having a grand old, toe-tapping time.
This
is the first time MacMaster has hosted her own music special, although
she's made countless guess appearances on other people's shows.
"I've
done lots of stuff for the CBC over the years," she said Wednesday
morning, not long after making an appearance on - wouldn't you know it -
the CBC during their morning show.
The
fiddler said it was nice to finally front her own televised music
showcase, and not dance to the tune of someone else, so to speak.
"When
you do your own show you're not working on someone else's agenda,"
she said. "What you want to do, you do."
And
what she wanted to do was to let the folks at home experience a slice of a
typical Natalie MacMaster concert, with lots of traditional fiddle tunes,
some of her own compositions, a little bit of kitchen party jamming and of
course the obligatory step dancing.
Joining
MacMaster in concert are guests Jann Arden, who performs her ballad Cherry
Popsicle. As well, U.S. bluegrass fiddler and singer Alison Krauss, who
first met the Cape Breton performer at a fiddling workshop in 1987, does a
show-stopping version of Get Me Through December, accompanied by MacMaster
on the fiddle.
"I
just wanted to do what I do," she said of the special's format.
"I really wanted us to play live, in concert, on the show."
The
TV special was taped last summer at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga
and includes taped segments where MacMaster talks about home, family and
music, as well as showing her playing at a square dance at the famed
Glencoe Mills hall.
The
television special caps off a busy year for MacMaster, who was nominated
for a Grammy for her My roots Are Showing CD after it was finally released
in the States, and she has been touring in support of her more recent
recording In My Hands.
After
a breather at home in Troy for Christmas, MacMaster expects to be back at
it again in the New Year.
"It's
booked for me," she said.
The
musician's next CD will be a live concert recording coming out in
February, and she'll be back in the studio in May. She also plans to be
back on the road in January, touring in California, poor thing.
She
better relax on Sunday and check out a certain concert special on the CBC.
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November
30, 2001
Flamenco Guitarist
Cooks a Rich Broth
By Skana Gee -
Halifax Daily News
OK,
so he was only joking when he said they got engaged. But the music of
rumba-flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook and fiddler Natalie MacMaster was
married on stage at the Rebecca Cohn last night.
The Cape Breton musician - who recently wrapped up a cross-country tour
with Cook - appeared during an encore at the sold-out show, keeping the
audience on their feet with a couple of uptempo numbers including Flamenco
Fling.
"Be the first in your aisle to start a conga line," Cook urged
earlier, as a few brave souls rushed the front of the auditorium to find
room to dance.
He and his five-piece band kicked off the two-and-a-half hour concert on a
slightly sombre note, with the haunting Byzantium, but soon had everyone
clapping along to the calypso rumblings of Viva.
Cook proved why he has an endorsement deal with a certain glue company (he
mixes the product with a secret ingredient to harden his fingernails),
strumming to within an inch of his life on pieces like That's Right. The
softspoken guitarist described the song as "a soup of rhythm,"
with its world-beat influences ranging from East Indian music to Bo
Diddley.
The Toronto-based musician has had a big year - touring the Far East and
working with Diana Krall and classical singing prodigy Charlotte Church.
Last night, he made sure each of his superb supporting musicians had their
moment in the limelight, and percussionist Art Avalos especially had the
crowd in the palm of his hand - even playing what appeared to be a rough
wooden box.
But it was violinist Chris Church, a Haligonian who joined Cook's ensemble
about a year ago, who made the biggest impression. From his virtuoso
playing at the start of the first number to the emotive strains of his
instrument on Incantation, his quirky charm hit the mark with the
home-town crowd. And when Church stepped up to deliver heartfelt vocals
during an acoustic rendition of Fall At Your Feet (Cook's radio hit
featuring The Rembrandts' Danny Wilde), they almost fell at his feet.
While no preschoolers were in sight, just about every other age group was
represented at the show, proving Cook's assertion that his music has
something for everyone - from the contemplative Virtue to the
shake-your-bon-bon beat of Rattle and Burn to the ultra-Spanish groove of
Querido Amigo to the finger-flying Switchback.
Despite Cook's attempts at making the night "a non-stop dance
party," most in the confining theatre were content to clap, sway and
soak up the spectacular sounds.
Next time Cook comes to town, I hope we'll have more room to dance.
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November
27, 2001
Natalie
MacMaster Live at Dorothy Menker Theater
Women of Country
I
know a lot of you are asking yourself "who is Natalie
MacMaster?" Well, the best way I can describe her is an
accomplished artist that is part talented musician and part Tasmanian
Devil. She plays with such intensity that it amazes me that she's
able not just to walk around the stage, but dance, spin, twirl and run
around the stage all while playing a fiddle better than anyone I've ever
heard!
For
those of you who saw the CCMA's this year, you no doubt remember Natalie
as the fiery blonde that opened the show fiddling from her seat in the
audience before hitting the stage and joining Ricky Skaggs for what was
one of the best performances of the evening. Some of you also might
remember her name because we did a Featured Artist section on her back
when her "In My Hands" album was released. Actually, that
album also made both of the WOC editor's "5 Best CDs" list that
year!
On
to the show. I had the pleasure of seeing Natalie at a small theater
here at a local college last night and I have to say the performance and
the venue were absolutely perfect. Natalie, performing with a
stellar 5 piece band, blended just the perfect amount of fast and slow
material into the show. I think one of the reasons that Natalie has
never failed to impress me on an album or live is that she stretches the
boundaries and chooses material that comes from different genres and
different time periods and incorporates them into her show. At one
point in the evening she performed "Sorrento" the classic
Italian love song before seamlessly segueing into James Taylor's
"Benjamin." She even performed an out of this world
rendition of "Flamenco Fling," a lively up-tempo Spanish
flavored piece.
I
have to admit that before I discovered Natalie's music a couple of years
ago while flipping channels on my television set I don't know if I would
have ever taken up an interest in any non-lyric driven style of
music. But there is something about her music that grabs you and
refuses to let you go. The subtle nuances that she can evoke with
the fiddle closely resemble what a gifted vocalist can do with their
voice, and the music to me hits just as an emotional chord.
Natalie
seemed to be having a great time on stage as well, which always adds a few
points to a performance in my book. It's obvious that she loves to
play music, and also has a strong desire to expose her style of music to
the masses. She also interacted with the crowd on more than a few
occasions. She poked fun at the fact that she had to tune up her
fiddle a couple times on stage. At one point she had the house
lights on and told everyone to get up so she could teach us a basic dance
step, and everyone obliged. And while introducing one song, Natalie
provided the best one liner of the evening when she said "I'm going
to do this next song in the Canadian key... A."
My
favorite piece of the evening was "Blue Bonnets Over The
Border," a song that Natalie introduced as one of her favorites, and
one that she has recorded twice, most recently on her 1999 "In My
Hands" release. The songs is a Celtic flavored air which evokes
beauty in it's simplicity. Every time I hear it I transports me to
another time and place, truly a captivating song that has got to be heard
to be experienced.
The
crowd, which filled the 575 seat theater, was a little older than I would
have expected the audience to be, but still very enthusiastic clapping and
stomping along with the music. I guess the younger generations
haven't been exposed to this type of music before, and it's about time
that they were. Natalie's high energy would make her a great bridge
to bring the younger fans into a more "classic" style of
music. The problem is you won't hear her music on country radio here
in the United States, so Natalie relies on word of mouth more than
anything else to get people to discover her music. So, as a music
fan I feel it's my duty to tell everyone reading this that you should make
an effort to see Natalie if she is appearing in your area, and the next
time you're in a CD store to pick up a copy of any of her CDs.
For
those who are fans of Natalie, we're happy to report that Natalie will
have a new live CD and video release next year. It's slated for a
February release in Canada, to follow a couple months later in the
USA. She will also appear in her very first Canadian television
special on CBC-TV on Sunday, December 2nd at 8PM.
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Celebrity
Chef
Natalie MacMaster Craves Chocolate Over The Holidays
Patricia Checchia - TV Guide (Dec 1 issue)
Natalie
MacMaster has a secret: she is a chocolate fanatic. Canada's
princess of the fiddle names her mom's Tweed squares as a favorite treat
to calm her chocolate cravings. Unfortunately, she only gets them
when she's home for a visit, which isn't often since she spends so much
time on the road.
If you missed MacMaster performing in your home town, you can catch her
live in Natalie MacMaster - My Roots are Showing (Sunday, CBC). The
hour-long special features concert footage from her performances in
Mississauga, ON, and Cape Breton Island, and is the result of three years
of hard work. While MacMaster had a blast making the show, there was
one thing about being recorded for television that took her by
surprise. "I must say I can't get over the faces I make (when
I'm performing). I watch myself and laugh," she says.
Because of her busy concert schedule, MacMaster is looking forward to
taking a well-deserved break and spending the holidays with her friends
and family. Her favorite holiday tradition is wrapping the
gifts. "I'm not a fancy wrapper," she says. "I
put time and effort into wrapping for people outside the family. My
mom buys a big pile of bargain paper and we wrap all the gifts. And
you don't use the big special ribbon on those."
While she's wrapping presents, MacMaster will undoubtedly be munching on
an aforementioned Tweed square. "I eat them all the time,"
she says. "I love them." She adds that there is a
reason why they are so good. "When you chop the chocolate,
don't chop it fine. Chop it coarsely." This way, the chunks
stay as chunks. And, a true chocoholic understands the importance of
biting into hunks of chocolate in deserts.
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November
17, 2001
Canuck stars sell New York
Marilyn Smuldres
- The Halifax Daily News
Natalie
MacMaster wants Canadians to travel to New York.
Fiddler Natalie MacMaster and This Hour Has 22 Minutes star Colin Mochrie
are among the dozens of famous Canadians urging not-so-famous Canadians to
travel to New York City and spend.
The Canada Loves New York Weekend is slated for Nov. 30 to Dec. 2. Dreamed
up by George Cohon of McDonald's, Senator Jerry Grafstein and Roots
co-founder Don Green, the weekend is intended to show support for New
Yorkers coping with Monday's plane crash and the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks.
A highlight of the weekend is a rally set for Saturday, Dec. 1.
Canadians are urged to meet at the historic Roseland Ballroom, 239 W 52nd
Street for "an unforgettable display of patriotism and
solidarity." Every Canadian who attends will receive a Canada Loves
New York baseball cap by Roots Canada.
Over the next few weeks, Canadians will be bombarded with radio,
television and newspaper ads about the weekend.
MacMaster, on tour in the U.S., made a detour to New York City on Nov. 1
to appear in the TV commercials filmed at the Ed Sullivan Theatre in
Manhattan.
Prime
Minister Jean Chretien, hockey greats Wayne Gretzky, Eric Lindros and Mark
Messier, and actors Dan Aykroyd, Kim Cattrall and Jason Priestly also
appear in ads.
"Our Canadian creative people were inspired by the I Love New York
commercial New York state made after the Sept. 11 tragedy and wanted to
create a response that expressed Canada's solidarity and kinship,"
said Larry Wolf, chairman of Wolf Advertising, at a Toronto news
conference.
Organizers have persuaded the private sector to offer deals to lure
Canadians to spend a weekend in the "city that never sleeps."
More information is available on-line at www.canadalovesny.com.
The Web site features a graphic of the Statue of Liberty draped in a
Canadian flag.
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November
2, 2001
Review of Birchmere Concert
Joe Heim -
Washington Post
It
was a night of wild-eyed jigs, reels and strathspeys at the Birchmere on
Wednesday, as the young Canadian fiddle player Natalie MacMaster displayed
the verve and musicianship that has won over fans to both her traditional
and her updated Celtic styles.
A
native of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, MacMaster is just 29, but having grown
up in a family of musicians that includes the acclaimed fiddle player
Buddy MacMaster, her uncle, she already has a lifetime of
experience.
Performing
with a lively five-piece band, she put forth an energetic instrumental
concert that reflected the years she has spent steeped in traditional Cape
Breton and Scottish tunes. MacMaster dances as exuberantly as she plays.
Wearing sparkling gold pants -- presumably not traditional garb -- she was
a curly-haired ball of perpetual motion on up-tempo songs like
"Daniel's Jig" and "Flamenco Fling," bouncing about on
her toes as if she had just returned from her fifth Starbucks run of the
day.
A
combustible virtuoso, she sawed away on her fiddle while tap-dancing and
then executing a flawless moonwalk; it's no wonder she needs to towel off
more often than Michael Jordan. Between songs, MacMaster entertained with
her quirky sense of humor and also led the audience in a shuffling,
jumping square-dance lesson that was no easy feat between the tables and
chairs of the crowded hall.
There
were occasional flights of Riverdance schmaltz -- her playing on the
lovely Scottish air "Blue Bonnets Over the Border" was
overwhelmed by the insistent, overheated rhythm section -- but MacMaster
reined herself in before straying too far. Later, on "Mary
Scott," she was accompanied only by the pianist, and the results were
far more satisfying.
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October
22, 2001
Fan Review - Natalie/Jesse Cook Montreal Show
Danny Smith -
Montreal, Quebec
Show
Date: October 6th 2001
Location: Olympia Theatre Montreal, Quebec
Approx Spectators: 500 to 600
Time Started: 20:00
Approx Time Ended: 23:15
The
first set started off with Natalie MacMaster and band.
The band composed of; Natalie on fiddle of course, Allan Dewar on piano,
John Chiasson on bass guitar, Brad Davidge on acoustic & electric
guitar, Art Avalos on percussion and Miche Pouliot on drums.
May
I start off by saying that the ONLY disappointment of the
set was, that there was only ONE set. I, and the
crowd, could have easily enjoyed another full set of the energetic
performance. The time limitations meant that she did not do much
step dance or story telling and did not have much time to exploit the full
talent of the rest of her band. Having said that, as you may have guessed
the show was fantastic. Natalie played a variety of Airs, Jigs, Marches,
Strathspeys and Reels in good old-fashioned Cape Breton style.
I
have seen many of her shows and this one follows the same great energetic
involving style that, I presume, makes her popular. She made the
crowd laugh, enjoys speaking to them (she even brought out her French!),
invites them all to dance and simply have fun. She had two young
step dancers from a local school (The Celtic Grace Dancers) for a tune and
invited a young girl from the crowd to dance "French Canadian"
style.
Her
playing of "Tullochgorum", as usual, was nothing short of
spectacular and mesmerizing. I will never tire of the chance to
witness it live. The set finished off with a "blast" of tunes
and of course a standing O and an encore.
The
second set was Jesse Cook and band. The band composed of;
Jesse on acoustic guitar, Etric Lyons on bass guitar, Kevin Laliberte on
rhythm acoustic guitar & synthesizer, Chris Church on violin, Art
Avalos on Percussion (he played both sets, but his talent really came out
with Jesse) and Paul Antonio on drums.
Musically
it was as involving as Natalie's set, although Natalie and her band
deliver a more energetic stage performance (you should see a full two set
Natalie show…WOW). The crowd equally enjoyed themselves. There was
a lot of clapping to the rhythm. Jesse also does a great job at motivating
the crowd. The two styles mix together excellently. Both are happy,
involving and emotional.
There’s
no doubting Jesse’s talent, he simply "rips" on his guitar.
The highlight of the second set, for me anyway, was the incredible dual
drum solos by Art Avalos and Paul Antonio. What a duel. Each in turn and
then together, exploded on their drum kits. The only complaint would be
that Jesse seems "held back" by the band and the composed tune.
In certain passages in a given tune you see the full of his talent
surface, but he must generally play within the boundaries of the other
musicians and of the song at hand. I would love to see him solo, that must
be impressive.
All
in all, Jesse’s band does a great job at relaying the performed tunes,
but seems to lack the "dirt on the strings" of the Cape Breton
style that adds so much emotion. Of course Jesse also got a standing O and
the now customary encore. He came back on and performed a song in which
the violin player sang. During the second tune of the encore, Natalie came
on and played with Jesse. The two of them get along great and did a little
duel of their own. What a great way to close up an already great show!
The
sound was great. Better than most small venue shows, except for the bottom
end of the bass spectrum was a little heavy and boomy. More importantly,
all of the instruments were clear, precise, and easily distinguishable.
None were shrill, offensive or drowned out. Good job to Andy Deveau the
soundman, who is also Natalie’s road manager.
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October
20, 2001
Master Of The Fiddle
Lisa Wilton -
Calgary Sun
Natalie
MacMaster just couldn't help herself.
Backstage at this year's Canadian Country Music Awards, the flame-tressed
Cape Breton fiddler was getting ready for her show-opening performance
when she heard the sweet sound of bluegrass coming from one of the
dressing rooms.
"I just heard the music so I walked in and started playing
along," recalls MacMaster, who won best roots performance later that
evening.
"It was Ricky Skaggs and his band just jamming. We played for about
20 minutes, and it was really fun ... It's rare when that kind of
spontaneity happens, but when it does, it's really special."
MacMaster says country and celtic music lend themselves well to impromptu
performance.
"(Most country and celtic musicians) grew up like that," she
says.
