Canada’s “Queen of the Fiddle” will present an acoustic performance in Port Alberni on Wednesday, March 11.
With more than 300,000 albums sold, Canada’s most endeared and revered fiddler Natalie MacMaster has received a 2020 JUNO Award nomination for her newest release — and first solo album in eight years — Sketches.
The number eight factors in further, as the nod for Traditional Roots Album of the Year at this March’s 2020 JUNO Awards counts as her eighth nomination. Previously, the Canadian ‘Queen of the Fiddle’ has received a GRAMMY Award win and nomination, two JUNO Award wins and seven previous nominations, 19 East Coast Music Association awards, and five Canadian Country Music Association’s “Fiddler of the Year” nods — as well as three honorary doctorates, an induction into the Casino Nova Scotia Hall of Fame, and a member of the Order of Canada.
For Sketches, the Celtic music superstar is drawing on a different set of numbers for inspiration.
“It is a moment during my 47th year of life, my 37th year of fiddling, my 16th year of marriage, and my 13th year of parenting,” MacMaster says of Sketches. MacMaster has seven children with her husband and fellow fiddler Donnell Leahy, all budding musicians themselves. “It’ll be a moment of joyous appreciation inspired by years of parenting, marriage, friendships, music and life.”
Sketches is a return to a solo sound, and the result is a fiery, must-hear collection of traditional tunes and medleys mixed with new compositions. The album teems with retrospect and legacy as MacMaster reflects on her extraordinary journey in both life and career.
“I have something to say through my fiddle,” she says.
MacMaster will offer a lively, intimate night of acoustic Cape Breton traditional and original music at the Alberni District Secondary School Theatre (4000 Roger St) starting at 7:30 p.m. For tickets, visit the Echo Centre or call 250-723-2181.