How many years ago was this performance? It's 2024 now and I'm still loving Natalie and Donnell just like I did in 2006 when my husband and I heard her in person in Glencoe Mills. This fiddling is timeless! Love, love, love it!!!!❤
I’ve been back and forth in my whole life and I know that I am incredibly talented at the fiddle, and Ik now I’m not gonna stop till I’m this big one day Natalie.... one day
We saw her perform at the Canada 150 in Halifax five years ago. She and her fiddle stole our hearts. Since then we have seen he and the family perform in our home town of Park City Utah. Devine. A gift from God she is. ❤️
We had the oppertunity of attending a concert provided by her Uncle, the renouned Cape Briton fiddler Buddy McMaster in Massachusetts back in the 1990's. The apple does not fall far from the tree! :-)
William Boyle around the same time i produced a concert with Natalie and The Green Fields of America atcthe Troy (NY) Music Hall. She was something special at 16...even moreso today!
I saw these people at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights a few years ago. You HAVE to smile and clap. It seems that in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia fiddling and Clogging are almost a religion and the annual competition is fierce.
Love them! Preformed on stage with her when I was younger (Step Dancing) and Im still proud of that accomplishment. They are both truely amazing and proud to have come from Cape Breton :) !
You know what I absolutely love about this...if you didn't know who she was you would think that she is new to this - not playing - but performing. What I mean by that is - watch the beginning and the end, she acts so "like ok I'm going to try and do this". Her actions are still so humble after all her years of performing and success. A very admirable trait.
Makes me remember my time in Cheticamp visiting family. The local channel had so much great traditional music on it. And twice we were lucky enough to sit and watch Colin Grant with Jason Roach.
I remember being in Cuba around the 1st of May, which is a special holiday in the area where we were. I suddenly heard East Coast fiddle music being played. Turned out there was an international middle school music competition going on and a group from Nova Scotia was competing.
I have had the pleasure of seeing Natalie M many times, but I had NO idea what a great Cape Breton pianist she is! She has been fiddling, and singing and dancing when I got to see her.. WOW I am SO impressed! The last few minutes of this video are absolutely breathtaking!
I had the "chance" of being judged by Natalie in longs peak highland games fiddle contest some decades ago ...I did not place. The lady contestants placed. her whole family ...what a bunch. I still play
Let’s go Nat! God love a great fiddler from Cape Breton! PEI. And Nova Scotia. Newfoundland oh my. New Brunswick. Quebec has their own great sound. Ontario, especially up north. And on and on across Canada 🇨🇦
Thanks for having this here! I'm from Nova Scotia and miss it, so as I sit here in my Home Office in Moncton working on our Watkins Products Business it's nice to be able to listen to some good tunes from Nova Scotia.
I first saw [it's truly a visual as well as auditory experience] Natalie when she was still a teenager and was introduced by John McDermott. Her ability to fiddle & step dance simultaneously was amazing.
Rachel Hay...Jenny Dang the Weaver I believe followed by Skinners Fairy Dance. I once played these two tunes at the General Hindmarsh Hotel on the road from Adelaide to Port in 2004 or so when I was in SA. I studied at AMC / U Tas in Lauie back then and used to sit in at the Sunday sessions at Irish Murphy;s in the Salamanca Place Hobart. The guy who headed it up was perhaps the best Ulieen Piper I ever heard!
Those 73 people do not have the Celtic ancestry required to properly understand and enjoy this fiddle music. The gentleman and lady performing the music here do have the ancestry to make sounds for us Celts to truly enjoy.
PayneCty Gardener it’s all a matter of taste really....I’m as scot as they get and a lover of cape breton fiddle style (I live here) and I don’t like this video....I’m not a fan of Natalie’s playing style (although extremely talented) and certainly not a fan of his....if you listen to the old style of playing with the real Gaelic flair you’d know why people dislike it.....some like this style but certainly not a cape breton style
Natalie has been a fan of mine for many years. Such NICE family and talent all around - met her n Ogden, Utah at a concert and still have the 25 lessons video, which my husband turned into a CD. Don't wait too long to try to fiddle - it's a whole new world! I am having difficulty after READING my whole life and being a classical musician. Look up Mark O'Connor - I now teach my students HIS FIDDLE METHOD. Natalie got me interested first, though. She dances while playing, too!
I finally know some of these song titles! Just think...in ten more years I might be able to play some of them well too! Thank you for always being an inspiration!
None of the posts here reflect any awareness that these two are MARRIED---and VERY married. She had her third child with Donnell Leahy--just about two months ago. Saw her last night in Virginia, and she was talking about it. She looks great--must be cuz of all that step dancing! These two will be back there, playing together, later this season. I'll hope to catch it. Should be GREAT.