"The
music is mostly acoustic, instruments don't have to be plugged in so you
can get together and play in the kitchen if you want."
While she loves playing off-the-cuff in certain situations, the recording
studio is where she draws the line.
"I don't like to jam in the studio because I like to be
prepared," says MacMaster, who will play the Jubilee Auditorium on
Tuesday with guitarist Jesse Cook.
"In the studio I definitely have an agenda. I try to be organized and
jamming just doesn't work."
Though she won't be hitting the studio until next year, MacMaster is
releasing her first live CD in January.
Recorded for a CBC broadcast earlier this year in Mississauga, the CD will
feature her more popular live songs.
"There's such a huge difference between a live recording and a studio
recording," she says.
"Even if you really try, it's hard to get the live sound in a studio.
You can capture the energy to a certain point, but it's not the same as
performing in front of hundreds of people. There's an excitement there.
"The thing with recording in a studio is that you have the tools
available to make it sound perfect. You're sacrificing a bit of the live
energy but you get an amazing sound."
MacMaster is a veteran performer, having played the fiddle since the age
of nine.
Until recently, she was playing up to 250 shows a year, which garnered her
the reputation as one of Canadian music's hardest working musicians.
"I was hoping to take time off this summer, but I couldn't do
it," she says. "I was disappointed because I've totally missed
out on summer now.
"I've had to cut down my shows to 150 a year so that I could make
room for other things in my life."
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October
19, 2001
MacMaster And Cook: Two Shows In One
Jeanine Soodeen -
Victoria News
It's
half the workload but twice the fun, as two noted performers travel
throughout the country - together with their band and crew.
That's how Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster sees her month-long,
cross-Canada tour with guitar virtuoso Jesse Cook, which comes to the
Royal Theatre Oct. 21.
"It's more fun," MacMaster says of the current tour.
"There's another band on the road. Musically, it's exciting
because there's another style (of music involved)."
Rather than performing both sets of each night's performance, MacMaster
and Cook alternate as the main feature of each set.
However, fiddle fans will still receive a full performance from MacMaster,
in the style the Canadian fiddle sensation has become famous for.
"It's definitly me up there...I definitly go into fiddle mode.
I'm presenting the music to a crowd. We are performers as well as
musicians," MacMaster says. "I always prepare for a show
to get into that frame of mind...By the time you're ready to go on stage,
you're in that mood."
That vibrant performance atmosphere has now been captured in a live TV
show that was recorded a couple of months ago and that will air on CBC in
December. A CD and DVD of the show will also be released.
MacMaster's live recordings, she explains, are unlike those of most
musicians.
"Generally speaking, a lot of live CD's (feature) the hits - all the
songs people are familiar with. It's a little different for me
because I don't work off my hits. A lot of the stuff we play live
(has not been) previously recorded."
But then, turning out hits isn't necessarily what MacMaster is after,
given that she's been playing the fiddle since she was nine years
old. Rather than playing the music that is curr ntl popular,
she has been popularizing the music she loves to play. It's an
approach that her audiences respond to and they are fascinated to see her
perform.
"If I put out a single and it goes No. 1 on the pop charts, that's
great...What I do is fiddle music. The fiddle is an expression of my
personality and my voice. I play the music I love to play."
MacMaster appreciates many styles of music, however. It was through
experimenting with various musical styles on In My Hands that she first
collaborated with Cook, as well as with other special guests.
She and Cook have since combined their talents to present their two shows
in one concert.
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October
18, 2001
MacMaster Of Her Domain
Mike Devlin -
Victoria Times Colonist
The
red-hot theatre tour featuring fiddler Natalie MacMaster and flamenco
guitarist Jesse Cook is making not one but two stops on Vancouver Island
this weekend.
What's more, the pair plays not two, but four shows together - all of
which are sold out.
The concerts mark the long-awaited return of both MacMaster and Cook,
supremely talented instrumental artists who have long been Island
favourites. The Cape Breton fiddler is particularly popular here, as
her blend of traditional jigs and reels are loved by both young and old.
MacMaster's career has been on a generous up-swing recently. Last
year along, she scored a coveted Grammy Award nomination and won awards in
three of the top categories at the East Coast Music Awards.
She has also filmed an upcoming television special which will coincide
with the release of a live album.
Cook, an acclaimed Toronto guitarist, also has been hotter than salsa
lately. He produced a number of songs on the new album by
14-year-old Welsh soprano Charlotte Church, who brought Cook along for her
recent guest appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Both on their own and together, it's the combination of MacMaster's fiddle
and Cook's flamenco guitar that should make for a weekend of unbeatable
music. Those lucky enough to have tickets this weekend will see a
pair who are both headed for bigger stages in the not-so distant future.
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October
18, 2001
Instrumental Artists
Mike Devlin -
Victoria Times
There
is an uncanny amount of overlap between flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook and
fiddler Natalie MacMaster, and not all of it has to do with music.
"There are a lot of similarities between us," said MacMaster
during a tour stop in Saskatoon. "Including our hair."
Since she brought it up, the matter of the pair's kinky blond manes did
spring to mind when the two performers announced their national
co-headlining tour months ago.
MacMaster says what eventually drew her in to the tour was not the thought
of comparing hair tips on tour; rather, it was the possibility of fusing
her traditional fiddle work with Cook's passionate guitar stylings each
night that won her over.
"Our demographic is a lot the same. But the fact that we are
both instrumental artists doing traditional music that combines
traditional styles with some New Age sounds is also similar."
There's
more. The last three albums by both Cook and MacMaster have been
certified Gold (50,000 copies sold). As well, the two are considered
among the kindest performers in Canada has to offer (Cook's rapid-fire
witticisms are matched only by his flaming fretwork, while MacMaster's
East Coast sensibilities draw in as many fans as her music does.
Both have also been featured soloists on tours with The Chieftains. They
are also Juno Award winners, and won a Gemini Award for "Best
Performance in a Variety Program or Series" together.
In fact, it was the latter award, which the two won for their performance
at the 1999 Juno Awards broadcast, that prompted discussion of the current
tour. It hits Nanaimo for two shows on Saturday before stopping in
Victoria for two more on Sunday.
The two have since become fast friends, even though their appearance at
the Junos marked only the second time Cook and MacMaster had formally met
each other. "In fact, we had only met shortly before
then," MacMaster said.
"The first time we met was in the studio when I asked him to play on
my album. About three or four days after that studio thing we got a
call from Juno headquarters asking us to play together. And then we
won a Gemini for it."
That's the kind of blessed careers these two have had - or, more to the
point, how talented each performer is at his respective instrument.
Within the past year, MacMaster has won a heap of accolades for her
fiddle-playing efforts: Last year alone, her 1999 album In My Hands
scored a coveted Grammy Award nomination, for Best Roots & Traditional
Album, and won many awards in three of the top categories at the East
Coast Music Awards.
MacMaster says that having success as an instrumental artist alleviates a
lot of pressure that full bands have to face, but it is by no means an
easier road to travel. "Being an instrumental artist in one way
is kind of tough because you can't rely on a lot of radio play to boost
you, which is the main tool these days.
"When you don't have that element, it's kind of a drawback, but there
are so many other ways where I can do anything I want. I'm no
pigeon-holed as a country artist or a pop artist. And I am just so
excited by the fact that I will have a long recording career. I love
that."
The 29-year-old Halifax resident has already enjoyed a lengthy career in
many respects. MacMaster grew up in the Cape Breton town of Troy,
and was raised a practicing Catholic by Scottish parents. Music ran
rampant in her family - taught by her uncle, Maritime fiddle legend Buddy
MacMaster, she had already played her first concert by the age of 10.
A teenager by the time she put out her first CD, Four on the Floor, she
was being matched for local supremacy by none other than her cousin,
Ashley MacIsaac.
But where MacIsaac has stalled, MacMaster has flourished. In the
works is her first live CD, which was recorded over three locations: A
summer concert in Mississauga, a square dance at the Glencoe Mills in Cape
Breton; and a house party ceilidh in Cape Breton.
A television special chronicling those events will air Dec. 2 on CBC
television. Funded and created by MacMaster herself, this will be
far different from what she's done in the past.
"A lot of the stuff that's been done on me was people focusing on the
traditional part of what I do," she said. "That's all
great and it's an important part of what I do, but it is only a part of
it."
Her career is open to discussion at the moment. Something may
even come of her current tour with Cook. But even if it doesn't,
MacMaster says the tour - which sees each performer play a 50-minute set,
then join together for a fiddle versus guitar finale - will leave an
indelible impact on her.
"You get so many new ideas and new experiences that lead you to think
differently. There are so many great people to work with out
there. You work with one person on one recording project and then
you want to try someone else because it represents something new.
It's such a creative process and that is so exciting."
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October
15, 2001
Natalie Proves To Be In Fine Fiddling Fettle
John Kendle -
Winnipeg Sun
God
bless Natalie MacMaster.
With bombs falling in Afghanistan, anthrax scares making people afraid of
their talcum powder and many millions of people understandably worried for
the future, it's entertainers such as MacMaster who can remind us the here
and now can still be enjoyed.
Which is what the Cape Breton fiddler did for a sellout crowd of 1,445 at
Pantages Playhouse last night -- jigging, reeling and step-dancing her way
into the hearts of all in attendance.
MacMaster's an attractive young woman with a virtuoso talent. But the fact
she's so unassuming about her looks and her playing is what really makes
her shine. She just gets up, grins, sways, skips, leaps and flat out plays
until you can't resist.
MacMaster opened alone in a spotlight, bowing a haunting reel which slowly
gave way to an uptempo roar built on by her not-overly-dominating
five-piece band.
Even in her quieter moments, Natalie's intensity overwhelms. As she
stretched for notes and tones last night, her brow would furrow but she
would always grin as she grasped every sound.
If it's true Tim Hortons' medium double-doubles keep her going, may she
never be too far away from one.
As for Jesse Cook, well, he was impressive despite the fact there are at
least three reasons to be suspicious of this cat.
The first is that he records for Narada, a California "New Age"
label not known for its sense of adventure. The second is that he purports
to play "rumba flamenco with a taste of the global village" -- a
recipe for overly-earnest world music played by white guys if ever there
was one.
Finally, there's that hair -- a combination of Ron Duguay ringlets and
Michael Bolton mullet that gives the impression he may be an over-emoting
hoser.
But the Juno-winning Cook proved a fluid, if not overly flashy, player who
indulges his crowd with a high-powered band that gives his music a
propulsion that brings it and the audience to life.
Cook can be overly ambitious, as on Byzantium Underground, an occidental
odyssey which was overwhelmed by the synthesized violin of sideman Chris
Church. But a hybrid Cook described as "rumba meets bhangra meets Bo
Diddley" was a successful outing. The crackle of Who Do You Love? did
somehow meld with the electric raga beat, and Cook really did shine.
For the most part, though, Cook's set was funkily modified rumba -- the
sort that sets toes tapping and hands clapping. And it did, even earning
Cook, his relentless guitar runs and his five-piece band a standing O
after his hour was done.
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October
14, 2001
Review Of: Cook/MacMaster
Hubert O'Hearn - Chronicle-Journal, Thunder Bay, ON
If
you weren't at the Community Auditorium on Sunday night to hear Jesse Cook
and Natalie MacMaster, and if you have talked to anyone since then who was
there, the following cannot be categorized as new information. Man,
did you miss a great show!
Actually, even Great Show sounds pathetically weak to my ear. This
was the single finest concert I have ever heard in all my years of
covering events at the Auditorium. Yes, hyperbolic though it may be,
that is the only way of putting it. Cook and MacMaster each played a
one hour set, in that order, then came together for a joint encore.
The sheer energy and virtuosity of the flamenco guitarist and the Cape
Breton fiddler started at a level somewhere approaching Heaven and never
sank for a single second. Even the near sell-out Thunder Bay audience,
notoriously reserved in their appreciation of musical acts, stood and
clapped along spontaneously, enthusiastically and - Yes! - with a sheer
joy aimed at the wonderful young Canadians knocking themselves out for the
audience's pleasure.
It
was a masterpiece of booking, whoever first had the bright idea of putting
Cook and MacMaster together. Jesse Cook just may be the coolest guy
in Canada, never breaking either a sweat or a guitar string while rifling
off crystal clear solos with the precision of a laser beam. Natalie
MacMaster is simply one of the most likable people you'd ever want to see
on stage. As she herself said, you'd think that 1,000 people were
sat in her kitchen. An additional surprise was the entrance of two
local step dancers into her act, one of which was TBT weather person Fiona
Gardiner. Nice job, Fiona.
The contrast of styles also was evident in the production details.
For Cook, the basic lighting scheme, brilliantly executed, was a mixture
of Spanish reds, golds and purples. There was a great sense of
drama, starting with a solitary beam isolating hands clapping out a
flamenco beat.
Natalie MacMaster, as befits her music, had a simpler lighting plot,
though no less effective. Naturally, being primarily a Celtic
performer, her standard backlight was a warm green. There was also
more dance and interactive comedy with her band members than Cook's
group. Both back-up bands were given extensive solos. Both
back-up bands also featured the extraordinary percussionist Art Alamos (I
Really hope I've spelled that correctly).
There is one thing that I dearly wish would happen. This may
properly belong in Inside Television, but so what? I wish that the
CBC would give Natalie MacMaster her own weekly variety show. She
has the sparkling personality of an impish sprite and the Maritimes
deserve to be given their due, which they have not been given since Don
Messer's Jubilee was yanked off the air a long time ago. Heck, she
can do anything: play, write, dance, sew her own pants, paint
watercolours and even cook. Why not do TV too? And her first
guest should be Jesse Cook. There. Now all I have to do is get
appointed Vice-President of Programming for CBC ... Anybody reading this
happen to know where any blackmail-worthy bodies are buried? Be
seeing you...
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October
10, 2001
Mixing It Up
By James Reaney -
London Free Press
When
Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster and Toronto guitarist Jesse Cooke
get together, it calls for a little bit of "who's on first?"
For the record, it is expected guitarslinger Cook will perform first and
MacMaster and her fiddle will follow when the co-headliners play
Centennial Hall tomorrow night.
MacMaster and Cook have been swapping places on the bill during their
tour. The understanding is that it will work out to have been shared 50-50
when the end of the road is reached.
"That's the fun thing about it," Cook says. "We're both
instrumental artists. We're both Canadians and yet we're doing music that
has very different traditions. But they're both musical traditions that
have roots . . . as opposed to looping."
Each of the Juno-winning co-headliners is to play a 50-minute set, with a
show-stopping fiddle- meets-guitar extravaganza to wind things down -- or
up, more likely.
"For the first time last night (Monday), we did one where she was
closing," Cook says. "Because I (was) playing with her band, we
did a song called Flamenco Fling from her record."
The MacMaster-Cook Fling is a track on her most recent CD, In My Hands
(Warner) from 1999. When Cook is the closer, the two join for a "melange"
of tunes.
Last October marked the release of Jesse Cook's fourth recording, Free
Fall (Narada). At last word, it was approaching platinum.
Cook himself has recently been in the fast lane, out in Los Angeles for an
appearance on the Jay Leno TV show. Cook was working with young British
singer Charlotte Church, having produced three tracks on her recent CD.
"It was kind of crazy," Cook says. "Who was there? Tom
Cruise was there that day and Tim Allen . . . Jennifer Esposito and all
these big stars.
"It was very strange. It's kind of surreal when you see somebody
really famous and you're standing next to them. They were all on the Jay
Leno show that day."
For her part, MacMaster is making a special appearance at UWO tomorrow
afternoon before playing Centennial Hall.
MacMaster is at home playing such halls, but equally comfortable giving
her Celtic all to a group of kids at a Tim Horton's Children's Camp in
Kentucky or for a square dance inside a tiny hall in Glencoe Mills, N.S.,
north of her birthplace of Troy on Cape Breton's west coast.
"People often feel sorry for me when they look at my schedule by
saying, 'Oh, you're so busy! How can you do that yourself? You must find
it so hard,' " MacMaster says. "But you have to work hard, you
can't just expect to have this handed to you on a silver platter."
Known as someone who brings extra energy to her own shows and special
appearances, MacMaster will help officially open the National Centre for
Audiology (NCA) at the University of Western Ontario's Elborn College
tomorrow.
The NCA is known as Canada's pre-eminent centre of excellence in the field
of hearing health care and houses the country's largest educational and
research programs in the field. The centre is billed as being "all
about sound . . . and how to bring the world of sound to individuals who
have hearing problems."
Richard Seewald, an NCA researcher, says: "The NCA is an extension of
the early work of Alexander Graham Bell, the Canadian teacher of the deaf
who worked to achieve the same goals and in the process developed the
telephone.
"Bell's work was carried out in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, the
place Natalie MacMaster calls home, and Natalie's work is all about sound,
so it seemed she would be a natural fit to help us officially open the NCA."
