Kristin Nord's Book Review of Natalie MacMaster's Cape Breton Aire

As the writer, Alistair MacLeod, comments of Natalie in the afterword,

“If it was “in her nature” to be musical, there is also no denying the “nurture” that surrounded her from her earliest childhood and which dates back, as she says, to her mother’s womb.”

“I never dreamed I could earn a living with the music, that I would be playing in the concert halls of London, Tokyo and New York ... or that I would be awarded the Order of Canada in recognition of my musical contributions,” she writes.

“Maybe, though, I did have a bit of a premonition,” she confesses. “We kids were fascinated by Mom’s tape recorder when we were small. I was nine years old and had just started playing the fiddle. My Uncle Buddy was very popular. He was playing not only on Cape Breton but traveling a lot overseas. My brother, David, and I were fooling around one day with the tape recorder and he did a mock interview with me.

”Where will you be playing next?” he asked me.

“Oh, I’m flying to Calgary tomorrow to play with the symphony,” I said.

And so, 11 recordings, two DVDs, many East Coast and Juno awards and a Grammy-nomination later, Natalie remains the person she has always been.

One has no doubt that this Cape Breton fiddler will continue to draw upon her life and memories, and will keep the lessons of her upbringing close to her heart. As she conjures this scene, from a rich repository of many such evenings, we once again return to her message, and to the source of her art.

It was a summer’s night a few years ago when Natalie and her uncle, Buddy, were setting up for a joint release party. What had begun as a family project to record jointly a selection of tunes Buddy was known for had turned out so well that they’d decided to mass produce it.

“The hall in Judique was packed so tight that night with relatives that it could have been a family reunion,” Natalie reports. There in the spotlight Buddy was opening his fiddle case and taking a seat beside Natalie on the narrow stage. Betty Lou Beaton, Natalie’s aunt, one of a succession of sisters and a daughter who have accompanied him so ably throughout the years, “slid behind the piano”. Meanwhile, her cousin, Andrea, was tuning up for the dance that was to follow.

“My sister-in-law collected tickets at the front door and then served tea and Mom’s banana bread from the communal kitchen.” With the music under way, Natalie’s mom, Minnie, one of the island’s celebrated stepdancers, joined them onstage for a joyful display of footwork.

“That night represented what I love most about Cape Breton — there is no division among our lives, our families and friends, and our music,” she says, and therein is essence of what she cherishes. It is all so wonderfully interwoven.”

Pages: 1 · 2 · 3

Culture and Arts, Relationships and Going Places, Music, Festivals and Culture, Travel, Senior Women Web, Articles, Kristin Phelps, Authors Add comments

Kristin Nord's Book Review of Natalie MacMaster's Cape Breton Aire

More Articles