Superb. The last tune in Natalie's first set is known, in Ireland, as "The Fairy Reel". It is said - if I recall correctly - that Mickey Doherty got it from the fairies... but my memory of the music-filled night on which I heard that bit of tune folklore is a little fuzzy. In their last set together, the first tune (only once through) is Cape Breton and the second tune is a version of "The Mason's Apron", which probably occurs in Scotland as well as Canada and Ireland.
They are both wonderful fiddle players. Natalie is steeped is Celtic Tradition, Donnell as well but there is a certain classical element in his style, somewhat reminiscent of Joseph Szgeti.
IF YOU WATCH THIS VIDEO OF CAPE BRETON COMPLETELY, YOU WILL SEE HAYLEY WESTENRA AND BELA FLECK IN THEM. WHAT A COMBO !!!!!!! WELL WORTH WATCHING !!!!!!
I'm a bit intoxicated and right now I feel like I'm in somewhere 17th century (sorry if my history of violin music is a bit off, haha) tavern of awesome. Such festive moods! What a great amount of work done there to learn to play like that... and such feel of true enjoyment for music.
This is great. But, it seems like it is harder work for Natalie to play the piano than the fiddle! Look at the intensity of her trying to hit the right chords! Priceless.
Its her other half, Donnell Leahy, also from Cape Breton and part of the group Leahy with all his siblings. You should check out the video Call to the Dance by Leahy on here..their live version is amazing.
MAKE THAT 13 TIME WORLD CHAMPION FIDDLE PLAYER AND DONNELL LEAHY AS HER MATE. WHAT A DUO !!!! SHE PLAYS A MEAN PIANO TOO AND THE GAL CAN SHAKE A LEG TOO !!!!!!! I NEVER GET TIRED OF LISTENING TO NATALIE AND HER FAMILY !!!! ALWAYS A PLEASURE !!!!!! YES INDEED !!!!
My young fella was at my mom's the other day and they dug my old fiddle out of the closet. Has her autograph on it and a ticket stub from when I seen her at the imperial theater in Saint John N.B. I think around 97 or 99 ish.
I did sound for her back in the early 90's. She was about 17 at the time. Lovely lady. Ashley McIsaac was there too...with Duane Cote. I composed a few tunes.....and would love to find a way to get them to Natalie....see if she would concider playing them. I have not played in years.....and am no great player (mandolin).
heavy Scottish influence on Cape Bretón fiddle style. I really love it. I would be very nervous in her position: my fingers would be sweaty and slipping.
Angela Warner maybe for their family personally, but I know lots of men and boys who use chin rests and have their chins on the correct spots. And also there are chin rests which are placed in the centre, it’s really personal preference. I can’t choose my own chinrest because my pickup is built into it, it’s a Guarneri style which is a centre mount but there’s just a “tail” that’s mounted in the centre. The part of the chin rest that I put my chin in is on the left side where it’s supposed to be
Natalie surely has the soul of the music in her. The last tune in the initial medley "Lord MacDonald's Reel" I learn as an American Old Timey Tune "Old Molly Hare" . When I visited Galway (Salthill) in the mid-1970's I heard two buskers (banjo and accordion) across the street playing it. I asked what they called it, "The Fairy Reel". That's fiddling for you, three different names in 3 countries for one sturdy tune. :) Donnell Leahy is amazing, also. Love the story about his Mom banging out the rhythms on a board before she got her first piano. ;) And of the 11 Leahy kids fighting for time on the piano, foregoing meals to get a chance to play. Wonderful.
Hey that piano that they were talking about was owned by me at one time and I sold it to Donnell's cousin and then it got back to them...that piano got around!
How many years ago was this performance? It's 2024 now and I'm still loving Natalie and Donnell just like I did in 2006 when my husband and I heard her in person in Glencoe Mills. This fiddling is timeless! Love, love, love it!!!!❤
Least words spoken in a TED talk.
Also my favorite TED TALK of all time.
absolute money.
We speak with music in Cape Breton:)
This woman is so talented. And raising her children with the same kind of talent....hats off to her
She is astounding.
That sound...so pure and perfect...it builds and builds till you can no longer stay seated!
Pure rapture.
She’s a national treasure. Thank goodness CB shared her with us as well.
I’ve been back and forth in my whole life and I know that I am incredibly talented at the fiddle, and Ik now I’m not gonna stop till I’m this big one day Natalie.... one day
We saw her perform at the Canada 150 in Halifax five years ago. She and her fiddle stole our hearts. Since then we have seen he and the family perform in our home town of Park City Utah. Devine. A gift from God she is. ❤️
She is totally captivating, sort of a hyper performer. A wonderful contributor to Eastern Canada's culture and to the rest of the world too.