MacMaster will be turning her attention to a television special which
features footage from a summer concert in Mississauga, the Glencoe Mills
square dance and a house ceilidh in Cape Breton. Produced independently,
the special is tentatively slated to air Dec. 2 on CBC. It's expected to
lead to a DVD and possibly a live album.
Two young step-dancers are among those performers adding a touch of London
region flavour to MacMaster's show. Maigan Hominick of Ingersoll and
Courtney Rosso of London have been preparing for their role in the
evening.
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October
4, 2001
Life In Natalie's Hands
By Ian Nathanson
- Ottawa Sun
Keeping
up with Natalie MacMaster's hectic touring pace is enough to make the
average artist's head spin.
At one extreme, the 29-year-old Cape Breton sensation lets her fiddle
prowess light up large crowds during any number of awards shows -- be it
Junos, Canadian Country Music Awards or East Coast Music Awards -- or
gathering on Parliament Hill for Canada Day.
At the other end, MacMaster is equally comfortable giving her Celtic all
to a group of kids at a Tim Horton's Children's Camp in Kentucky or for a
square dance inside a tiny hall in Glencoe Mills, N.S., north of her
birthplace of Troy on Cape Breton's west coast.
"People often feel sorry for me when they look at my schedule by
saying, 'Oh, you're so busy! How can you do that yourself? You must find
it so hard,' " MacMaster says from a Brantford hotel room days before
she and her band (which includes Ottawa drummer Miche Pouliot) join
co-headliner Jesse Cook at the National Arts Centre Tuesday night.
"I mean, gee yes, I do have five hours of sleep some nights, get up
the next morning and fly all day, do a show that night, go to bed for
another five hours and do it all again the next day. It's kind of rotten.
Nobody wants to be pushing themselves too hard.
"But you have to work hard, you can't just expect to have this handed
to you on a silver platter."
This down-to-earth, charming blonde has been lucky enough to share a stage
with everyone from Ricky Skaggs to The Chieftains to Carlos Santana, yet
she'll go out of her way to open this weekend's Celtic Colours festivities
on her native Cape Breton soil. To her, receiving a Grammy nod for the
U.S. release of My Roots Are Showing was just as rewarding as receiving
her Junos and CCMAs, as well as making the half-dozen recordings that
comprise her catalogue.
Yet MacMaster refuses to let every high-status accolade interfere with her
down-home demeanour. "For me, it all happens naturally," she
says. "I get up and I play, that's what I enjoy doing. I also have a
very strong faith and attribute a lot of my groundedness to where I grew
up."
With her music career established and personal life under control,
MacMaster turns her attention to a television special which features
footage from a summer concert in Mississauga, the aforementioned Glencoe
Mills square dance, a house ceilidh in Cape Breton and more. Produced
independently, the special is tentatively slated to air Dec. 2 on CBC.
"We'll eventually do a DVD but the soundtrack turned out so great
that I think I might put out a live album at the beginning of next year.
Then, come January or February, I want to head back to the studio and
record a follow-up to (1999's) In My Hands.
"But I haven't mentioned anything for sure ... I've been changing my
mind about what I'm gonna do next."
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September
11, 2001
Back To her Roots
MacMaster Wins First Award of Its Kind At Canadian Country Music Awards
By Judy Monchuk
-- The Canadian Press
CALGARY
- There was nothing complicated about Carolyn Dawn Johnson's dominance
last night at the Canadian Country Music Awards. The Alberta-born
singer-songwriter took five awards, including single and SOCAN song of the
year for Complicated, one of two No. 1 hits in Canada from her debut
album, Room with a View.
"Wow,"
said the Nashville-based Johnson, who took an unprecedented 10 nominations
into the ceremony, but had never before won an award for her own
performing.
"I
hope I keep making you proud," she told the audience, her voice
quavering with emotion. Prior to the awards, Johnson fretted that with her
family attending the ceremony, she'd hate to go home empty-handed. She
needn't have worried. As it was, she took an armful of trophies. She was
honoured as top female artist of the year and top rising star. Room with a
View, which has topped Canada's country charts and cracked Billboard's Top
10 country list, was named top album.
 Cape
Breton fiddling sensation Natalie MacMaster, who was
Grammy-nominated for best traditional folk album, was named the best roots
artist - the first time Canadian country music has honoured the genre.
>>>
Photo By SOUTHAM
Natalie MacMaster and Ricky Skaggs have a little fun during the 2001 CCMA
Awards at the Saddledome in Calgary last night. MacMaster accepted the
award for Roots Artist or Group of the year.
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September
9, 2001
Get smart: get caught
Get Caught Reading Month promotes literacy
Marlene Habib -
Halifax Herald
 Former
Wrestler Bret (Hitman) Hart and singer Haydain Neale of Jacksoul do it.
They also want others, especially kids, to stimulate their brains with
books. So they've lent their names and faces to the first national Get
Caught Reading Month in September.
The month, which receives some funding from Ottawa, has been organized by
the Canadian Publishers' Council to promote reading and to boost book
sales. It's geared towards readers in the nine-to-12 and 18-to-30 age
groups.
Calgary's Hart and Toronto's Neale, who along with Cape Breton fiddler
Natalie MacMaster are donating their time for the campaign, told a
news conference in Toronto this week that they were lazy readers in
school.
"As a kid I turned away from reading but I enjoyed science
fiction," said Neale, whose favourite pastime these days is reading
the quirky Lemony Snicket books to his 11-year-old daughter Yasmin.
In an interview, the hot Toronto rhythm and blues singer said he had a
penchant for comic books. His three older sisters would also read him
"whatever was hip."
Hart, who will appear at the Edmonton kickoff of Get Caught Reading Month
on Thursday, got hooked on books - especially historical fiction - for
enjoyment and to keep his mind busy while travelling during his 23 years
as a wrestler before retiring last year.
Now acting and working on his own book, an autobiography, he "plodded
through books" in school because he didn't enjoy what the curriculum
had to offer.
"So often kids lump together books as not being cool, but if they
just stick with them they have a way of getting better and better,"
said Hart, who is pictured reading the book Cold Mountain by Charles
Frazier in posters, bookmarks and media ads for the special month.
The
secret to getting kids reading, said Hart, is to feed their interests. For
instance, he recently gave The Red Badge of Courage to his 11-year-old son
Blade - his youngest of four kids - because "he and I both love war
books."
Canada's Get Caught Reading Month was inspired by a national U.S. campaign
started in 1999 by former congresswoman Pat Schroeder. It's now organized
every May by the Association of American Publishers and the Magazine
Publishers of America.
With celebrities like actors Jane Seymour and Rosie O'Donnell and baseball
player Sammy Sosa as volunteers, librarians and teachers set times each
day for leisure reading. Photos of kids "caught reading" are
taken and turned into classroom posters.
In Canada, Ottawa estimates nearly 40 per cent of Canadians - about eight
million people - lack literacy skills to meet the demands of everyday life
and work.
The goal of Canada's reading month is to spread the message that
"like a glass of red wine a day, reading is good for you but also
makes life much more enjoyable and interesting," says the Canadian
Publishers' Council. Council president Harold Fenn credits the American
campaign with increasing U.S. book sales in May, and he hopes the Canadian
event will result in similar success.
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August
13, 2001
Take a Bow, Natalie. MacMaster a Fine Finish
By Mike Ross -
Edmonton Sun (article excerpt)
We
stood, lit candles, held hands and swayed to and fro ever so gently as Ian
Tyson's ancient words wafted heavenward to signal the end of another
Edmonton Folk Music Festival.
Wipe away those tears, roll up your tarp, pack up your trash and get the
hell outta Dodge.
Till next year.
There's an eerie permanence to the folk fest.
Imagine the scampering tots underfoot this weekend in 2055 with greying
ponytails and coffee cups tied around their necks clapping on the beat to
We Shall Overcome.
Scary.
As there are four winds, there are four pillars - the four types of folk
music long ago described by folk boss Terry Wickham as the key to any
successful event here on Gallagher Hill.
You have Celtic. Check. There was a lot of that this year. Fiddles
fiddling. Pipers piping. Bodhrans bodhranning.
Then, worldbeat. Guys named Baaba or Boubacar are considered worldbeat
artists.
Of singer-songwriters, the third pillar, there was no lack.
And what was the other pillar again? Oh yeah, the blues. Had some of that.
Good stuff.
Last night's closers - Natalie MacMaster and Great Big Sea - definitely
supported the Celtic end of the proverbial folk fest tent. If it's true
that fiddle played well is called violin, then the vivacious Natalie
MacMaster is one heck of a violinist.
The Cape Breton native delivered traditional waltzes, jigs and reels for
an enthusiastic crowd.
She and her band kept kicking it up a notch until the dance area was
packed with leaping bodies.
What Bon Jovi is to rock, the Sea is to Celtic, subscribing to the Big Mac
(or Mc, depending) of music. It's no insult.
You know exactly what you're going to get every time and it's exactly what
you want when you're hungry.
By sundown, this crowd wanted to dance, so the Newfoundland band served 45
minutes of full-blown Celtic kitchen party. Great big fun.
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August
1, 2001
Nova Scotians Nominated For Country Music Awards
Great Big Sea, MacMaster, Austin, Guthries among nominees
Andrew Flynn -
The Canadian Press - Halifax Herald
Carolyn
Dawn Johnson, an Albertan who has moved down to Nashville, has snagged an
"astonishing" 10 nominations for the 2001 Canadian Country Music
Awards.
The nominees were announced Tuesday for an awards ceremony that will be
held Sept. 10 in Calgary. Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster,
Newfoundland's Great Big Sea, Dartmouth's The Guthries are all nominated
in the roots artist or group category.
New
Brunswick-born singer / songwriter Julian Austin is up for male artist.
It's the first year that Johnson, who was born in Deadwood, Alta., has
been
eligible for the awards. With her debut album Room With A View logging two
No.1 singles in Canada, Johnson is one of the fastest rising Canadian
country artists.
She's part of the Girl's Night Out Tour this summer with Reba McEntire.
Other multiple nominees were Montreal-born, Medicine Hat, Alta.-raised
Terri Clark with six, Ontario's Jason McCoy with five, 16-year-old
Edmontonian Adam Gregory with four and singer Lisa Brokop, who received
five nods in the independent recording category.
Johnson is up against herself in two categories. For song of the year, her
hits Georgia and Complicated will vie with McCoy's Fix Anything, Clark's
No Fear and Gregory's Only Know I Do.
Up for album of the year are Clark's Fearless, McCoy's Honky Tonk Sonatas,
Johnson's Room With A View, Gregory's The Way I'm Made and Brokop's
Undeniable.
Members of the association will register their final votes over the next
few weeks.
The awards gala, Sept. 10 at Calgary's Saddledome (CBC TV), will cap off
the industry's annual conference, Canadian Country Music Week.
A host has not yet been chosen for the show, but there will be appearances
by Canadian legends Anne Murray and Gordon Lightfoot, the association
said.
Roots Artist or Group of the Year Nominees:
Scotty Campbell, Great Big Sea, The Guthries, Natalie MacMaster,
Mike Plume Band.
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July
2001
Fiddling Up A Cape Breton Storm
Shaun Fawcett -
Menz Magazine
In
a world of popular music excess and showbiz egomania, a pure and fresh
Atlantic breeze has been blowing across North America in recent years by
the name of Natalie MacMaster.
As
this gifted Cape Breton fiddler continues to expand her musical
outpourings, her passionate cult-like following grows every time her
traditional island music falls on new ears. Not only is Natalie MacMaster
sweeping North America like a salt-of-the-earth Cape Breton sea wind, she
and her music are capturing the hearts of audiences in some of the least
likely places.
A case in point was when I recently interviewed Natalie by phone from her
bed and breakfast hotel in unremarkable, Omaha, Nebraska, where she had
just played a private gig at a reception to celebrate a priest's
ordination. She went on to tell me about her group's recent whirlwind tour
of Hawaii, of all places. "Hawaii was awesome. It was just really,
really, cool. The crowds were awesome. They received the music so very
well. It was just terrific," she gushed in her lilting Cape Breton
accent.
An unlikely connection, traditional Atlantic Cape Breton fiddling in the
mid-Pacific islands best known for Pearl Harbor and Hawaii 50. But
somehow, Natalie and her Celtic-music-charisma managed to bridge that
ocean divide.
Deep roots
When
one speaks with Natalie MacMaster, one quickly realizes that only Canada,
and Cape Breton in particular, could ever have produced such a young
woman, so grounded and deeply-rooted in the traditional music of the past.
Almost an anachronism of sorts. The amazing thing about Natalie is the way
she has single-mindedly managed to uncover the roots of her musical
ancestors and then expose these ancient tunes to what has become an open
and receptive 21st century audience.
There's definitely been a two-part package at work here. First, it's the
music that Natalie plays. Its sheer simplicity, mixed with its upbeat
energy, and its deep connection to the past, somehow all combine to strike
an ancient chord in the souls of many people. This is not unlike the
tremendous impact of traditional Celtic dance and music phenomena in
recent years, as embodied by Riverdance, and Michael Flatley's Lord of the
Dance. Natalie has somehow struck the same note with people.
Those ancient Celtic jigs, reels, clogs and marches just fly off of
Natalie's bow, and people start moving, twitching, and bouncing whether
they want to or not. It's knee-slappin', toe-tappin', foot-stompin'
down-home Cape Breton fare at its best. Then there's the other end of the
spectrum - the slow moving dirge-like ancient sea ballads that can evoke
tears from even the most stoic of listeners.
Natural
entertainer
The
second and most important reason for Natalie's success is the
Scottish-descended lassie herself. She is an experienced and accomplished
musician and stage entertainer who knows exactly how to play an audience.
Fiddling, bouncing, and stepdancing around the stage with boundless
energy, her curly blond locks flying about like a Cape Breton summer
storm, she looks like some sort of Gaelic whirling dervish. Couple that
with her down-home, girl-next-door charm, and she effectively mesmerizes
her audiences. They want more of her and her music. Chatelaine magazine
once aptly described Natalie as "down-home with attitude."
Success has not come to Natalie without lots of hard work and some good
fortune along the way. Not to mention of course, her natural gift for both
the fiddle and the music.Both Jill and the Law & Order series have
developed quite a following on the internet with legions of committed
online devotees. And of all the Law & Order characters over the years,
it's Jill's portrayal of Claire Kincaid that has won more hearts than any
other. She is still ranked among the top 90 of a current online celebrity
poll of 250 showbiz personalities. And, of course, you can still tune in
to reruns of Law & Order any weekday evening and the odds of running
in to Jill as Claire Kincaid are extremely high.
Cape Breton girl
Nathalie
MacMaster was born on June 13, 1972. She grew up in the town of Troy,
situated in Cape Breton's Inverness county on the Strait of Canso. She was
raised in a traditional disciplined, close-knit Scottish family. Her dad,
Alex, worked at a local paper mill and her mom, Minnie, clerked at the
local Sears store. The MacMasters were a devout, practising Catholic
family, attending Mass every Sunday. While growing up, her two older
brothers played hockey after school while Natalie practised the fiddle.
Natalie picked up her first fiddle as a tiny nine-year-old girl. It was a
three-quarter-size violin sent by her grand-uncle in Boston, Charlie
MacMaster, to be passed on to any of the MacMaster children who might take
to playing. They say that young Natalie could play a tune from almost the
first time she tucked that fiddle under her little chin. By the time she
was 10 years old, Natalie had played her first public concert to an
audience of 250. In no time at all she was fiddling up a storm at concerts
and dances all over the island of Cape Breton.
Inherited gift
Her
parents recognized Natalie's gift for music right away and supported her
playing from the very start. They were not all that surprised by their
young prodigy since she is descended from a long line of fiddlers. In fact
her uncle Buddy MacMaster is a world-renowned fiddler in his own right,
one who later became a musical role model for Natalie as she developed in
her playing. Her grandmother, Maggie Ann Cameron, sang Celtic tunes to the
accompaniment of the mouth organ. Her great-grandfather Cameron is still
remembered as a fleet-footed dancer and excellent Gaelic singer.
Not only can Natalie play fiddle like a virtuoso, she can also dance to
beat the band. She comes by that naturally, too. Her mother was a
stepdancer, so as a girl, Natalie learned highland dancing and stepdancing,
which she later incorporated into her stage act, much to the delight of
her audiences. Word has it that Michael Flatley offered her a leading role
in Lord of the Dance. Of course, she turned him down "flatly,"
so to speak, in order to continue on her own musical path. She also plays
the piano a bit, just for good measure.
Her childhood fiddle teacher, Stan Chapman once said, "If musical
ability is genetic, then Natalie's got it. Natalie was hearing music from
the time she was born, probably even before that." He was right about
that. Just to make sure those musical genes bore fruit, Natalie's mom
would place a tape player beside the infant's crib, playing recordings
made at local concerts, dances, and ceilidh (Gaelic dance parties, jam
sessions).
