Playing the Cape Breton fiddle | Natalie MacMaster 

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.

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

This woman is so talented. And raising her children with the same kind of talent....hats off to her

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.

Donnell is one of the best fiddlers to ever play. Un-fricken-believable.

Her music enters my ears and flows to every organ and it ends up on my smiling face and tapping toes

A cape bretoner needs to hear the fiddle now and again when away from home.

Thus made me cry happy tears 🤣😭🥰 Gotta love when music sings for the soul.

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 are not alone Dave D, it is pure soul music, stirs the blood, gets the feet tappin'

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 so amazingly talented ! With parents like this, no wonder the children are just brilliant too... Thank you guys for the music..

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.

I love what they bring out in each other. They act so humble and new at this even when they are true artistic geniuses!

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! :-)

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.

Brought a tear to my eye by 0:50 This is the kind of music that makes you proud to be Nova Scotian.

Just as lovely as can be. I first saw her when she was 12 yrs old in Sydney. Another Cape Breton treasure.

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!

Music straight from the soul to the instrument!

Proud to be from Nova Scotia

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 :) !

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.

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 🇨🇦

You both are wonderful and a great inspiration for all novice fiddlers like me

My Family grew up in Inverness Cape Breton Island, This kind of music brings back a lot of great memerios of my family.

I wish i had learned to play the fiddle properly like these people obviously did, great stuff.

Talent that blows the mind. Just simply incredible.

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!

Just incredible. Saw her in Carbodale, Illinois. Absolutely blew us away that night.

Thank God for these two. The world is blest.

JUST THE GREATEST SOUND AROUND. PRAISE GOD..

Thank you Natalie. You and your fiddle are wounderful

so great. my family is from cape breton, hearing natalie play makes me remeniss.

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.

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.

18 minutes and 47 seconds of pure beauty...Natalie ( Buddys neice) and Donnell are as close as it comes to perfection!!!!

She laid her hand on my shoulder yesterday in shoppers .she didn know it was me ....Patirarc ..Thats the golden haired angel !.. Solid! 100%

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.

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!

How could you "not" like this. Beautiful and talented.

She is so amazing!

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!

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!

My mouth is on the floor! Both are awesome!!!

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 🤔

Simply amazing. The music brings out so many emotions. Thank You for sharing.

Donald is a creative genius on the violin.

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.

Why does this music make me weep?

Both so amazingly talented, a true inspiration.

Amazing...one of the best traditional styles on the fiddle.

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 !!!!!!

It's like two violins playing at the same time!!! amazing!

Yes Rebecca they're wonderful....

both MacMaster and Leahy are wonderful.

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.

Natalie is one of the best!

OMG!!! What a wonderful set. I just can't get over how beautiful this really is. Thank you TEDX.

17:54-18:09 is just so good! Man i wish i could play like that

Thats a pretty lovely video. Great showcase of East Coast talent and humble musicians. Great Job!

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.

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 !!!!

One of the things I love most about seeing this kind of music preformed is the lack of sheet music.

They played it like a damn fiddle!!!

Love the King George Medley between them at the end. I have Natalie's version of that on CD.

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.

I love how she feels the music. She is awesome. But Donnell...omg. He must be a prodigy.

Excellent! Absolutely brilliant! I caught myself almost clapping at one point!

@Rachel Hay - The song at 2;10 is Jenny Dang The Weaver.

Pure entertainment. The best ever.

Just amazing! And such appealing performers! ....Bill

first reel is scottish called Jenny dang the weaver

I looove folk fiddling sooo muuuch !

YES!! The best music ever!

Remarkable music!

Thats just simply awesome.

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!

I'm going to see her next weekend. Can't wait..

Cape Breton is a beautiful place

breathtaking performance!!!

They are both so dang talented.

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.

Is enjoyed weekly in South Australia!

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.

Tears to my eyes

I am Natalie McMaster in Nova Scotia to turn the Italian boats around in 1962 as I went back in time as the Royal as Queen Natalie Helferty shaped to the shoreline location in Nova Scotia where the Italians were going to dock 30 boats full of seasick Italians here in Canada to make money. I told them it was unbroken wilderness of forests and there was no money to be made and they turned all 30 boats around and went back to Italy. I was already the Métis Fiddler Natalie McMaster in Nova Scotia where the Nova Scotia Fiddle Music was strongest so performed my Métis Fiddle Music I had composed when I studied Fiddle for 3 years after high school although under mu rays so I could not remember how to play the fiddle. But my body remembers even if my brain does not. So my technique of Relax The Body Knows What To Do still works for Me to perform as Natalie McMaster My Métis Fiddle Music as Canadian Métis

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.

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.......

Now this is Talent!

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?

Gotta love Cape Breton!! Fantastic music~

Great playing. Love it!

They makes the ladies fair, strong, and skilled in the Cape...