Her music enters my ears and flows to every organ and it ends up on my smiling face and tapping toes
That is the essence of fiddle music it is a toe tapping good time well unless it is a lament lol those are usually sad.
A cape bretoner needs to hear the fiddle now and again when away from home.
True words my friend, true words.
I'm in Vancouver....you are right...makes me miss the soul of the place...
In Edmonton Thinking about my cape Breton home
Even if you're a mainlander you need to hear it too 💙
Aye they do!.. A mainlander away should surely be afforded the same luxury 😊
Just so amazingly talented ! With parents like this, no wonder the children are just brilliant too... Thank you guys for the music..
Thus made me cry happy tears 🤣😭🥰 Gotta love when music sings for the soul.
You are not alone Dave D, it is pure soul music, stirs the blood, gets the feet tappin'
I love what they bring out in each other.
They act so humble and new at this even when they are true artistic geniuses!
Oh my gosh they're so awesome. I love Natalie, and they're even better together. I saw them live and it was amazing.
Just as lovely as can be. I first saw her when she was 12 yrs old in Sydney. Another Cape Breton treasure.
We had the oppertunity of attending a concert provided by her Uncle, the renouned Cape Briton fiddler Buddy McMaster in Massachusetts back in the 1990's. The apple does not fall far from the tree! :-)
William Boyle around the same time i produced a concert with Natalie and The Green Fields of America atcthe Troy (NY) Music Hall. She was something special at 16...even moreso today!
Donnell is one of the best fiddlers to ever play. Un-fricken-believable.
Just incredible. Saw her in Carbodale, Illinois. Absolutely blew us away that night.
I saw these people at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights a few years ago. You HAVE to smile and clap. It seems that in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia fiddling and Clogging are almost a religion and the annual competition is fierce.
Music straight from the soul to the instrument!
Love them! Preformed on stage with her when I was younger (Step Dancing) and Im still proud of that accomplishment.
They are both truely amazing and proud to have come from Cape Breton :) !
You know what I absolutely love about this...if you didn't know who she was you would think that she is new to this - not playing - but performing.
What I mean by that is - watch the beginning and the end, she acts so "like ok I'm going to try and do this". Her actions are still so humble after all her years of performing and success. A very admirable trait.
My Family grew up in Inverness Cape Breton Island, This kind of music brings back a lot of great memerios of my family.
Makes me remember my time in Cheticamp visiting family. The local channel had so much great traditional music on it. And twice we were lucky enough to sit and watch Colin Grant with Jason Roach.
I remember being in Cuba around the 1st of May, which is a special holiday in the area where we were. I suddenly heard East Coast fiddle music being played. Turned out there was an international middle school music competition going on and a group from Nova Scotia was competing.
You both are wonderful and a great inspiration for all novice fiddlers like me
I knew it had to get people going!!! This music is too lively and spirit filled to sit still and listen politely like ladies and gentlemen.
Brought a tear to my eye by 0:50
This is the kind of music that makes you proud to be Nova Scotian.
I have had the pleasure of seeing Natalie M many times, but I had NO idea what a great Cape Breton pianist she is! She has been fiddling, and singing and dancing when I got to see her.. WOW I am SO impressed! The last few minutes of this video are absolutely breathtaking!
I had the "chance" of being judged by Natalie in longs peak highland games fiddle contest some decades ago ...I did not place. The lady contestants placed. her whole family ...what a bunch.
I still play
I wish i had learned to play the fiddle properly like these people obviously did, great stuff.
Let’s go Nat! God love a great fiddler from Cape Breton! PEI. And Nova Scotia. Newfoundland oh my. New Brunswick. Quebec has their own great sound. Ontario, especially up north. And on and on across Canada 🇨🇦
so great. my family is from cape breton, hearing natalie play makes me remeniss.
Proud to be from Nova Scotia
Thanks for having this here! I'm from Nova Scotia and miss it, so as I sit here in my Home Office in Moncton working on our Watkins Products Business it's nice to be able to listen to some good tunes from Nova Scotia.
Talent that blows the mind. Just simply incredible.
Thank God for these two. The world is blest.
I first saw [it's truly a visual as well as auditory experience] Natalie when she was still a teenager and was introduced by John McDermott. Her ability to fiddle & step dance simultaneously was amazing.