Teenage
sensation
By
the time she was 16, Natalie had played concerts in such far-away places
as Boston and Vancouver. She was still in her teens when she recorded her
first self-financed CD titled Four on the Floor. Her parents helped her
out with marketing and distribution and she sold over 5,000 copies, mostly
locally. She then followed that with her second CD of traditional tunes
called Road to the Isle. By the time she was twenty, Natalie had already
produced her third traditional CD Fit as a Fiddle.
At that point, Natalie's career went into a bit of a holding pattern. Even
after her three relatively successful self-produced CDs, no record company
had yet signed her, although some passing interest had been shown. By
then, Natalie knew she had the talent and was also sure that she
wanted to be a professional musician, but things weren't happening as
quickly as she would have liked. Maybe her music would never move beyond
the shores of Cape Breton, she wondered?
Waiting for a break
So,
based on the advice of her parents, Natalie implemented her career
contingency plan and enrolled in teachers college in Truro, Nova Scotia.
As it turned out, due to a heavy touring workload, she was forced to drop
out three credits short, but managed to eventually finish her degree by
correspondence in 1997.
With patience, things did happen. During Natalie's career slowdown period
at the beginning of the 90s, a few other Cape Bretoners were managing to
blaze a musical trail across Canada, and elsewhere, one that would
eventually lead to the music of Natalie MacMaster. By that time, Ashley
MasIsaac, The Rankin Family, and others were achieving considerable
success and recognition for the Cape Breton traditional fiddle-based folk
music. People seemed to like its unique but uncomplicated sound, and they
somehow identified with its deep emotional Celtic roots.
Record contract
Based
on this, Warner Music Canada took a chance on Natalie in 1993 and financed
her first real commercial album No Boundaries. That CD combined her
traditional roots music with some newer sounds and went on to become a
commercial success.
Two more albums have been recorded since, My Roots are Showing in 1996 and
In My Hands, released in 1999. Warner Canada has also released Natalie
MacMaster - A Compilation, which is a collection of material from the very
first two albums that Natalie made on her own in the early days.
Striking gold
Natalie's
own early recording Fit as a Fiddle has now achieved gold record status in
Canada, selling over 50,000 copies. No Boundaries also went gold. In March
2001, In My Hands was certified gold as well.
Natalie's all grown up now, and a lot of water has passed under that old
covered bridge since her first major breakthrough back in 1993. She has
traveled widely and has performed and recorded with some big
established names in the music industry including The Chieftains, Carlos
Santana, Luciano Pavarotti, John McDermott and The Rankin Family, among
others. She is quite well known and recognized from coast-to-coast in
Canada (a Tim Horton's TV commercial didn't hurt) and she continues to
amass a strong following in the United States and Europe. Cape Breton's
own little Natalie is now on the verge of international stardom.
Awards keep coming
In
addition to the sales records mentioned above, during Natalie's relatively
short professional career to date, she has already won countless music and
performance awards. Here are just a few of her achievements in the music
and entertainment industry over the past couple of years:
2000
.
"Roots/Traditional Solo Artist of the Year," East Coast Music
Awards.
. "Instrumental Artist of the Year," East Coast Music Awards.
. "SOCAN Songwriter of the Year," East Coast Music Awards (with
Gordie Sampson and Fred Lavery).
. "Grammy Award Nomination." My Roots are Showing was nominated
as "Best Traditional Folk Album" in the US-based recording
industry awards.
1999
.
"Female Artist of the Year," East Coast Music Awards.
. "Best Instrumental Album," Juno Awards, (In My Hands).
. "Music Citation Award for Best Fiddle Player," Canadian
Country Music Awards.
. "Best Performance or Host in a Variety Program or
Series," Gemini Awards (with Jesse Cook).
. "Successful Canadian Woman's Award," Adsum House.
. "Ambassador Award for Tourism of Nova Scotia," Province of
Nova Scotia.
. "Women of Excellence Award for Arts & Culture,"
Halifax-Cornwallis Progress Club.
In the end, Natalie didn't win the Grammy Award her first time out, but
that didn't faze her a bit. "I didn't even know I was eligible,"
she said after being nominated. "I had forgotten that one of my CDs,
which was three years old in Canada, was only released in the States last
year, so the nomination was a complete surprise, and that made it all the
nicer. It was like I had won the lottery, but I hadn't bought a
ticket."
Future looks bright
As
for the future, Natalie isn't thinking far beyond the next few months. She
will be spending most of June, July and August 2001 with her band, playing
the summer music festival circuit at various locations across Canada and
the US. The CD that was planned for early 2001, has been put on temporary
hold while Natalie prepares to tape a television special.
TV special
She
describes her first independent TV outing as if she's waited a long time
for such an opportunity. "I'm essentially doing it on my own. It will
be aired in Canada, the States, and in Europe. It's a private production,
so most of my energy lately has been trying to figure out what's going on
with that. It's like a live Natalie MacMaster concert with a few bits of
footage of Cape Breton, like going to a square dance, and some other
stuff," she explained.
Natalie likes the private production angle because it gives her a chance
to call the shots in a TV show that's about her, for the very first time.
"There's been a lot of TV stuff on me in Canada over the years, but
never anything that I've controlled, and there's never been a whole
special that focused on the music that I like to do." The concert
part of the production will be shot at the Living Arts Center in
Mississauga, Ontario, on July 31. "I'm really excited about it. I'm
actually considering putting out a live album based on the TV show,"
she says.
As far as her longer-term goals and ambitions are concerned, Natalie is a
bit more circumspect. "I always want to be able to play and do a few
shows here and there, and record. I love recording. I always want to have
this element in my life."
Family wish
She
pauses thoughtfully, and then volunteers, "At the same time, I hope
to get married and have children at some point, and then that will of
course take first priority." Then for absolute certainty she adds,
"Up until then, the music will always be front and center."
"Right now, I'm just really excited about how my career is building,
and how I can see that happening whenever I tour. Every time I tour now,
the crowds are bigger. When I say I'm going to play "Blue Bonnets
Over the Border" (from In My Hands) people actually applaud in
anticipation. People actually recognize it from the album. I really love
that."
As much as Natalie's fans no doubt wish her the very best in all aspects
of her life, most of them will be keeping their fingers crossed that she
doesn't rush too quickly into getting married and having a family. They
would like her to share just a few more years of her musical gift before
she does take what will be a well-deserved family sabbatical. Until then,
Natalie MacMaster says she plans to continue playing up a Cape Breton
storm. Natalie MacMaster talks to MENZ
MENZ: Is there any physical difference at all between a fiddle and a
violin?
NATALIE: No. The violin and the fiddle are exactly the same instrument.
Somewhere along the path, "fiddle" became the more acceptable
term for folk and Celtic music. My uncle, who is a fiddler, still calls
his instrument a violin. I read somewhere that the famous classical
violinist Itzhak Perlman once said, "You're not a real musician until
you call your instrument a
fiddle."
MENZ: What makes Cape Breton stand out in your mind?
NATALIE: The people first and foremost. They are very homey and welcoming,
and naturally playful. They're also pretty community- and family-oriented.
They're pretty religious, too. There's that old small town feeling there.
As for the island itself, it's a beautiful land. Alexander Graham Bell
once said, "For rustic beauty, Cape Breton rivals them all."
MENZ: I understand you're living in Halifax, on mainland Nova Scotia now.
What do you think of that?
NATALIE: It's a perfect location for me. It's close to home, only two and
half hours from the doorstep. Only 20 minutes to the airport. My
management team is in Halifax, too, so that's convenient. It's a nice,
clean medium-size city so I like it that way. Also, there are a lot of
Cape Bretoners in Halifax, and it's got a great night life with a lot of
good musicians.
MENZ: What are you reading these days?
NATALIE: I usually read stuff that's fairly religious. I'm Catholic. I try
and get at the Bible every now and again. There's a book I've been reading
lately about chastity. It's called Real Love. An excellent book that makes
you think about things in a much healthier way, I think. And then I read
another book recently called Return To Modesty. A real interesting book
about our culture, and how we've let the barriers down, some of which
maybe we shouldn't have let completely down.
MENZ: Do you have a favorite fiddler?
NATALIE: I don't really have one favorite. I change from day to day. My
shortlist would include Buddy MacMaster, Gerry Hall, and Arthur Muse from
Chetticamp. That's a town on the French part of the island. I like the
subtle differences in the French fiddle music from there.
MENZ: Do you ever listen to classical violin, and, if so, do you have any
favorite artists or composers?
NATALIE: I don't really listen to it, but I always feel like I should. I
think it would help me, it would expand my mind, and it would mature my
taste in music. The type of music I've always been into, that I grew up
with, is very upbeat, driving music. But I'm a huge fan of slow music,
too. I find the older you get, the more you become a fan of the slower
stuff. I do have a half-decent collection of classical music at home. I
wanted to build that collection. But then I don't listen to it.
MENZ: Outside of Cape Breton, what is your favorite place in the world?
NATALIE: I loved Rome and Italy. Partly because of the Catholic connection
there. Also, it's a lot to do with the people that you meet. We met some
great people there. We stayed with some priests and it was a really
beautiful time. We made some great friends.
MENZ: Where would you like to go that you haven't been to yet?
NATALIE: I'd like to go to Portugal. Also, Greece. It has a lot of ancient
customs that I think I would find really interesting. Portugal, because
it's kind of a holy land over there, for the Catholic Church at least.
When we were in Hawaii recently, you know I kind of said, "Wow, this
is what people do when they go on vacation." I've never been on that
kind of vacation where you go to the tropical climate and chill out on the
beach. I want to go and learn something when I go away somewhere. I want
to become a better person for going. The beach is great, but.
MENZ: Do you follow any particular personalities in music or entertainment
generally? Do you have any role models as a performer?
NATALIE: Not really anyone since I was seven years old and was all freaky
over Michael Jackson. I don't really have any idols in that way. As for
performers, I'm a big fan of Céline Dion. I think she has an incredible
voice. A lot of times when I mention that to musicians the say,
"Oh yeah, but she uses it too much, she oversings," and I think
"No way!" She's got it, and she uses it all, and she doesn't
hold back. She's got an incredible waterfall of power in there - she's
just bursting when she sings. Whether it's showbiz or not, she's
definitely got it.
MENZ: How do you find being on the road, the constant touring?
NATALIE: For me it's about 150 shows per year now, about 100 with the
band. That's down from 250 a couple of years ago, thank God. It was crazy
there in 1997 and 1998. We really went flat out. It was too much. I think
that you can learn to adapt on the road. I have definitely learned to
adapt, you know, and to relish the things I enjoy while touring. I find
the biggest drawback is that sometimes there's a false sense of life. When
you're on the road you're not grounded. You kind of lose perspective.
Sometimes when you lose sight of this, you start to think that you're
exempt from a lot of things that other people have to deal with in life.
You know, you hear about the typical musician's life on the road - going
out after the show and partying, or whatever. We don't do that very often
at all. Maybe the guys will go out and have a beer after the show
sometimes, but that's about it. I just find that we live a little bit of a
fairytale lifestyle on tour, and I find you lose out on some of the
important things in life, and get distracted by the other stuff. It's
really great to get home and get grounded again, and to get a regular
schedule going. But there's lots of great things too, about this life. It
gives you a different outlook on life that's very positive. It makes you
appreciate things a lot more. But every place I've been to, I just thank
God for home, no matter how beautiful the place may be. If it is a
beautiful place, I thank God for what I have, and I think, "Wow, I
come from a beautiful
place, too!"
MENZ: Are there any particular artists that you would like to record with
at this point?
NATALIE: Yeah, Diana Krall. I did a special millennium cruise with her a
while ago and got to know her a little. I have a couple of her CDs and I
like her music. When you meet somebody and get to know them a bit, it just
makes them that much more personable and you feel like you connect with
them a little more. She's a great talent.
MENZ: What is your personal philosophy or approach to living life on a
day-to-day basis?
NATALIE: Well, gosh, I haven't been asked that before. When I go through
the course of the day I'm always thinking that I've got to pray my Rosary.
Some days I get to it, some days I don't. I always feel better if I do, of
course.There's a lot of things on the road that can be annoying, be they
places, or events, or people, or episodes, or scenarios. Sometimes you
catch yourself getting cranky or annoyed. I'm trying to teach myself that,
whenever I get to that point, I should acknowledge what I'm feeling. So,
if I'm getting a little p.o.'d at somebody or something, I'll just keep it
in my mind and think, "Look what's happening, well whoop-dee-doo,
this is just a silly little thing, whoop-dee-doo if so-and-so doesn't want
to do such-and-such, whoop-dee-doo if your preferred food isn't on the
menu." If you really look at whatever it is that annoys you, it
really isn't such a big deal. Lately I've been trying to recognize that.
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June
7, 2001
Natalie MacMaster Heads Home To
Perform At Glencoe Mills Square Dance
Natalie
MacMaster will perform at Glencoe Mils Hall next Sunday, June 17 (Father's
Day). The dance will be filmed by Hallway Productions (Nashville) and
incorporated into her upcoming television special, to be recorded in
Mississauga, Ontario at the Living Arts Centre on July 31, 2001.
Admission
is free. The dance begins at 10:00 pm - 1:00 am.
Natalie's special guests include Willie A. Kennedy, Dave MacIsaac, &
Tracey Dares.
Donations
will be accepted and given to the local food bank.
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May
4, 2001
Celtic Fiddler To Perform At Royce Hall
Laura Morgan - Daily Bruin (California)
Natalie
MacMaster isn't an ordinary violin player. In fact, she doesn't even
consider herself a violinist; she describes herself as a world-class
fiddler.
Performing
at Royce Hall on Saturday, MacMaster is known as Nova Scotia's favorite
Celtic fiddler, MacMaster will mostly play songs from her latest releases
"In My Hands" and "My Roots are Showing."
Being
a Canadian native, but playing Celtic music, may seem an unlikely
combination for some, but there is a strong history that link the two
together.
"Much
of Nova Scotian music contains a lot of very old traditional Scottish
music, from its Celtic settlers from way back," MacMaster said in a
phone interview. "It's very Celtic and some people have a tendency to
assume that the music I play is Irish. We have a little bit of Irish in
our tradition, but mostly Scottish."
Raised
in a family where music was no stranger, MacMaster chose to become a
musician at an early age.
"I
was nine when I started," MacMaster said. "I received a fiddle
from a relative of mine and I wanted to play that night. The fiddle was
three-quarter sized, so it fit perfect, and I learned to play that
night."
Not
only did MacMaster love playing, but it also came so easily to her that
she played a concert shortly after she received the fiddle.
"I
performed in a concert six months after I began," MacMaster said.
"I always knew that I would want to do this for the rest of my life
from the day I started. I didn't know in what capacity I'd be doing it; I
just knew that I'd always play."
Since
then, MacMaster has never stopped playing, whether she is performing for
square dances in her hometown of Cape Breton or representing Nova Scotia
on the world's stages. She has already released five albums, three of
which reached gold status in Canada. In addition, she has also received a
total of six East Coast Music Awards for her work and a Grammy nomination
for her most recent recording, "My Roots are Showing."
However,
with her busy schedule, the nominations and awards sometimes come when she
least expects them.
"I
think it's a complete honor to be nominated," MacMaster said. "I
was very surprised, because the CD that was nominated, even though it was
just released last year in the States, was four years old in Canada. I had
kind of forgotten that it was eligible, so it was a real surprise."
Although
MacMaster admits that her favorite music is Cape Breton fiddle music, she
decided to explore other realms of the music world for her 1999 recording,
"In My Hands."
"Doing
an album like this was actually something I had been thinking about for
the last five years or so," MacMaster said. "I kept putting them
off, because there wasn't an album suitable to put them on. When the
selection became big enough, I decided that now is the time, and I put the
CD together."
The
album is colored with a touch of Latin rhythms and street grooves, also
incorporating jazz and pop, while collaborating with other musicians, such
as fiddler Mark O'Connor and Canadian guitarist Jesse Cook. In addition,
MacMaster went into a totally different realm by performing vocally in
"In My Hands."
MacMaster
had never sung in any of her albums, but she was quick to mention that she
won't be repeating the vocal performance in Saturday night's concert.
"This
was the first time and probably the last time that I'll be singing on an
album, but things aren't necessarily for sure," MacMaster said.
"But this singing I tried is mostly talking in spoken word. So it's
not very challenging in the vocal respect. However, I'm not a singer; I'd
much rather play the fiddle."
For
the past two months, music has been an ever-present part of her life
because of her international tour. Now on its America leg, the tour stops
at a different concert venue practically every night.
"In
terms of a career, this is definitely what I want to be doing for the rest
of my life," MacMaster said. "Touring does get tiring and it's
not a normal lifestyle by any means. I love the studio, but if you're not
on the road for so long, it's really enjoyable."
When
not in the studio, touring, or playing in grand concert halls, MacMaster
loves to be at home and play what she loves most, Cape Breton fiddle
music.
"I
grew up with it and it's a part of my family, my home and my
community," MacMaster said. "So it's very much a part of me. I
enjoy coming home, and I play for square dances and little concerts here
and there, and it's very much a community thing and a family thing.
