There’s very few people who could disagree that the two greatest
\nyoung fiddle players currently recording are Ashley MacIsaac and
\nNatalie MacMaster, from the Cape Breton area of Newfoundland.
\nNewfoundland itself is currently responsible for much of the
\ncurrent renaissance in Celtic music, with bands like Great Big Sea
\nand Rawlins Cross, but there’s something uniquely Breton about a
\nsingle fiddler with the sound of dancing feet.<\/p>\n
It’s almost impossible to review any of these artists without
\ntaking into account their surroundings and fellow artists. MacIsaac
\nand MacMaster grew up together, along with some of the Rankins (I
\nexpect to review the Rankin Family within the next week or two).
\nAll of them attended ceilis where artists like Buddy MacMaster,
\nDave MacIsaac, and John Allan Cameron played. It’s all in the
\nfamily on Cape Breton, and it’s no wonder they’re spawning CDs left
\nand right. These folks are GOOD.<\/p>\n
Natalie MacMaster is one of the best of the crew, a blonde angel
\nwho looks more cheerleader than fiddler. But she’s fast becoming a
\nmaster, a demon at live performing whose trademark is to close the
\nshow stepdancing
\nwhile<\/i> fiddling. It was on MacMaster’s third CD,
\nNo Boundaries<\/i>, that she began to build off her excellent
\ntraining to widen her scope as a performer.<\/p>\n
The niece of Cape Breton fiddling legend Buddy MacMaster, she
\nbegan at a very young age by learning the traditional tunes, and
\nthose are done to a turn on this CD. Sets like the jig set “My
\nFriend Buddy”, the strathspey and reel sets “Paddy LeBlanc’s Set”
\nand “Where’s Howie?”, and the clog and reel “The Autograph” are all
\nmagnificent examples of traditional fiddling.<\/p>\n
However, MacMaster sees no reason to stop there. This CD also
\nincludes the haunting, plaintive “Fiddle And Bow”, with guest
\nvocalist Bruce Guthro, a jazzed up version of an Italian polka in
\n“Reel Beatrice”, a techno-funk dance backbeat on “The Drunken
\nPiper” with a guest vocal from Cookie Rankin, and the original reel
\n“Catharsis”, originally performed by Amy Cann, with its driving
\nbass line and Hammond organ harmonies.<\/p>\n
If you think this sounds like Ashley MacIsaac’s CD that I
\npreviously reviewed, you’re right; there are some similarities.
\nBoth are involved in pushing the envelope of Celtic music in
\ngeneral and Cape Breton music in particular. Do not assume,
\nhowever, the two CDs are redundant. MacMaster
\nfeels<\/i> very different, and it’s more than just a different in
\nstrike and approach on the fiddle. MacIsaac is power, MacMaster is
\nfinesse; MacIsaac is Nolan Ryan, MacMaster is Tommy John. Either
\nway, the batter will head for the dugout with a slightly stunned
\nface.<\/p>\n
\nNo Boundaries<\/i> is the best place to start appreciating
\nNatalie MacMaster. (Her first American release, a compilation of
\nher two Canadian releases
\nFour On The Floor<\/i> and
\nRoad To The Isle<\/i>, is interesting but not outstanding.) Grab
\nit, get it, dust off your clogs, and prove that step-dancing and
\nfiddle is a universal language.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":25008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6107],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-36213","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-natalie-macmaster","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36213"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36213"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}