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February 6, 2012
60 Canadians set to receive Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal

Ontario Lieutenant-Governor David Onley has confirmed the identities of 36 people who will receive the new medal at Queen’s Park on Monday afternoon, including broadcasters Lloyd Robertson and Peter Mansbridge, filmmaker David Cronenberg, ballet dancers Karen Kain and Rex Harrington, retired Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci, and musicians Gordon Lightfoot and Natalie MacMaster.

[View Press Release From the Office of the Lieutenant Governor]

January 12, 2012  
MacMaster comes back
C.B. fiddler, mother of four makes up for lost time with first CD in five years
Stephen Cooke, Halifax Herald

TIME FLIES when you’re having kids.

So it would seem to Cape Breton fiddler and mother of four Natalie MacMaster, who is still amazed she let half a decade slip by between record releases.

But she makes up for lost time by getting back to basics with some of her favourite musicians on her latest CD, Cape Breton Girl, a tribute to her Ceilidh Trail roots that’s dedicated to her uncle, Judique fiddler Buddy MacMaster.

"People have been saying, ‘It’s been five years since the last album... ’and I can’t believe it’s been that long," says the Troy musician from a tour stop in Indiana just before the holidays. "I guess my book (Cape Breton Aire) came out, and other projects have been coming up, but it has been awhile."

The most important project is maintaining the ongoing balance of music and motherhood, taking care of her children with violinist husband Donnell Leahy: six-year-old Mary Francis, four-year-old Michael, Clare, who turns three in February, and one-year-old Julia.

"They’ve all done this since they were born," says MacMaster, who home-schools the older kids on the road. "They like being on the tour bus, and the pools at the hotels, and it’s exciting for them. On our Christmas tour they were part of the show, except for Julia, of course.

"They came out and did a little number, and they always get a treat as a reward for dancing in the show, so life on the road is exciting for them. And the crowd loves it because they’re so cute. . . . But that won’t be the norm; it was cute to have them as part of the Christmas show, but we want to keep it special."

Performing was also a family affair in October when MacMaster and Leahy shared the stage for a series of shows called Two Fiddles, Two Pianos with longtime keyboardist Mac Morin and sister-in-law Erin Leahy, also from the family band Leahy.

"I had someone come up to me and say, ‘Natalie, we’ve seen 14 of your shows in the last 20 years, and this one’s your best.’ My parents say it’s our best show yet, too.

"Donnell and I don’t plan on making that our No. 1 touring priority, because Leahy is still so important to him, and if he’s not playing with me, he’s playing with them. . . . And I like the specialness of it; it’s not our main gig, so we only do it part of the year and we want to keep it fresh for ourselves."

MacMaster says she’d like to bring Two Fiddles, Two Pianos back to the East Coast at some point — it premiered during Celtic Colours 2010 — and currently plans to make a Maritime visit with her band at some point in the first half of 2012.

As far as recording with Leahy goes, the question about their dual fiddle dynasty teaming up in the studio has been hanging over their heads since they were wed in 2002, and they want to make it happen.

"We keep trying to get it done, and things keep popping up, life just happens, and my turnover time is just not what it used to be; my priorities have completely shifted," she explains.

"But yes, absolutely, it would be a shame to leave this world without a documented recording. We will be recording together, and sooner than later."

MacMaster’s last album, 2006’s Yours Truly, combined Celtic and contemporary sounds, including the Irish ballad Danny Boy sung by former Doobie Brother Michael McDonald, but on Cape Breton Girl she assembles a small circle of East Coast friends to tackle a traditional Scottish and Cape Breton repertoire in the warm acoustics of CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto.

It’s a familiar pattern for MacMaster, alternating contemporary Celtic projects like 1999’s In My Hands and 2003’s Blueprint with grittier downhome collections like My Roots Are Showing (1998) and a 2005 collaboration with her uncle Buddy.

But MacMaster says her decisions about what to do next aren’t determined by formulas or fan requests.

"I don’t ponder that question when I’m recording; I just think, ‘What do I want to do?’ But I know people always appreciate when I do traditional stuff," she explains.

"I just felt like doing a straight-ahead traditional record. On one of the last tracks (the Pretty Marion set) I do branch out a little bit in terms of bringing in percussion and making it a bit more ‘arranged’ in terms of accentuating certain elements of the melodies.

"But I don’t ever want to lose that incredible gift that I’ve been given from my environment, so I really focused on that."

January 5, 2012
Natalie MacMaster: Cape Breton Girl Review
By Randi Beers, Exclaim.ca

Natalie MacMaster has been playing the fiddle for 30 years. She has toured with Carlos Santana, Allison Krauss, Faith Hill and Yo-Yo Ma, done two TED Talks about Cape Breton fiddling and sold over 200,000 albums. She really is the Queen Mother of fiddling. Cape Breton Girl, recorded in another national treasure, Glenn Gould Studios, is a study of Nova Scotian traditional music ― each piece is made up of a number of traditional pieces and covers that have been deconstructed and reformed to make a new whole. The album is beautifully composed by MacMaster and mostly pared down to simple piano and fiddle duets. From the happier moments of "F Medley" and "Butcher's Jig Set" to the lilting and morose "The Methlick Style," MacMaster's latest effort is a fantastic listen.
(eOne)