There’s far more positive than there is negative. Having children is really amazing and so often we only hear the negative. NM: Oh, yes, I love writing, but I must say that’s the one hard thing with having kids – it’s just time. And the old tunes make the new tunes very appealing because they are so fresh as well. But there’s always a nice ebb and flow of old tunes and new tunes, and the new tunes make the old ones refreshing when you haven’t heard them in a while. Every time I hear them I still really feel good. But I think maybe it stems back to my childhood. There’s some good old Cape Breton tunes, like the “King George,” and tunes – they’re obscure – I don’t know the names of them.
I’ve always really liked a tune called “Blue Bonnets Over the Border.” Mark O’Connor wrote a great tune called the “Olympic Reel,” and I’ve been playing that for probably 15 years and I just don’t tire of it. NM: That’s a really tough one because it changes. And you might just see a child run out on stage – we’ll see.ĪM: What are some of your favorite fiddle tunes? And my husband, of course, is Donnell Leahy, and he’s a special guest tonight, so he’s doing a few numbers with me. It just gets us out of the indoors, As far as the program goes tonight, obviously I’ll have my traditional Cape Breton music, but it’s a very up show and I just try and make it more about one great groove into the next – just make it flow really well. I’m really excited about playing the summertime festival circuit. I think I must have made 10 different setlist versions on the way up here today. NM: Well, I love making setlists, and I can stew on them so much. Natalie MacMaster performing with her husband, Celtic fiddler Donnell Leahy (photo courtesy of )ĪM: Tell me a bit about the program of your show tonight and on this tour. She doesn’t fuss much for anything, and she’s the only one that sleeps through the night. And then little Sadie is almost three months old, and she is a lovely little baby. And then Alec will be two in August – and he is just a fireball, and as a typical two-year-old would be, he’s into everything. Very obedient little girl and I just know she’s eager and ready to learn. I haven’t started her on anything but I call her the best listener of all of them. Of course, she does the fiddle and the dancing.
#NATALIE MACMASTER TOUR 2017 FULL#
She’s five and she’s a real tough little girl, and she’s full of joy. And he’s doing fiddle and piano lessons and dancing. Then Michael just turned seven a few days ago and he’s a real typical boy – rough and tumble and energy, energy, energy to burn. And she’s a good fiddler and she’s a good piano player and she takes dancing as well. She’s eight and she is a very capable little eight-year-old because she’s the oldest of six so she’s very good with the younger children. Natalie MacMaster in 2005 with her firstborn child, daughter Mary Francis Rose Leahy (photo courtesy of )ĪM: Tell me about each of your children and their music. A veteran stage performer who has performed up to 100 times a year, she still keeps up a demanding performing schedule while she and her husband, fiddler Donnell Leahy, raise their six young children in rural Ontario.Īnita Malhotra spoke with Natalie MacMaster about her music, family and faith on June 30, 2014, while she was preparing to perform that evening at the Ottawa Jazz Festival. In 2006, MacMaster was named to the Order of Canada, and she has also been awarded several honorary degrees, including a Doctor of Divinity. She has also collaborated with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Alison Kraus and Béla Fleck, starred in her own one-hour CBC television special, and appeared on major U.S. She released her debut album at age 16 and followed that with 10 more albums: three went gold in Canada and one (In My Hands, 1999) garnered a Juno award. Natalie MacMaster (photo by Rebekah Littlejohn Photography)Ī consummate Celtic fiddler with an exuberant stage presence, Natalie MacMaster has been playing the music of her beloved homeland, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, since the age of nine.
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