There's a lot of dancing and it's just really real and good."
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May
3, 2001
For MacMaster It's More Than Fiddlin' Around
Don Heckman - L.A Times
Natalie
MacMaster has the look of a pop star: blond, slender, vivacious and
outgoing. Her stage performances are whirling flashes of music and
movement, her thick mane of hair flying as she whips her bow across her
fiddle.
That's
right, fiddle. If MacMaster, a highly regarded violinist in the Celtic
music world, ever surfaces in the pop pool, it's not going to be via her
singing, rapping or hip-hop dancing skills.
Singing
and rapping, in particular, are out of the question.
"I
have a couple of singers in my band," she says. "But not me.
I'll tell corny jokes and that'll be about it."
MacMaster,
who performs at UCLA's Royce Hall on Saturday, isn't nearly so shy about
dancing, however. In her case, it is Irish step dancing--the
straight-armed, limber-legged style that burst into public consciousness a
few years ago with "Riverdance."
"The
step dancing--by me and some of my band--has become a part of my show over
the past few years," she says. "It's not something that I
necessarily do spontaneously; I know I'm going to do it. But some nights
are extra special, and the nights when I can do a little free-form
dancing, just whatever I want to do, are the most fun."
The
moments that MacMaster's audiences insist on, however, are the brief but
highly spirited segments in which she combines her dancing with her fiddle
playing.
"It's
more for the sake of the show," she explains, "because it's
really hard to dance and fiddle at the same time. But it's not as
comfortable as dancing without the fiddle, and I only put it in because I
know the crowd loves it."
Then,
with a laugh, she adds, "And any time I haven't done it I've heard
about it."
The
Cape Breton-born MacMaster, who comes from a musical family with a
Scottish lineage, is the grandniece of veteran fiddler Buddy MacMaster,
one of the area's most influential musicians. Now 29, she has been playing
the instrument since she was 9, performing in her first public concert
barely six months after she first picked up the fiddle. By the time she
was 20, she had three recordings, all self-produced and self-released.
Cape
Breton fiddle music was not exactly a style that loomed large in the view
screens of most major record labels a decade ago, so it wasn't until 1993
that Warner Music Canada risked releasing her album, "No
Boundaries." It was issued in the U.S. on Rounder Records in 1997,
followed by four more over the next three years.
The
resistance traced, in part, to MacMaster's dedication to traditional Cape
Breton music--unlike the more familiar Irish fiddle style, it's a method
that employs very little improvisation.
"The
less improvising the better, with the Cape Breton style," says
MacMaster. "It's considered very respectful of the music and the
tradition to play the tunes the way they were written. But you can hear
the same tune over and over again by 10 or 20 different fiddlers, all
playing the same way, and any Cape Bretoner can pick out each of the
different fiddlers from their sound. When I compare it to other styles of
fiddling, I think, 'Wow, we have a unique quality here and we should try
to keep it.' "
"My
Roots Are Showing," her most traditional album, was nominated for a
Grammy in the best traditional folk album category. Three other MacMaster
albums --"In My Hands," "Fit as a Fiddle" and "No
Boundaries"--have been certified gold for the Canadian market, with
each selling more than 50,000 copies.
MacMaster
is quick to acknowledge, however, that dedicating her career to
traditional music alone--despite her charismatic performing
qualities--would probably not have triggered her current prominence.
"If
we just did Cape Breton music our audience would be much more narrow. But
I think that by giving an audience a lot of variety, it helps them to
appreciate the traditional tunes."
Toward
that end, her shows are generally a mixture of elements ranging from
traditional jigs and reels to occasional Latin rhythms and pop grooves.
Her albums, aside from "My Roots Are Showing," have been
similarly diverse.
"Cape
Breton traditional music is my favorite," she says. But I have lots
of other musical interests too. If I get excited by a certain style of
music, I always want to play it. And it helps with the audience because it
keeps them wondering.
"I
really love it," concludes MacMaster in true pop star fashion,
"when I can get them to think, 'Wow, I wonder what she's going to do
next!' "
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April
29, 2001
MacMaster's A Fine Lassie With A Fiddle
This Brave Heart Has Set Herself To Spreading Her Music Around
Burl Burlingame -
Honolulu Star Bulletin
At
one point in her brief and already blazing career, fiddler Natalie
MacMaster was offered a featured solo spot in the big-deal Irish hoof-arama
"Lord of the Dance," but she declined.
Although MacMaster step-dances while she plays -- unconsciously, the girl
can't help it -- her roots are in Scottish rather than Irish music.
That's
a pretty fine hair being split on this side of the world, but in the Cape
Breton community where MacMaster grew up, musical tradition is taken
seriously.
And one of those serious traditions is to have fun while playing. Being a
cog -- even a featured cog -- in a touring company of top-dollar ankle
wallopers simply can't compare to blowing into faraway towns like a Gaelic
whirlwind. MacMaster has become a fixture on the East Coast and a bona
fide star in Canada.
Judging by her recordings and by reviews of her performances elsewhere, it
should be quite an evening.
MacMaster is clearly a real master of her instrument, drawing melancholy
scrapes and fat, hanging cries from ballads; sassy, orotund jump-melodies
from jigs, reels and strathspeys. She has an intuitive sense of hurtling
melody and native rhythm -- one of those musicians who can make whole room
dance by sheer dint of her playing. "My Roots Are Showing," her
album of Cape Breton traditionals, was nominated for a Grammy.
Raise your hand if you can find Cape Breton on the globe. It's a
taco-shape smudge of islands to the northeast of Nova Scotia, right in the
teeth of the Atlantic. It was settled by Scots sick of English usury and,
for a little while, by Acadians beating feet out of Brittany on their way
to Louisiana. The strong connections between Scotland and Brittany are
evident in music. Anyone who's heard a Cajun fiddle master will appreciate
the roll and cadence of a Cape Breton musician like Natalie MacMaster.
We caught up with MacMaster on the road in ... well, we didn't mean to
stump her with the first question. After a brief consultation off-line,
MacMaster managed to figure out she was somewhere near Scranton.
Pennsylvania. Fort Something, she was pretty sure, and had a throaty
giggle at her own confusion.
"We're playing a hundred or so concerts a year these days; a couple
of years ago, we were doing about 250 a year. Someday, when we're more
established, we can make do with a hundred or so a year," said
MacMaster, 28, and when informed that B.B. King is still playing several
hundred gigs a year at age 76, she blurted out: "No way! How can he
do that and still be alive?"
Although MacMaster has toured with the Chieftains and the Dixie Chicks and
other top draws, her heart is still in Cape Breton, and she lives in Nova
Scotia, only a two-hour drive from her folks on the island. "Born and
raised in Cape Breton, sir," she said. "It was my upbringing.
And so it was very natural that I picked up a fiddle -- that's what we
call it -- real young. Bretonians have a long history of fiddling. There
is no other instrument for us, not even as an option. No accordions, thank
you! I just took to the sound and the vibration of the fiddle.
"I played by ear and took lessons for a few years, but I did a lot of
my learning simply by listening to old recordings by myself and playing
along. My mom would play recordings of traditional Cape Breton music as I
went to sleep, and my dreams were musical."
MacMaster neglects to brag about herself. She picked up the fiddle at 9
years old, played her first public concert -- to hundreds -- at age 10.
She made her first recording, on cassette, at age 11. She recorded another
cassette as a teenager and sold piles of them, and her first big-time CD
album at age 20. She's riding a crest of renewed interest in honest ethnic
music, particularly Gaelic, and tourism in Cape Breton is largely
music-obsessed.
She also has tight-fitting musical genes; her parents are both musicians,
and uncle Buddy MacMaster is also a fiddling whiz. It doesn't hurt that
she's also vivacious and attractive enough to be in demand for Canadian
television commercials.
"I've played everywhere there was to play in Cape Breton," she
chuckled. "Dance halls, weddings, parties, school assemblies. Once I
figured out I could make a living at it, I've been playing ever
since."
She's never been to Hawaii and doesn't know quite what to expect except
for "lots and lots of blue-green ocean."
Majoring in education, MacMaster dropped out of college only three credits
shy when she hit the road full time. She made up the missing classes while
touring, by correspondence courses, doing homework in hotel rooms. She
also recorded an educational video, introducing kids to the fiddle.
The constant touring doesn't leave her much time for other activities --
"My only hobby was the fiddle, and there's not much time for anything
else these days" -- and volunteers no information on a long-term,
long-distance boyfriend other than confirmation.
"Although I'd like to take some cooking classes someday. Desserts! I
love my desserts. In Cape Breton we call desserts 'squares.' 'Cut me a
square, dear.' Ah, I love Cape Breton, but it's all meat and potatoes
there. What do you eat in Hawaii?"
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April
27, 2001
Fiddler Finds Inspiration In Her Roots
By Derek Paiva -
Honolulu Advertiser
The
first thing that captures your fancy while speaking to fiddle player
extraordinaire Natalie MacMaster is something she rarely uses in her music
- her voice.
It's a wonderful Scottish- and Gaelic-tinged Nova Scotian lilt resulting
from her upbringing on the North Atlantic Canadian island of Cape Breton.
First settled by Europeans in 1521, the island's unique cultural stew of
residents continues to sport a dialectical mix of lingering colonial
French, Irish, German and Scottish accents, and clings closely to the
heritage and traditions of their ancestral roots.
Cape Breton is where MacMaster - in Hawai'i next week for three concerts,
including a Wednesday evening date at Andrews Outdoor Theatre - continues
to draw inspiration for her virtuoso takes on the region's traditional
fiddling songs, as well as her more experimental original compositions.
The pure - some might say raw - sound of her fiddling has been described
by Entertainment Weekly as "pure and bracing as North Atlantic sea
spray."
"The music is very much like the people," says MacMaster,
explaining the Cape Breton sound long distance from Concord, N.H., just
six hours shy of a concert there. "And the character of the people is
very natural, very traditional. There's nothing dainty about the culture
or the music . . . nothing refined about it. It's rich in character, but
not sterilized to perfection." It's malso not so much taught, says
the 28-year-old MacMaster, but absorbed in somewhat of a musical osmosis
from generation to generation.
MacMaster received her first fiddle at age 9 from her granduncle Charlie,
a gift to the first of the MacMaster family progeny who were interested in
taking it up. Natalie bit immediately. "I just really liked it,"
MacMaster recalls of the three-quarter-size fiddle. "And it fit me
perfect. There wasn't a question in my mind. As soon as I saw it, I wanted
it. I learned a tune the night I got it." Six months later and with
very little instruction to boot, MacMaster was already performing in front
of her first public audience.
"My mom taught me to step-dance when I was 5, so I had a really good
ear for the tunes by that time," says MacMaster. "I could hum a
lot of them, so it was just a matter of getting the notes on to the
instrument." MacMaster had a strong musical heritage in her Scottish
family not just to learn from, but also to live up to.
Her mother, Minnie, had performed the robust Scottish step-dance.
Grandmother Maggie Ann was a singer and great-grandfather Domhnall Mor
Cameron a dancer and Gaelic vocalist. Closer to MacMaster's chosen
instrument, uncle Buddy MacMaster was already a lauded Cape Breton
fiddler. The easy cliche is that talent ran in the MacMaster blood, but
Natalie worked hard to master the fiddle, taking lessons from teacher Stan
Chapman for three years and practicing every day.
"I didn't have a long attention span or a short one, but I was very
focused," says MacMaster, chuckling. "I was used to a high
quality of music because my uncle was such a great player and I'd heard so
much of his music. My whole family has a lot of great musicians, so I had
a certain standard that I thought was normal."
By the time she was out of her teens, MacMaster had already toured much of
her native Canada and recorded two independently financed traditional
fiddle albums. In 1992, MacMaster won her first major label deal with
Warner Music Canada, home of her last five albums, including the 2000
Grammy-nominated "My Roots Are Showing" (released in the United
States on Rounder Records).
"I didn't even know I was eligible," MacMaster says of her
unexpected first Grammy nod, for Best Traditional Folk Album. "I had
forgotten that one of my CDs, which was 3 years old in Canada, was only
released in the States last year. So the nomination was a complete
surprise, which made it all the more nice. It was like I had won the
lottery, but I hadn't bought the ticket."
Though someone else ended up taking home the Grammy, MacMaster admits,
"Once you get a little taste of that, it's really nice. Now I'm
thinking, 'Gee, it'd be nice to really win one, wouldn't it?'"
Still, she says, awards of any kind will be the last thing on her mind
when she returns to the studio later this year to record her eighth album.
And her focus, for the moment, is simply on a touring schedule that
includes her very first trip to Hawai'i.
"I'm really, really excited about it," exclaims MacMaster, her
sing-song accent at full tilt. "When I heard about (a potential
Hawai'i tour date), I was like, 'Oh my gosh, yes! I'll do it!'" Asked
to describe her stage show for as-yet-uninitiated Hawai'i fans, MacMaster
doesn't miss a beat.
"It's got a lot of variety in it," she explains quickly.
"There's some traditional moments with just the fiddle, piano and
guitar; and a lot of moments with the full band." With the Cape
Breton sound heavy on Scottish jigs, marches and reels, expect a number of
upbeat dance tunes from the Highlands, and "a couple of Latin,
Italian and a few other little numbers thrown in there" for good
measure. Anything else?
"Hmmm," says MacMaster, thinking. "Just expect a lot of
real, feel-good, fun stuff."
Natalie MacMaster learned to play the fiddle as a child on the island of
Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. Much of her music derives from that Canadian
area's mix of Scottish and other European traditions.
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April
26, 2001
Fiddling With Stardom
Blending her roots with influences from around the world,
Celtic violin virtuoso's 'clog 'n' roll' makes for 80 minutes of high
energy fun
Jon Woodhouse -
Maui News
On
the opening track of her album "In My Hands," Canadian fiddling
virtuoso Natalie MacMaster sounds like she's lost in ecstatic rapture as
she seductively sings, "I see your shape and I'm attracted, I touch
your neck and I'm tempted." One might think it's a passionate ode
delivered to a lover, but actually it's expressed to her violin.
Playing her beloved instrument since the age of 9, MacMaster's precision
fiddle playing and toe-tapping step-dances, combined with her friendly,
sunny disposition have captured the hearts of audiences in her homeland
and abroad.
MacMaster's talents have taken her around the world and earned her some
high-profile fans. Carlos Santana and The Chieftains have invited her to
open shows for them, and U2's Bono popped into one of her recording
sessions to check out her fiddling prowess.
Born and raised on the island of Cape Breton, in the Canadian province of
Nova Scotia, MacMaster draws on a rich tradition of Celtic music from the
Scottish highlands.
Relatively isolated from outside influences, Cape Breton, which had steady
immigration from Scotland between 1790s and the 1840s, remains the
heartland of Scottish culture in Canada. Cape Breton's raw fiddling style,
which MacMaster was exposed to while growing up, draws on a Highland
Scotland fiddling repertoire of airs, marches, jigs, reels, and hornpipes
from the 18th and 19th centuries, but differs significantly from what is
generally found in present-day Scotland.
"Scottish
music over the last 100 years has more of a classical influence and that's
made the music a bit more refined and graceful," MacMaster explains,
"whereas Cape Breton music is less refined and more raw, and it has a
lot of heart and soul."
MacMaster has had a passionate relationship with her instrument since an
uncle gave her a fiddle. Even back then, Celtic fiddle music was already
in her blood - one of uncles, Buddy MacMaster, is the acknowledged dean of
traditional Cape Breton fiddlers. By 16, she was a seasoned performer who
used part of her concert earnings to make her first album.
"I grew up with the music," she says. "I played piano and
step danced and sang all sorts of fiddle tunes (as a young child). I think
the fiddle was bound to happen. I've been playing since I was 9 and I
don't even think about it. It's just like talking, like a language for me.
You end up learning it because you're surrounded by it."
Her
major-label debut, "No Boundaries," was steeped in traditional
Gaelic sounds, yet also hinted at wider influences including country,
ragtime and world beat. This interest in blending various musical styles
into her traditional sound reached full flowering with the "In My
Hands" recording, where she branched out in unexpected directions.
Featuring some stellar accompaniment including flamenco guitarist Jesse
Cook, folk/bluegrass great Alison Krauss, Nashville fiddle star Mark
O'Connor and Irish accordionist Sharon Shannon, "In My Hands"
reflected such diverse influences as flamenco and modern trance dance,
complete with electronic drum programming.
Praising
MacMaster's "pure musical wizardry," the Los Angeles Times,
added, "if anyone is looking for a Celtic performer with major
potential to cross over into the larger pop music market, MacMaster is the
one."
Her most recent album available in the U.S., "My Roots are
Showing" (though it was actually recorded before "In My
Hands"), was nominated this year for a Grammy Award. Filled with jigs
and reels as well as a live jam with her uncle Buddy MacMaster, "My
Roots are Showing" was a chance for MacMaster to showcase the music
she grew up with, unadorned by any contemporary shading.