Rachel Hay...Jenny Dang the Weaver I believe followed by Skinners Fairy Dance. I once played these two tunes at the General Hindmarsh Hotel on the road from Adelaide to Port in 2004 or so when I was in SA. I studied at AMC / U Tas in Lauie back then and used to sit in at the Sunday sessions at Irish Murphy;s in the Salamanca Place Hobart. The guy who headed it up was perhaps the best Ulieen Piper I ever heard!
Thank you Natalie. You and your fiddle are wounderful
I’ve just returned from a week in cape Breton and looking for more! I found it here.
What is it about this video that 73 people would dislike? Great job guys! I love music from back home. Sitting here in Alberta missing home 🤔
Those 73 people do not have the Celtic ancestry required to properly understand and enjoy this fiddle music. The gentleman and lady performing the music here do have the ancestry to make sounds for us Celts to truly enjoy.
Where are you from Chris?
Hughie Johnny Archie MacDonald....Judique & Detroit
PayneCty Gardener it’s all a matter of taste really....I’m as scot as they get and a lover of cape breton fiddle style (I live here) and I don’t like this video....I’m not a fan of Natalie’s playing style (although extremely talented) and certainly not a fan of his....if you listen to the old style of playing with the real Gaelic flair you’d know why people dislike it.....some like this style but certainly not a cape breton style
No they clicked the "Dis I Like!" button. Everybody liked this. 😁
Natalie has been a fan of mine for many years. Such NICE family and talent all around - met her n Ogden, Utah at a concert and still have the 25 lessons video, which my husband turned into a CD. Don't wait too long to try to fiddle - it's a whole new world! I am having difficulty after READING my whole life and being a classical musician. Look up Mark O'Connor - I now teach my students HIS FIDDLE METHOD. Natalie got me interested first, though. She dances while playing, too!
I finally know some of these song titles!
Just think...in ten more years I might be able to play some of them well too!
Thank you for always being an inspiration!
None of the posts here reflect any awareness that these two are MARRIED---and VERY married. She had her third child with Donnell Leahy--just about two months ago. Saw her last night in Virginia, and she was talking about it. She looks great--must be cuz of all that step dancing! These two will be back there, playing together, later this season. I'll hope to catch it. Should be GREAT.
How could you "not" like this. Beautiful and talented.
Superb. The last tune in Natalie's first set is known, in Ireland, as "The Fairy Reel". It is said - if I recall correctly - that Mickey Doherty got it from the fairies... but my memory of the music-filled night on which I heard that bit of tune folklore is a little fuzzy. In their last set together, the first tune (only once through) is Cape Breton and the second tune is a version of "The Mason's Apron", which probably occurs in Scotland as well as Canada and Ireland.
The only tune I know in here is "Jenny Dang the Weaver". Second tune in the first set
gotta love that Maritimer accent, i heard it and it brought a smile to my face immediately. she represents everything i love about our east coast
Great performance, Coordination ! PERFECT- BOTH OF YOU!
They are both wonderful fiddle players.
Natalie is steeped is Celtic Tradition, Donnell as well but there is a certain classical element in his style, somewhat reminiscent of Joseph Szgeti.
18 minutes and 47 seconds of pure beauty...Natalie ( Buddys neice) and Donnell are as close as it comes to perfection!!!!
Thats a pretty lovely video. Great showcase of East Coast talent and humble musicians. Great Job!
I love how she feels the music. She is awesome. But Donnell...omg. He must be a prodigy.
JUST THE GREATEST SOUND AROUND. PRAISE GOD..
More like praise Natalie!
You're right it makes me want to dance and praise my Lord Jesus!
She is so amazing!
Why does this music make me weep?
me too..
thats called fiddle brother!
Because she sounds fuckin beautiful buddy.
Because it comes from the heart :)
Anything from the island always touches the heart. It's always been like that, it always will.
IF YOU WATCH THIS VIDEO OF CAPE BRETON COMPLETELY, YOU WILL SEE HAYLEY WESTENRA AND BELA FLECK IN THEM. WHAT A COMBO !!!!!!! WELL WORTH WATCHING !!!!!!
Donald is a creative genius on the violin.
I'm a bit intoxicated and right now I feel like I'm in somewhere 17th century (sorry if my history of violin music is a bit off, haha) tavern of awesome. Such festive moods! What a great amount of work done there to learn to play like that... and such feel of true enjoyment for music.
Both so amazingly talented, a true inspiration.
This is great. But, it seems like it is harder work for Natalie to play the piano than the fiddle! Look at the intensity of her trying to hit the right chords! Priceless.
both MacMaster and Leahy are wonderful.
Its her other half, Donnell Leahy, also from Cape Breton and part of the group Leahy with all his siblings. You should check out the video Call to the Dance by Leahy on here..their live version is amazing.