"They're night and day," she says, comparing her two most recent
releases. "I had combined everything on one album two years back with
'No Boundaries,' where I did half traditional and half contemporary, and
this time I wanted to do two separate albums and market them separately.
So I did the one totally traditional and the other totally not. It took a
lot more time and thought to create 'In My Hands,' whereas with the
traditional stuff, it just calls for fiddle piano and guitar, or fiddle
and guitar."
Attending the Grammy show in February, MacMaster had been booked to
perform live, playing fiddle and dancing at the same time, a feat she
routinely features in her concerts. This time though she was going to be
joined by the show's emcee Steve Martin.
"The plan was, Natalie's going to come out and dance and Steve Martin
will come out behind her and try and dance with her," she reports.
"Then the day of the show they chopped out a whole bunch of stuff
because of time and they cut out my dancing."
Playing traditional music in the 21st century, MacMaster also feels drawn
to experimenting and broadening her palette. "There are absolutely
two sides to me," she declares. "I dearly love both and I think
my fans like both. It's the best of both worlds."
The opportunity to open shows for rock artists of the caliber of Santana
has helped MacMaster play for audiences that might not normally respond to
traditional Celtic music.
"It was incredible," she recalls. "There were 80,000 fans.
I broke a string at the end of my performance so I started dancing and my
band played out some tunes. We pulled it off but Carlos Santana said to me
afterwards, 'You should do what B. B. King does and take along a spare.'
Ever since then I've been traveling with two fiddles."
Known for her exuberant live shows, MacMaster has earning glowing reviews.
"Her 80-minute set radiated power and pleasure," raved the
London (Ontario) Free Press.
"MacMaster wrapped her Scottish tunes in a tartan-like pattern of
virtuoso technique, contemporary spirit and sassy personality. You might
call it clog 'n' roll. And it's clearly a winning formula."
"It's a safe bet that when it comes to performing, Natalie MacMaster
has mastered the art of pleasing a crowd," praised the Ottawa Sun.
"Just give the soft-spoken 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."
"My show is fun and energy-packed," she concludes. "It's
very upbeat with a lot of up tempo tunes, and we have some slow ballads.
It's just a fun show."
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April
25, 2001
Cape Breton Soul
Fiddler Natalie MacMaster Brings The spirit of Celtic Canada to U.H Manoa
Stephen Fox - Honolulu Weekly
The
fiddle is acoustic, but the playing is unmistakably electric when Natalie
MacMaster takes the stage. Hailing from Cape Breton, a rugged island
comprising the northern third of Nova Scotia, MacMaster was a star by the
age of 16. She was an island girl going worldwide. Now in her late 20s,
she often tours with Celtic superstars the Chieftains. She turned down a
featured spot in Lord of the Dance. Thankfully, she didn't turn down an
offer by Outreach College at UH-Mänoa to sojourn on our island for what
promises to be a dynamic concert.
"The roots of Cape Breton are Scottish," MacMaster says via cell
phone, in transit from gig to gig somewhere in Canada. "I think Cape
Breton has a certain character, and you can tell a Cape Bretoner wherever
you go." Her clearly etched accent is quaint and charming.
"It's kind of a small town, family-oriented type of people," she
says, "and the music is very much tied in with the culture."
Sounds a bit like Hawai'i. As often happens on islands, music is passed
along family lines in Cape Breton. "Oh yeah, on my mother's and on my
father's side," MacMaster confirms. "I get the music's honesty
from that itself." Her "Uncle Buddy" was a top fiddle
player on Cape Breton, and word got around quickly that his niece was a
marvel.
"I started dancing when I was 5," MacMaster says. It was
step-dancing, derived from the region's Scottish origins. "I think
the dancing helped with my playing. You learn to feel the rhythms."
At 9, she got her first violin, and six months later, gave her first
concert to a crowd of 250. At 16 she began to travel for performances, and
put her earnings into a self-produced album of traditional Cape Breton
tunes.
"I've done a lot of traditional tunes," MacMaster explains of
her recordings but adds, "the last few years I've sort of
flip-flopped." Love for the music of her home fills all she does, as
evidenced by the title of her previous release, My Roots are Showing. The
music is sparse and very much in the old style of Cape Breton.
Preserving the traditional music is part of her passion, but as a living
art rather than as history. "I just love the music so much, I think
it's important to keep it," she says.
MacMaster and her music must grow, however. "Just basically adding
drums and bass is not the tradition," she says. Five albums later,
she is on Rounder Records and getting favorable press in the United
States, provoked by a broader, savvy approach to the music.
"The traditional stuff is easy. It's what it is," MacMaster says
of her creative process. "As far as getting inspiration to create,
that's a more involved process. I might be in a store and hear a groove.
..."
MacMaster's new album has a wide range of influences fused to the music of
her home. The song "Get Me Through December" includes a duet
with bluegrass star Alison Krauss. In another piece, MacMaster adds some
whispered lyrics: A mellow answer to rap, it is her first foray into
vocals.
"I have a piece called 'Flamenco Fling,'" she says of the track
that adds a Spanish flavor to her virtuosic playing. "I'm just a fan
of good music, as long as it sends a positive message."
MacMaster's concerts run the full range of her repertoire from traditional
to contemporary. The most important component - observed in the enthusiasm
of her voice - is pure fun. "We also do some dancing," she says
modestly of the athletic Scottish-style step-dancing she displays.
"I guess that our concerts offer just a getaway," MacMaster says
of what awaits her Hawai'i audience. "A lot of it is upbeat. It's
really happy music, not-a-care-in-the-world kind of music. A lot of people
love to dance at our concerts ... a lot get rejuvenated by it."
Honolulu's chance for rejuvenation comes in the next week as Cape Breton
and O'ahu are connected by the sounds of MacMaster's unique Celtic fiddle
- sad, sweet and stirring, with cadenzas of brilliance.
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April
20, 2001
It's A Family Affair
Natalie MacMaster is the second member of
her family to become a famous fiddler
Naila Francis -
The Intelligencer/Record (PA)
There
was a time, Natalie MacMaster says, when fiddle music was something to be
played only in the home or the confines of a small community, and when
those who enjoyed it usually were among the older generation.
Well,
times have changed.
MacMaster
may not have been the one to take the infinite possibilities of the fiddle
— which can sizzle on a lush, Latin groove one minute and vibrate with
the foot-stomping gaiety of a traditional jig the next — from the
parlors, pubs and local street fairs to the international stage.
But
she is certainly among those musical innovators whose fusion of
traditional fiddle music with styles as varied as country, bluegrass,
world and pop has been changing the face of her genre.
"The
fiddle is an instrument for all ages," she says, "and its music
is not just for the community but can be enjoyed and is to be enjoyed by
anyone who’s interested in it. It can be played very rootsy and
traditional, which is where it comes from, but it also can adapt to pretty
near any form of music. It’s an incredibly versatile instrument."
When
MacMaster comes to the Zoellner Arts Center at Lehigh University in
Bethlehem Sunday, she is as likely to show her roots as she is her
penchant for experimentation and her love for many kinds of music.
Backed
by her band, she will dive into the contemporary, touch on the traditional
and, in many instances, probably land somewhere in between, taking
audiences on a rousing romp through fast and spirited dance tunes or on a
sentimental journey through a simple and melancholy ballad.
"With
the instrument itself," she says, "you can play fast tunes, slow
tunes, make something sound really aggressive or really sweet and
beautiful or you can give it a classic feel or a down-home feel."
And
MacMaster has certainly been one to explore those possibilities.
The
28-year-old grew up on the island of Cape Breton, just off the eastern
coast of Nova Scotia. The region, steeped in Celtic tradition, has been
producing master fiddlers for decades, including her uncle, famed fiddler
Buddy MacMaster, and Ashley MacIsaac, another renowned fiddler with whom
she took lessons as a child.
MacMaster
picked up the fiddle at age 9.
"When
I started," she says, "I knew that I would always be playing. I
just enjoyed it very much and I was very comfortable with it and I was
able to pull it off."
By
10, she had played her first concert, and by 12, she completed her first
tour of the country. In her teen-age years, she traveled frequently across
Canada and the United States, appearing at various folk festivals. She
also released her first record.
Although
MacMaster says she always knew she would follow the music path, she earned
a degree in teaching from the Nova Scotia Teachers College. But aside from
her annual trek to Nashville as an instructor at the Mark O’Connor
Fiddle Camp, she’s never set foot in a classroom.
She
kept playing music in college, and as the gigs became more plentiful and
her name more recognized, it seemed inevitable she would pursue music full
time. Having discovered the improvisational talents and expansive range of
sounds covered by acclaimed violinists Eileen Ivers and Mark O’Connor at
15, she was eager to stretch the boundaries of her traditional background.
The
multiple-award-winning fiddler has five albums to her credit, including
"Fit as a Fiddle," "No Boundaries" and "A
Compilation." While she has always flirted with new, more worldly
sounds in her music, she veered even further from the traditional course
with 1999’s "In My Hands," which had everything from flamenco
to urban grooves tumbling from her strings.
But
no matter how far MacMaster strays from her roots, she always returns to
them, as evidenced by her 2000 release, "My Roots Are Showing."
While
the album pauses in its dizzying pace over a beautiful air or two, it is
mostly a foot-stomping collection of the jigs, reels and marches she grew
up with.
The
Cape Breton tradition of fiddling is derived from a style of step dancing
and from the Gaelic language.
"Its
biggest asset," says MacMaster, "is its very strong rhythm
because of the dancing. People describe it as being dirty because it’s
not refined to the point of perfection. It’s more real and more natural.
"The
creative process within traditional music lies mostly in what tunes
you’re going to play. You can express yourself all you want, but
tradition is tradition is tradition."
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April
19, 2001
Her Roots Are Showing
Natalie MacMaster preserves the Cape Breton fiddling tradition
Laurie D. Morrissey - The Monitor (Concord, NH)
When
Natalie MacMaster first picked up a fiddle in Cape Breton Island, Nova
Scotia, she little imagined where it would take her. At 28, the Canadian
fiddler has performed all over the world and garnered an impressive
collection of awards. In February, she joined Stevie Wonder and Elton John
at a tribute to Paul Simon, and attended the Grammy Awards ceremony in
Hollywood.
Tomorrow
night she performs at the Concord City Auditorium for 800 local admirers.
The audience will no doubt include fellow musicians who appreciate
MacMaster's technical mastery of the up-driven bow and the Scots snap.
However, the seats will also be full of people who can't tell a jig from a
reel, but know they're in for a great show. MacMaster is known as a
dazzling stage presence. Her electrifying fiddling is accompanied by
whirling, bouncing, step-dancing, chatting and much flinging of curly
tresses.
Taking
a break from her intensive tour schedule, MacMaster said in a phone
interview that she and her five-piece back-up band will play a few songs
from her latest CD, In My Hands. Like her previous five recordings,
In My Hands is traditional, but on this one she reaches beyond her
roots. Besides reels, jigs, strathspeys and one heart-rending slow air
("Blue Bonnets Over the Border"), it features the
Latin-influenced "Flamenco Fling" and a collaboration with
country singer Alison Krauss.
MacMaster
said that "Blue Bonnets" is one of her favorites and will
definitely make the Concord set list. So will "Flamenco Fling."
But, she said, "We've been touring In My Hands for a year and
a half so we're going to go back to some songs from my old CDs and do some
that haven't been recorded yet."
When
MacMaster refers to her "old CDs," she might be referring to her
first one, Four on the Floor, recorded independently when she was
in her teens. Or it could be her
second,
Road to the Isle, one of her two gold records; or her 1998 CD My
Roots are Showing. Re-released in the United States last year, My
Roots earned a Grammy nomination in the traditional category.
Fiddle
playing is a rich tradition in Nova Scotia, and the music is clearly in
Natalie MacMaster's blood. She received her first fiddle at age 9, but her
musical education began long before as she listened to recordings of her
famous fiddling uncle, Buddy MacMaster, and attended local square dances
and parlor gatherings in her home town of Troy. She learned step-dancing
from her mother around the same time she learned to read.
Relatives
on both sides played piano or fiddle, or both. Her greatest influence, she
says, was her grandmother, the late Margaret Ann (Cameron) Beaton.
"She didn't actually play the fiddle - she couldn't afford one - but
she'd jig all the tunes by mouth. She just oozed music; it was pure
love." Her grandmother's thick Cape Breton accent, in an old
recording, introduces one of the medleys on In My Hands.
The
youngster's first formal lessons were taken alongside her third cousin
from up the coast. Ashley MacIsaac, a flamboyant fiddler with a style that
mixes traditional with rock and grunge, is now as renowned as MacMaster
is.
By
the age of 10, MacMaster was playing at weddings and funerals. At 12, she
played her first stateside gig - a square dance in Boston. "I don't
remember dreaming of show business or anything," MacMaster says.
"But my mom says that after I'd been playing the fiddle for a day, my
brother, who was 13, asked me where I'd be performing next. I told him,
'I'm performing with the Calgary Symphony tomorrow.' "
Today,
her performing schedule is full. She has played more than 50 shows so far
this year. This spring she'll perform two more times in northern New
England (April 27 in Burlington, Vt., and May 23 at the Portsmouth Music
Hall), tour the western United States and Hawaii, and then begin an
overseas tour.
While
she enjoys being on the road for the variety of venues and the opportunity
to meet other musicians, the ties to her homeland are strong. Troy, on the
west coast of Cape Breton Island, has a population of around 500. Her two
brothers still live next to their parents, Minnie and Alex.
When
home, she enjoys the "rare and wonderful occasion" when she
plays with her uncle, Buddy. She also enjoys Minnie's home cooking (whose
recipe for oatcakes is on MacMaster's Web site). And she loves playing the
backwoods dance halls of Nova Scotia.
"These
little places are hot spots for square dances," she says.
"Glencoe Mills, a tiny community of about 50 people, has had a dance
every Thursday night in the summer for 40 or 50 years. And there's a
wonderful old dance hall in West Mabou and one in Southwest Margaree."
Recently,
MacMaster has seen a resurgence of interest in traditional fiddle music on
the island. "When I started playing, there were only about a half
dozen kids my age fiddling. It wasn't so popular. I had to go away to do
competitions." When a documentary was made about the "vanishing
Cape Breton fiddler," it became something of a challenge. "It
really brought about an awareness of the tradition," MacMaster says.
"Now the young people are genuinely interested in learning and
playing good Cape Breton fiddle music."
Asked
where her interest in Latin rhythms came from, the Cape Breton Islander
exclaims, "Lord knows! I just love the groove. It's awesome. Of
course, it's not real flamenco music, it's just my version of it."
MacMaster
also appreciates other traditions, especially Ukrainian and Romanian
fiddle playing. "I like all music and like to incorporate it into
what I do. If I'm in the mall trying on clothes and I hear a cool beat or
a lick that inspires me, I remember it."
Are
the traditionalists back home alarmed? "No," she says.
"They know I'm still me. I'm doing all sorts of music, with a full
band, but I haven't abandoned my roots. I still go home and play the dance
halls."
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March,
2001
Fiddle Whiz Brings Cheer and Tunes to Sick Kids
Thanks to Sue
LaBine for submitting this article & photos
...........................................................................................................................................
March
01, 2001
Natalie Carries On The Tradition
Candace Horgan
- Strings Magazine
 In
the last few decades, as Celtic music has gained mainstream popularity,
people have learned that there are many different Celtic fiddle
traditions. Cape Breton, a tiny island off the coast of Nova Scotia,
Canada, is known for its own style of fiddling, an amalgam of Scottish
fiddle and other Celtic styles—and Natalie MacMaster is the region’s
most famous export.
The
28-year-old MacMaster first began playing fiddle at the age of nine,
inspired in part by her uncle Buddy MacMaster, another popular Cape Breton
fiddler. Other early influences included Winston Fitzgerald and Arthur
Muise. MacMaster took several years of lessons and was performing as early
as age ten, playing local dances as well as at weddings and funerals. She
played her first stateside concert when she was 12, at a square dance in
Boston. She also entered a few fiddle contests on the sly. "Fiddle
contests were not part of the Cape Breton style. I entered a couple, but I
had to go away for them and I didn’t tell anyone in the area. It
wasn’t cool," she laughs.
As
MacMaster explains the Cape Breton style, "One of the most obvious
differences is in the rhythm of the music. It is derived from years of
playing for dancers. The rhythms are strongly reflected in the footwork.
It is hard to describe unless you hear it. And the bowing is a little
different as well. Cape Breton fiddling sometimes has less slurring, there
is almost no sliding, and it is also very rare that you hear a roll."
Another strong element is the use of the foot to keep time. On many
recordings, a Cape Breton fiddler’s foot can be heard very clearly
tapping the rhythm. In MacMaster’s video A Fiddle Lesson, Intermediate
Level, she spends several minutes showing how to tap out the various time
signatures to help keep the music lively.
"My
teacher showed me how to hold the instrument correctly, but I didn’t
hold it correctly for years. There wasn’t a ‘You have to play this
way’ approach to my studies. I’ve never had classical training, so I
don’t know how intense it is, but I think Celtic fiddle training is much
more casual."
MacMaster’s
playing style reflects this relaxed approach. Fiddlers who watch her play
in hopes of picking up on her style notice that she holds the bow
differently on different tunes, and the bowing is very dynamic yet never
the same. "People often notice that about my bowing and I don’t
know why," she confesses. "To me, there is no one correct way to
do anything. I don’t think you have to hold the bow where everyone says
you do necessarily. I sometimes hold it at the frog, and other times move
the grip up the bow. Most of the fiddlers I know and admire do not hold
the bow correctly, at least according to what popular wisdom says about
holding the bow. You should know the way that it is done, but there should
be flexibility with your technique as well."
MacMaster
recorded her first CD as a teenager, an independent release entitled Four
on the Floor. The style was very sparse; with almost no backing
instruments, her fiddle talent shone through. When she was finally signed
by a major label in 1996, she added a backing band that includes
keyboardists Mac Morin and Steve O’Connor, guitarist Brad Davidge,
bassist John Chiasson, and drummer Tom Roach.
MacMaster
has been gaining increasing fame and accolades for her playing ever since.
Her 1998 record "My Roots are Showing," a tribute to the music
she grew up listening to, won a Juno award, the Canadian equivalent of a
Grammy. Her most recent record, In My Hands, garnered her another Juno in
March 2000. And her partnership with Alison Krause on the CD Get Me
Through December won them Duo of the Year at the recent Canadian Country
Music Awards—where MacMaster was also named Fiddler of the Year for the
fourth consecutive year.
Although
she has been playing for almost 20 years, MacMaster has never bought a
violin—they have all been given to her. Her current instrument is a 1927
Marc Lebert given to her by a fan in Ontario, Bill Burnett. She uses a
Hill bow and an L.R. Baggs bridge pickup run into a Shure wireless unit.
In
concert, MacMaster is a very dynamic performer, her curly blond hair
bouncing around as she whirls around the stage. She loves to have fun with
her shows and talks to the audience often; at a recent Denver show, she
stopped to beg anyone in the audience for a bobby pin. She also does the
occasional energetic step dance with Morin. Celtic music evolved as dance
music, and in Cape Breton, the dance tradition is still very strong.
"I’ve never really studied the different dances," MacMaster
admits. "My mom taught me a few things when I was younger; when I was
five she showed me some of the steps. In recent years, I’ve taught at
different camps, and I go to the step-dancing workshops on my free time
and pick things up there."
MacMaster
will be in the studio in early 2001 recording a new CD, then plans to
start touring again, playing the music she loves. "I like playing in
the many different places we go," she declares. "My ultimate
priority is performing."
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February
22, 2001
No Grammy for Natalie
Greg Guy -
Halifax Daily News
 Natalie
MacMaster may not have won her first Grammy on Wednesday night, but she
got lots of mileage out of her nomination.
"She
wasn't disappointed," her mom Minnie said from Troy, Inverness
County, just after receiving a call from Natalie.
"She
got more out of this than we ever expected. It's been a terrific
experience. Everyone is so proud of her."
The
Grammy for best traditional folk album went to Dave Alvin's recording
Public Domain - Songs from the Wild Land.
"There'll
be no really big party in Troy tonight," her mom joked. "Natalie
was laughing and was waiting to meet (fellow fiddler) Mark O'Connor at the
awards." MacMaster called her parents on a cellphone from the Staples
Center in Los Angeles after the award was presented.
"She
couldn't talk for long because she was on the cellphone," her mom
said. "She said they were ripping the awards off left and right
trying to get them all in before the TV broadcast."
MacMaster,
28, has been travelling the world performing for several years and got her
first Grammy nomination for her album My Roots are Showing, released in
the United States last April on Rounder Records.
The
last Nova Scotian to win a Grammy was Anne Murray in 1983 for best vocal
country performance for her hit A Little Good News.
MacMaster's
manager, Andre Bourgeois, said from his office in Gore, Hants County, that
he and his star client were "really, really not disappointed. It
would have been like winning the lottery if we did (win)."
"Natalie
and I, though neither of us would ever have come forward and said this, we
weren't really in any way, shape or form expecting the win.
"We
were surprised by the nomination. When you look at some of the nominees in
the category, they have been at this in a very visible way and in some
cases 20 years. We're the new kid on the block as far as the Grammys
go."
Bourgeois
said what truly is exciting is how MacMaster is accepted at this stage of
her career.
"I
honestly don't think this will be her last nomination," Bourgeois
said proudly. "I think that subsequent recordings will have a very
serious shot at being nominated. And as you know, we just missed out on a
nomination or two for her album In My Hands."
Bourgeois
said the important thing is MacMaster was at the Staples Center, meeting a
lot of interesting and exciting people and enjoying her first Grammy
experience.
After
the awards show, MacMaster and her boyfriend, Christian singer Daniel
diSilva of Texas, were to head to the Biltmore Hotel for the official
Grammy party.
They
were also invited as guests of the Chieftains to the BMG Music party.
Halifax entertainment lawyer Chip Sutherland was also expected to join in
the fun.
Joni
Mitchell emerged as the only Canadian winner at this year's Grammy Awards.
Mitchell's
Both Sides Now was named best traditional pop vocal album.
Toronto's
Barenaked Ladies, who were disappointed in their first Grammy appearance
in 1999, were shut out again in the best pop performance by a group
category. That award went to Cousin Dupree by legendary rock band Steely
Dan.
Ottawa
native Alanis Morissette lost to Sheryl Crow for best female rock vocal
performance.
Classical
pianist Marc Andre Hamelin of Laval, Que., lost in both categories in
which he was nominated, best solo performance with and without an
orchestra.
Halifax-born
Sarah McLachlan lost in best pop collaboration with vocals for her duet
with Crow, The Difficult Kind. The award went to bluesman B.B. King and
Dr. John.
Celine
Dion lost in the same category for her duet All the Way, using vocals
Frank Sinatra recorded before his death.
Family
group the Wilkinsons of Belleville, Ont., lost for best country
performance by a duo or group to Asleep at the Wheel and the song Cherokee
Maiden.
Montrealer
Cathy Fink and her U.S. creative partner Marcy Marxer lost in the best
musical album for children category.
Best
dance recording went to the Baha Men for Who Let the Dogs Out, written by
Anslem Douglas of Toronto. Douglas was not a named recipient of the award.
Other
Canadian nominees this year were producer Daniel Lanois and polka king
Walter Ostanek.
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February
21, 2001
Natalie's Ready For Grammys, Ears and All
Greg Guy -
Halifax Daily News
 Armani
won't be dressing her and Vidal Sassoon won't be doing her hair, but
Natalie MacMaster says she'll look just fine at the Grammys tonight.
"I'm doing my own hair, my own nails and cleaning my own ears,"
Nova Scotia's favourite fiddler joked Tuesday.
All the hoopla surrounding the 43rd annual Grammys hasn't rattled the
native of Troy, Inverness County.
"I have everything almost ready," she said in a telephone
interview while shopping in Beverly Hills.
"I needed some jewelry and a little purse and nylons and stuff like
that."
The prices were jaw-droppers, though.
"I couldn't believe it, I was in a store standing there and looking
at a purse, it cost $600," she said.
"I'm so glad to be given this opportunity and I appreciate it. But
I'm so glad I live where I live. In some ways, I feel like a little girl
here."
It's
been a busy week.
On Monday she performed with the Chieftains and Joan Osborne at MusiCares,
a charity benefit honouring Paul Simon.
After a reception Tuesday, where all nominees received a medal
commemorating their achievement, a hectic afternoon of media interviews,
lunch with Rounder Records representative Lauren Calista in Santa Monica,
and filming a documentary with the Oxygen Network, MacMaster said she'll
try to relax today before getting ready for the show.
She'll take her seat at the Staples Center in Los Angeles at 6:15 p.m.
AST, along with her boyfriend Daniel diSilva, to find out whether she'll
win her first Grammy.
MacMaster says her boyfriend, an American Christian singer she met last
year at a religious youth rally in Cape Breton, bought her the CDs of the
other artists nominated for best traditional folk album.
"After listening to the music and reading the liner notes, they look
like people like me and are probably just excited as hell to be
here," she said.
One of her competitors is Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the group that
performed on Paul Simon's Graceland album.
Other albums she's up against include Dave Alvin's Public Domain - Songs
from the Wild Land, Norman Blake's Far Away, Down On A Georgia Farm and
Jo-El Sonnier's Cajun Blood.
With 100 categories and more than 500 of the world's most revered musical
talents nominated, MacMaster's category will be announced in the
pre-telecast show this afternoon. Nova Scotians should know between 6 and
8 p.m. who won the Grammy for best traditional folk album.
MacMaster is nominated for My Roots Are Showing, released by Rounder in
the United States last April. She picked up her seventh East Coast Music
Award on Feb. 11 for instrumental artist of the year and last April she
had an audience with Pope John Paul at the Vatican.
Tonight in Troy, her parents, Minnie and Alex MacMaster, will be home
waiting for the phone to ring and tuning in to the show.
"We'll be watching it on TV and will probably open a big pile of ice
cream," says Minnie. "Some friends of mine are visiting from
Vermont so we've invited them over for dinner. Kevin and David (Natalie's
brothers) will probably be here too."
Close to two billion people in 180 countries are expected to watch the
telecast. It will be shown on CBS and Global starting at 9 p.m.
And what will Natalie wear?
It won't be the turquoise "feather duster" she wore to the ECMAs.
For the record, it's a black skirt and a black top that she picked up in a
stopover in Dallas last weekend.
The whole dress thing has her a little antsy.
"Get over it," she said. "What's the big deal?"
Still, being in Beverly Hills for her first Grammys, the 28-year-old says
it's hard not to feel the excitement.
"I found myself getting so caught up in it, trying to find the best
clip for my hair or the right colour nail polish," she said.
"There's a certain amount of pressure to look good and fit in. With
all the media and the attention the Grammys get, everything's just
magnified here. I'm trying to relax and enjoy it. Deep down what really
matters is why I'm here and that's because of my music. It's fun, all this
glamour stuff, but what really matters are the people you're with, the
people you care about."
"When all is said and done, honestly, I just want to have a good
life."
(Above Photo: Ken D. Johnson / The Associated Press - Natalie
MacMaster poses in Los Angeles)
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February
21, 2001
Mac-tastic Natalie MacMaster readies for tonight's Grammy Awards
Skana Gee, The
Halifax Daily News
Natalie
MacMaster has done her bit for the Grammys - now she's ready to sit back,
relax and enjoy the show. The fiddling sensation from Troy, Inverness Co.,
was kicking back in the downtown Omni hotel yesterday, enjoying a coffee
and the first bit of peace she's had since arriving Sunday night and going
straight to rehearsals for the MusiCares benefit show. It's been non-stop
ever since. Monday night's benefit honouring Paul Simon at which she
played with the Chieftains was a happy blur of celebrity and
glamour.
Earlier
Tuesday, she walked on the beach in Santa Monica while the U.S. Oxygen
Network shot footage for a documentary special about her. Now she's ready
to enjoy the Grammy Awards ceremony tonight.
"We've
been doing interviews all day today and stuff - it's been go, go, go. I'm
really looking forward to sitting there and watching a really good music
show," says MacMaster.
But
she's also looking forward to finding out if she has won her first Grammy
- she's nominated in the best traditional folk album category for My Roots
are Showing. For this award show - and MacMaster has had plenty of
practice at the Junos and East Coast Music Awards - she'll be
prepared.
"I'm
going to write a little speech down. I always thought I was calm enough
and cool enough to rattle it off," she says, snapping her fingers.
"But when you get on stage sometimes you forget." MacMaster is
still reeling a little from her brush with Hollywood nobility at the
benefit the night before. Performers included Tony Bennett, Stevie Wonder
and Elton John. "It was a very electric evening," she says.
"The performers, the talent, it was just ridiculous. That's my only
description. There's people walking around backstage, there's Steve
Martin, there's Stevie Wonder just hanging, standing right there. "Of
course I had my camera in my hand but I was too shy to take a
picture."
MacMaster
played fiddle in support of Irish folk group the Chieftains, who were
accompanied by singer Joan Osborne in a rendition of Simon's Homeward
Bound. The number was supposed to segue into a reel featuring MacMaster
both playing and dancing out front.
Dressing
Natalie
We
hope she's found an outfit by now - after all, the Grammy Awards air
tonight at 9 p.m. on Global - and we're sure whatever she chooses, Natalie
MacMaster will look gorgeous.
The
Cape Breton fiddler - whose My Roots Are Showing is nominated for Best
Traditional Folk Album - confessed to The Daily News last week that she
was still on the prowl for something to wear to the L.A. event. While the
Oscars are always a fashion slugfest, clothes at the Grammys are also
watched closely.
Will
Britney bare more than her navel? Can Cher still squeeze into her fishnet?
Is there an outfit more risque than that green, gauzy, gaping dress that
"elevated" Jennifer Lopez last year? Since nobody responded to
MacMaster's earlier requests for fashion help from Canadian designers, we
asked three metro clothing shops to find just the right combo for the
golden-tressed musician.
Here
are their suggestions: A cream-coloured crepe dress by Canadian fashion
house Nu Mode suggests to Sandy MacPherson-Smith at Village Green in
Bedford's Sunnyside Mall. With matching jacket it sells for $290. "My
recommendation for her would be something simple and elegant, like the
David Dixon bustier dress in French taffeta." says Jody Manley at
Halifax's Heroine It retails at $295. Colleen Harris of Foreign Affair on
Spring Garden Road offered up a long long, fitted jacket with an off-white
background with "spearmint"-coloured balls bordering on balloons
and a "checkerboard" mint/cream skirt with mother-of-pearl
button detailing, and a silk Georgette blouse in soft turquoise, spearmint
and off-white. Together they cost $1,540.
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February
20, 2001
MacMaster Gears Up For Grammy's
It's a long way from Cape Breton's shores to the Hollywood hills
Andrew Flynn -
Canadian Press
 Los
Angeles - Natalie MacMaster is getting ready for the Grammys and all that
entails - the parties, the receptions, the rehearsals and the chance to
sit in an audience populated by the royalty of the world music scene.
It
is an exciting time, says the Cape Breton fiddler whose album My Roots Are
Showing received a nod in the best traditional folk category, but she's
far too busy to really savour the moment.
"I'm
the type of person who works well under pressure," MacMaster said
Monday in an interview from her Beverly Hills hotel.
"I'm
a procrastinator and I wouldn't do anything with time to prepare. How I
prepare is - 'Omigosh, I've only got two minutes to prepare!' and I do it
and get it done.'"
MacMaster
arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday night and has been on the go ever since.
She has been on tour in the U.S. with the Irish folk troupe the
Chieftains, and was invited to perform with them at Monday night's
MusicCares charity concert.
"Basically
we got in, had a bite to eat and then went for rehearsal," says
MacMaster. "It was great, I saw Miami Sound Machine's Gloria Estefan
rehearse and I was just blown away."
During
rehearsals for the charity show - this year honouring Paul Simon - she
also caught a set by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and got up on stage
with the Chieftains to practise their number Homeward Bound, which will be
sung by Joan Osborne.
"Then
after that they're going into a fiddle reel and I'm going to get up and
dance and apparently Steve Martin is coming on next and he's going to get
up and dance with me or something like that," MacMaster says
matter-of-factly.
Then
she pauses for a moment as the statement sinks in.
"That's
just cool right there," she says. "It's unreal, it's just
something else."
MacMaster
says she doesn't get particularly starstruck, though it is a little
strange to be rubbing shoulders with Hollywood royalty.
"Just
a tiny little bit, maybe," she says.
"I'm
not the kind of person that's like, 'Omigish I have to go get my picture
taken or shake their hand' so I can say I did, not like that at all."
But
she has been impressed with the professionalism of both the artists she
has met and the production crews behind the scenes.
"Even
just to watch those people who have been in the business for so long and
have such a high calibre of performing, it's just interesting to watch how
they work after all those years with all that experience."
MacMaster
still has much to get through before she can take her seat in the downtown
Staples Center on awards day. The U.S.-based Oxygen Network wants to
interview her for a feature documentary, she has a reception to attend
where she will receive a nominees medal and journalists want to talk to
her about the big event Wednesday night.
She's
looking forward to the moment when she can take her seat and relax.
"There's
not a whole lot I need to prepare I think. I'm just going to really sit
back and just enjoy the night," she says.
"I'm
going to make a point to just take it all in and just feel like I'm a
little fly buzzing around checking it all out."
The
43rd annual Grammy Awards, hosted by comedian Jon Stewart, will be
televised on Global at 9 p.m. Canadian nominees this year include
Barenaked Ladies, Joni Mitchell, Celine Dion, Alanis Morissette, Sarah
McLachlan and the Wilkinsons.