She laid her hand
on my shoulder yesterday in shoppers .she didn know it was me ....Patirarc ..Thats the golden haired angel !.. Solid!
100%
MAKE THAT 13 TIME WORLD CHAMPION FIDDLE PLAYER AND DONNELL LEAHY AS HER MATE. WHAT A DUO !!!! SHE PLAYS A MEAN PIANO TOO AND THE GAL CAN SHAKE A LEG TOO !!!!!!! I NEVER GET TIRED OF LISTENING TO NATALIE AND HER FAMILY !!!! ALWAYS A PLEASURE !!!!!! YES INDEED !!!!
My young fella was at my mom's the other day and they dug my old fiddle out of the closet. Has her autograph on it and a ticket stub from when I seen her at the imperial theater in Saint John N.B. I think around 97 or 99 ish.
One of the things I love most about seeing this kind of music preformed is the lack of sheet music.
I did sound for her back in the early 90's. She was about 17 at the time. Lovely lady. Ashley McIsaac was there too...with Duane Cote. I composed a few tunes.....and would love to find a way to get them to Natalie....see if she would concider playing them. I have not played in years.....and am no great player (mandolin).
My mouth is on the floor! Both are awesome!!!
Simply amazing. The music brings out so many emotions. Thank You for sharing.
They played it like a damn fiddle!!!
it is a fiddle
Sure did!! Awesome!
Slooged MacTrout whoosh
The inspections were nothing but smokescreens
Natalie McMaster is a great musical talent.I wonder though,can she sing;and since she is Scottish;does she know how to play the Bagpipes?
Yes Rebecca they're wonderful....
Just amazing! And such appealing performers!
....Bill
OMG!!! What a wonderful set. I just can't get over how beautiful this really is. Thank you TEDX.
It's like two violins playing at the same time!!! amazing!
Amazing...one of the best traditional styles on the fiddle.
heavy Scottish influence on Cape Bretón fiddle style. I really love it. I would be very nervous in her position: my fingers would be sweaty and slipping.
Love the King George Medley between them at the end. I have Natalie's version of that on CD.
Natalie is one of the best!
I'm going to see her next weekend. Can't wait..
I looove folk fiddling sooo muuuch !
They are both so dang talented.
Makes Me proud to be a Bluenoser.. ( from Nova Scotia ) I love her music, .... I can travel the world and it reminds me of home.......
the raspy bow work is just genius....hang on for the pull off`s near the end ...the fiddle can be one funky ass instrument...inspired!
Tears to my eyes
Is enjoyed weekly in South Australia!
I like how he ignores the chin-rest and holds it his way.
agreed...completely wonderful :) but I wonder why he doesn't just remove it?
Brendy Webley Seems like it would be really uncomfortable with his chin on the edge of the rest as it seems to be
I wonder if this is a cultural thing for boys and men who fiddle. Their sons don't use their chin rests either.
Angela Warner maybe for their family personally, but I know lots of men and boys who use chin rests and have their chins on the correct spots. And also there are chin rests which are placed in the centre, it’s really personal preference. I can’t choose my own chinrest because my pickup is built into it, it’s a Guarneri style which is a centre mount but there’s just a “tail” that’s mounted in the centre. The part of the chin rest that I put my chin in is on the left side where it’s supposed to be
Cape Breton is a beautiful place
Pure entertainment. The best ever.
YES!!
The best music ever!
@Rachel Hay - The song at 2;10 is Jenny Dang The Weaver.
Excellent! Absolutely brilliant! I caught myself almost clapping at one point!
first reel is scottish called Jenny dang the weaver
Thats just simply awesome.
Anyone know the set tunes on Natalie’s Spey of Spate recording?
Saw her in concert live with her family...
Someone also had a heart attack
╏ ” ⊚ ͟ʖ ⊚ ” ╏
Natalie surely has the soul of the music in her. The last tune in the initial medley "Lord MacDonald's Reel" I learn as an American Old Timey Tune "Old Molly Hare" . When I visited Galway (Salthill) in the mid-1970's I heard two buskers (banjo and accordion) across the street playing it. I asked what they called it, "The Fairy Reel". That's fiddling for you, three different names in 3 countries for one sturdy tune. :) Donnell Leahy is amazing, also. Love the story about his Mom banging out the rhythms on a board before she got her first piano. ;) And of the 11 Leahy kids fighting for time on the piano, foregoing meals to get a chance to play. Wonderful.
Great playing. Love it!
Hey that piano that they were talking about was owned by me at one time and I sold it to Donnell's cousin and then it got back to them...that piano got around!
I'm from Cape Breton :DD