(Above
photo: Accepting an ECMA in Charlottetown last week, Cape Breton
fiddler Natalie MacMaster is in Los Angeles for the Super Bowl of music
awards, the Grammys)
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February
21, 2001
Simon honoured at pre-Grammy gala
MacMaster joins Chieftains at MusiCares benefit concert
Andrew Flynn -
Canadian Press
Los
Angeles - Several generations of music industry nobility got together
Monday night to celebrate the lesser-known work of a master songwriter who
has helped build bridges over troubled waters for many.
Paul
Simon was the 2001 recipient of the MusiCares person of the year award,
which recognizes the outstanding charitable contributions of music
industry people.
"Paul
has had 33 Grammy nominations, 16 Grammy awards, he's the co-founder of
the (New York) Children's Health Care Fund and truly has helped change the
lives of a countless number of kids in this country," said academy
and MusiCares president Michael Greene.
"His
foundation has grown into a national network of 16 pediatric programs
which have treated over 200,000 children. C'mon out here, we want to give
you a round of applause."
Simon
acknowledged the accolades at a news conference that was packed with
flashing cameras.
"Well,
I'm honoured to be able to be of help," he said, while dozens of
stars crammed the small stage behind him.
"Three
days ago in New York, my daughter who's in kindergarten, is in the same
class as a boy whose father is a musician. He said to me he particularly
wanted to thank MusiCares because it had paid for his rehab program and he
felt it was miracle and it saved his life."
Simon
rose to win huge fame and respect from his beginnings with former partner
Art Garfunkel in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Simon
and Garfunkel created legendary hits like The Sound of Silence and Mrs.
Robinson. Simon continued to build on his reputation for honesty with
later solo projects like the critically acclaimed album Graceland.
A
smorgasbord of popular music and Hollywood personalities was on hand to
congratulate and honour Simon: crooner Tony Bennett, soul master Stevie
Wonder, reggae artist Ziggy Marley, actor and longtime friend Chevy Chase,
'70s rocker Peter Frampton, hip hop newcomers the Baha Men, singer Brian
McKnight, vocal group Boyz II Men, hot new singer-songwriter Shelby Lynne
and '80s hitmaker Kenny Loggins.
But
even the powerful glitterati on hand showed that they too have heroes
capable of rendering them starstruck.
Jammed
into a tightly packed reception area, dozens of stars lingered to talk of
MusiCares and the Grammys when a hush descended as Coretta Scott King,
widow of murdered civil rights activist Martin Luther King, entered the
room.
After
shaking hands with Simon and several others, King smiled kindly on the
room and slowly walked away leaving behind a trail of whispering awe from
celebrities, journalists and hangers-on alike.
The
gala tribute show, performed in the ballroom of the Century Plaza Hotel,
included performances by Wonder, Steve Martin, Elton John, Gloria Estefan,
Beach Boy Brian Wilson, the Chieftains (featuring Cape Breton fiddler
Natalie MacMaster), Shawn Colvin and Macy Gray.
Proceeds
from the tribute concert and a celebrity auction will go to the MusiCares
foundation.
The
foundation was established in 1989 to ensure that music people have a
place to turn in times of need.
It
was created to address "human service issues" among the music
community, such as emergency financial assistance and addiction recovery
services.
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February
20, 2001
Fiddler on top of the world: How did getting nominated for tomorrow's
Grammy Awards change Natalie MacMaster?
Brenda Bouw -
National Post
There
is a distinct buzz in the air when Natalie MacMaster enters the lobby of
the Delta Hotel in downtown Charlottetown during the recent 2001 East
Coast Music Awards, as a small crowd gathers around her.
"Congratulations,
Natalie," says a passerby, before wrapping his arms around the
28-year-old fiddler -- a wisp of a woman with Goldilocks-like hair and an
inviting smile. In her thick Cape Breton accent, MacMaster says,
"Thank you," then makes a point of asking the man how he and his
family are doing. "Will I be seeing you play later?" she asks of
the acquaintance, who is here, as she is, for the annual festival
celebrating East Coast-made music. It takes MacMaster more than 10 minutes
to get to the elevator, which is a mere 20 steps away, as a dozen or so
others stop to hug and congratulate her on the recent Grammy
nomination.
"I
get a kick out of how excited everybody is about it," MacMaster says
later, in an interview over tea in her hotel room. "It is quite sweet
that people are generally just proud to have someone from home have a
Grammy nomination."
While
Canadians are a common sight at the Grammys today, thanks to Celine Dion
and Shania Twain, having an East Coaster there is not. And compared to
those few authentic Atlantic Canadians who have been nominated, such as
Anne Murray, having a fiddle player in the fold is unique. No traditional
musician from the East Coast has been given a Grammy nod since the music
peaked in popularity in the early 1990s. MacMaster was told she just
missed a nomination last year by three votes, with her most recent
release, 1999's In My Hands, which includes both contemporary and
traditional sounds.
This
year, it was her traditional fiddle album, 1998's My Roots Are Showing,
(which was released last year in the United States), that earned her the
nod in the best traditional folk music category. The award winners will be
announced tomorrow in Los Angeles.
"I
guess, in a way, it has really made me think, 'Gee, this is really a good
thing and a big deal,' " says MacMaster of the many compliments she
has received since her nomination was announced last month.
"Coming
back to the roots is great, and I enjoy playing it the best. Now that the
Grammy nomination is from, not In My Hands, but My Roots Are Showing, it
just makes me realize that it has more power than I give it credit
for."
MacMaster
found out about the nomination while playing the piano at her home in Cape
Breton, alongside her friend, a visiting bishop, who was accompanying her
on the fiddle. Her brother whispered the news in her ear, and while
MacMaster finished playing the song, she was puzzled about how it
happened. She had forgotten My Roots Are Showing qualified for a Grammy
this year.
"It
was so far from my mind, it was like, 'Gosh, the space shuttle is taking
off and you've been invited.' " MacMaster swears the pre-Grammy
attention will not change her musical approach, which is based on
traditional fiddle sounds.
"I
still have the same desires for my music," says MacMaster, who first
picked up the fiddle at age nine, played it for her classmates at the back
of the school bus, and now travels the world with it, opening for everyone
from Carlos Santana to The Chieftans.
"Nothing
has changed other than me just being excited [about the nomination]. It is
one of the opportunities in life that you never know how often you will
get it."
Of
course MacMaster is being modest -- after all, she has not won the Grammy,
yet. While her competition includes a strong group of musicians -- Dave
Alvin, Norman Blake, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Jo-El Sonnier -- MacMaster
is said to have a shot at the award. If she does win, those who know her
say it will not go her head.
"She
is an extremely down-to-earth person," says John Poirier, Atlantic
regional manager at Warner Music Canada, her record label. Chip
Sutherland, her music lawyer and friend, says MacMaster is one of the
hardest-working musicians on the East Coast. "She has an extreme work
ethic, and works more dates than anyone down here," says Sutherland,
who is based in Halifax. "She is also a lovely person, and I am not
just saying that. She is exactly who she appears to be, which you can't
always say about musicians."
Even
controversial fiddler Ashley MacIsaac, MacMaster's fourth cousin and
neighbour as a child, was once quoted during his better-behaved days as
saying: "By God, I swear I would marry the girl if she would have
me." (MacIsaac has since revealed he is gay.)
Not
only is MacMaster pleasant, pretty and talented, but is in what seems like
a happy relationship right now. She and Daniel diSilva, her 34-year-old
boyfriend, as well as singer and guitarist in the Texas-based Catholic
rock band Crispin Psalmba, were set up by a priest last summer.
MacMaster
seems smitten with diSilva, cuddling with him during the Charlottetown
trip to keep out the blustery February wind, and giggling while sharing
onion rings with him between appointments in the back seat of the record
company's Jeep. MacMaster did not wish to discuss her boyfriend, but the
fact that she plays fiddle on diSilva's latest CD proves the relationship
has some potential. In fact, not even the cynical can bring down this
happy-go-lucky fiddler these days. In a recent Halifax edition of the
satirical Frank magazine, MacMaster's head was superimposed on the
curvaceous and barely clothed body of Jennifer Lopez in that now-famous
gown from last year's Grammy Awards. MacMaster was not upset, and laughed
that some people actually thought it was her. "Can you imagine
that?" she says, rolling her eyes.
Being
this nice does not mean MacMaster is naive, though. She has a degree from
teacher's college just in case the music career goes bust, (however
unlikely it seems at this point), and is starting to get interested in
more weighty reading material, such as works by Socrates. "He is such
a figure, and I know nothing about him. I am just curious."
She
is also savvy when it comes to making contacts in the business. MacMaster
plans to bring a few copies of her Grammy-nominated CD to the awards, in
hopes of slipping a copy to album-of-the-year nominee Paul Simon. Simon,
who has worked with MacIsaac in the past through a connection to U.S.
composer Philip Glass, just might be interested in more traditional work
with her, MacMaster hopes.
"Oh
gawd, wouldn't that be something?" she says, but maintains she will
not get too pushy. If she is too polite, though, MacMaster might have
trouble elbowing her way past celebrity egos at the Grammys, such as
Britney Spears, Dr. Dre and Madonna. Getting quietly by controversial
rapper Eminem could be another challenge. "I don't know if I even
want to meet that fellow," MacMaster says.
What
would she say to The Real Slim Shady? "I dunno, I would probably say
something Gaelic and he would think it was something nasty." Before
MacMaster makes any more plans, she has to buy a dress. While some
musicians see Grammy-wear as more important than the award itself,
MacMaster is trying to be less fashion-focused.
"I
want to look nice, and with it, but I don't feel like I have to be bold
and make a statement ... I'll leave that to people like Madonna and
Jennifer Lopez."
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February
18, 2001
MacMaster up for
one of 13 Canadian Grammy Nominations
Andrew Flynn -
Canadian Press
 Toronto
- Compared with last year, it's a pint-sized delegation of Canadians who
will be heading south to attend this year's Grammy Awards celebration.
There
are 13 Canadian nominations on this year's list. Last year there were a
record 26.
But
the lower number is likely just an indication of a relatively slow year in
Canadian music. Many of the big guns who have dominated the music world -
Celine Dion, Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morissette, Shania Twain - are on
hiatus or between albums.
That
doesn't dim the excitement for those who are attending the American music
industry's biggest show of the year, set for Wednesday at the Staples
Centre in downtown Los Angeles.
"I
know that the Grammys must be the biggest music awards in the world
perhaps," says first-time nominee Natalie MacMaster.
"It's
very much an honour."
The
blond fiddler from Troy, Inverness County, is this year's most unexpected
Canadian nominee. Even she was surprised to see her name on the list: she
had forgotten that the album My Roots Are Showing, originally released in
Canada in 1998, qualified for the Grammys because it wasn't released in
the U.S. until April of last year.
The
Barenaked Ladies weren't particularly shocked to see their name on the
list for best pop performance, says drummer Tyler Stewart.
"We
get excited - it matters in that it's the ultimate pop culture
acknowledgment," he says. "To be nominated in a category with
the Backstreet Boys is kind of fun too.
"Winning
would be great - we were nominated in this category before (in 1999) and
we lost to Brian Setzer. We went, and we were very excited to be there -
the Grammys are just so big and spectacular."
This
year, however, the Barenaked Ladies won't be going to the show in L.A.
They had already booked to play in Hamilton the next night, and weren't
keen on cancelling.
"That's
our priority," says Stewart. "With all due respect, the whole
idea of award shows is kind of getting more and more grotesque. They're so
big and bloated. How many awards can you give out? There's like 25 award
shows now."
The
Wilkinsons, the father-son-daughter country group from Belleville, Ont.,
aren't going to miss out this year. It's their second trip to the Grammys,
this time with a nomination for best country performance.
"Of
course if you're nominated for a Grammy you have to go," says Amanda
Wilkinson. "We're going to go to La-la-land and spend some time there
and of course go to the award show."
But
why is it such a big deal?
"To
be up there with some veterans of our genre - like Alabama - I grew up
listening to them, it's unbelievable to be mentioned in the same sentence
as them and Brooks and Dunne and other people that I highly respect."
As
for that oft-quoted "thrill-of-just-being-nominated" thing,
Wilkinson says she doesn't believe it.
"Everybody's
sitting there who's nominated and they all put on such brave faces and
say, 'It's the nomination that counts.' But when they're actually sitting
in there they're really going, 'I want to win this thing!'
"So
I'd be lying if I said it wouldn't be just extremely awesome to get up
there and accept something like that."
Many
of the Canadian nominees won't be making it to this year's show. New
mother Celine Dion will sit this one out - she received a nomination for
best pop collaboration with vocals for her work on All the Way, a Frank
Sinatra tribute album. So will Sarah McLachlan, who was nominated in the
same category for a duet with Sheryl Crow on the album Live From Central
Park.
Among
those expected to attend is Canadian-born folk singer Joni Mitchell. She
picked up two nods, for best female pop vocal performance for the song
Both Sides Now and best traditional pop vocal album for the album of the
same name.
Hamilton-born
producer Daniel Lanois was also a nominee - he shares producing credits on
a few of U2's nominations. St. Catharines, Ont., polka maestro Walter
Ostanek - a perennial nominee - got the best polka album nod for Let's
Dance! and Ottawa-born Alanis Morissette is nominated in the female rock
performance category for So Pure from the Woodstock '99 album
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February
17, 2001
Natalie MacMaster has one thing on her mind: What to wear to The
Grammys?
Sandy MacDonald - The Halifax Daily News
Come
Wednesday evening, more than two billion people in 185 countries will be
tuning in to watch the live Grammy show broadcast from Los Angeles. And
when the spotlights sweep the audience in the Staples Centre, Natalie
MacMaster will be seated among the most glittering stars in the music
business.
Late last week, the Grammy-nominated fiddler from Troy, Inverness Co., was
enjoying a few precious down-days in Dallas. She stopped in to visit her
beau, Christian singer Daniel diSilva, and to hit the malls for the
perfect Grammy outfit.
Though still undecided about what to wear, she says she did put a dress on
hold earlier this week.
"I don't know what I'm wearing, but I have a safety net,
anyway," says MacMaster, who had earlier put the word out to Canadian
designers she was looking for an outfit, but didn't hear back. "I
want to find something that's comfortable ... and cool and
fashionable."
She's reluctantly hunting for a fancy gown: "I don't really want to
wear one, but they're easier - it's just one piece, try it on and buy
it."
Whatever she gets likely won't have the same pizzazz of the frock she wore
during last weekend's East Coast Music Awards: a long, cobalt blue
suitcoat with a boa-like frill around the collar and cuffs.
"My friends call me the feather duster," laughs the Cape Breton
fiddler who took home the ECMA instrumental artist of the year. She left
that outfit home in the closet, so there's no chance she'll be recycling
it for Grammy night.
While the Academy Awards is traditionally the showcase for glamorous
designer gowns, Grammy fashion is known for being outrageous.
Recall Jennifer Lopez's belly-button plunging gown or Whitney Houston's
weird, diamond-studded chastity belt? "There's no chance I'm gonna
stand out. Most of the people who stand out are in really daring outfits.
I'm not comfortable with that - with showing more
than you have to," says MacMaster, who'll tuck her rosary, a crucifix
and a "twoonie to call home" in her purse.
Whatever she wears, she'll certainly be among the rich and famous. As a
Grammy nominee, MacMaster receives one free ticket (valued at $950 US) to
the show and a second for half-price. Though it's her first trip to the
starry gala, she's not on celebrity watch.
"I'm not the go-getter type," she says. "Just to be in and
watching everybody will be really interesting. But there's no one person I
want to meet.
"The only person I ever really wanted to meet was Celine Dion, and I
met her briefly at the Junos a few years ago." Good thing. It's
unlikely the Canadian diva will be at this year's Grammys - she recently
gave birth to her first child.
MacMaster's Grammy night plans are still a little open. No word yet on how
she's getting to the show, where she's going for dinner or even where her
tickets are.
She is, however, anticipating attending some post-awards parties.
"I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but I'm sure there'll be
something to do." MacMaster is not expecting the chummy spontaneous
music of the ECMA, where marvellous jam sessions break out in every hotel
suite.
"Gee whiz, wouldn't that be great? But I highly doubt it. I'll take
my fiddle anyway."
The competition Natalie MacMaster is nominated for Best Traditional Folk
Album, a broad category that includes music from South Africa to southern
Louisiana to Southwest Margaree.
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January
24, 2001
MacMaster and the
Chieftains
Glen Creason - Los Cerritos Community News, CA
While
the Chieftain's sound is singular and satisfying they always
have surprises up their sleeves when they come to town. In this
case it was the amazingly talented and utterly
adorable Cape Breton fiddle player Natalie McMaster and the
much decorated gen-X singing heroine Joan Osborne who added
spice to their always potent mix...
There were individual triumphs as in Natalie MacMasters delicate
playing of "Miss Crawford" and a following rollicking
reel complete with her own dancing that had the audience up
and roaring very early in the show.
Miss
MacMasters stayed and played right up to the high standards of
the masters while breaking loose several times on solos that got
the undivided attention of all in the hall.
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