Seeing Shows with Deb Draper

Seeing Shows with Deb Draper

Live Music Reviews from Around Ontario

A CELTIC FAMILY CHRISTMAS returns Dec. 23rd.

December 23, 2021 Live Music

Hot off the 2021 tour, Natalie MacMaster snd husband Donnel Leahy joined by their 7 talented children and full band, were brilliant once again as they brought fans into their home to celebrate the holidays for their mesmerizing Christmas show that consists of their band and family, singing songs, playing tunes, and also features excerpts of live performances captured from this most recent Christmas tour 2021!! We are able to make it available from 7 pm December 23rd, until January 3rd 2022.

This spectacular show displayed fleshes of melodies that seeped deep into your brain straight down to your feet, as toes were tapping.


This, for me, was one of the most intriguing and rousing showcases I have witnessed of them live. They perfected treasures drenched so rich in complexity yet, so tranquil mixed with nonstop fun, a superb introspective delight. Each piece was a work of instrumental genius that blended in the right measure of ancient with a futuristic feel, totally the most compellingly up close and personal I have seen of their shows to date. They wore their hearts upon their sleeves and you could clearly see it upon their cheerful and sunny dispositioned faces that each tune was embroidered with tons of love, teamwork, passion, and faith. To see these amazing children thoroughly enjoying music and adoring their parents, was a brilliant pictorial of their symphonic and poetic human spirit. This 9 piece family unit plus band members totally oozed dedication to their crafts, so extremely inspiring. Their defining characters shared some insightful narratives and talent beyond their years. Their family histories were musically displayed by way of Gaelic singing, Celtic step dance, each with their own artistic storytelling ways. They gathered sharing thoughts, feelings, and memories as they gave us glimpses into their huge hearts. This experience was a breath of fresh air, showing even in the scariest or darkest of COVID-19 times, there can be beauty found in every day. Their stupendous talents were woven with elements that elevated as they captured with ease some in-depth moments infused with pure emotion.

ThERE ARE FIDDLERS AND THEN THERE IS DONNELL LEAHY, WHOSE LIFELONG DEVOTION TO PLAYING AND PERFORMING AS A SOLO ARTIST, WITH HIS 10 SIBLINGS IN THE MUCH-FÊTED GROUP LEAHY (OF WHICH HE WAS FRONTMAN AND BUSINESS LEAD) AND, MORE RECENTLY, ALONGSIDE WIFE AND MUSICAL COLLABORATOR NATALIE MACMASTER HAS CEMENTED HIS REPUTATION AS A PEERLESS INSTRUMENTALIST ABLE TO SYNTHESIZE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCES WITH MORE CONTEMPORARY CELTIC/FOLK SENSIBILITIES. HIS IRISH/CAPE BRETON LINEAGE (FROM HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, RESPECTIVELY) ALSO WEAVES ITS WAY INTO THE SONIC MIX.

DISCOGRAPHY: With Leahy: The Leahy Family (multiple independent recordings issued between 1981-1985);  Leahy (1996); Lakefield (2001); In All Things (2004); Leahy Live (2006); Handmade (2007).

With Natalie MacMaster: One (2015); A Celtic Family Christmas (2016).

AWARDS & ACCOLDADES With Leahy: Featured subject in Academy Award-winning 1985 documentary, Leahy: Music Most of All; two-time platinum certification of Leahy album (1996); JUNO Awards (six nominations, three wins for Best Country Group or Duo, 1999 and Best New Group and Instrumental Artist of the Year, 1998).

AWARDS With Natalie MacMaster: Honorary Doctorate, Trent University, Peterborough (2008); Canadian Folk Music Award (Instrumental Group of the Year 2015); East Coast Music Awards (Fan’s Choice Entertainer of the Year and Instrumental Recording of the Year 2016).

NOTABLE EPHEMERA: Has performed with The Chieftains and Shania Twain (as opening act on 1998’s Come on Over Tour); collaborated with noted rock producer Bob Ezrin on One album from 2015; traces his ancestral roots to County Cork, Ireland from where the family relocated to rural Ontario in 1825, establishing themselves as beef farmers. Leahy and his brothers maintain the farm today (albeit between touring commitments), upholding a deeply instilled work ethic and desire to be close to the land, experiences Leahy and MacMaster keenly share with their six music-mad children.

NATALIE MACMASTER is a Canadian fiddler from Troy, Inverness County, Nova Scotia who plays Cape Breton fiddle music. MacMaster has toured with the Chieftains, Faith Hill, Carlos Santana, and Alison Krauss, and has recorded with Yo-Yo Ma. She has appeared at the Celtic Colours festival in Cape Breton, Celtic Connections in Scotland, and MerleFest in the United States.

MacMaster began playing the fiddle at the age of nine,and made her performing debut the same year at a square dance in Glencoe Mills, Nova Scotia.[citation needed] When she was sixteen she released her first album, Four on the Floor, and a second album, Road to the Isle, followed in 1991. Her first album was self-produced,while her second was co-produced by John Morris Rankin (The Rankin Family) and Tom O’Keefe (as per original cassette jacket). Both albums were initially released only on cassette, but Rounder Records omitted a few tracks and re-released as A Compilation in 1998. In 1999, she performed at the Juno Awards show in Hamilton

In recent years she has expanded her musical repertoire, mixing her Cape Breton roots with music from Scotland and Ireland, as well as American bluegrass.

In 2004, MacMaster appeared on Sharon, Lois & Bram‘s 25th Anniversary Concert special titled “25 Years of Skinnamarink” that aired on CBC on January 1, 2004 at 7:00pm. She performed two songs with the trio: “C-H-I-C-K-E-N” and “Grandpa’s Farm”.

She has received a number of Canadian music awards, including several “Artist of the Year” awards from the East Coast Music Association, two Juno Awards for best instrumental album, and “Fiddler of the Year” from the Canadian Country Music Association. MacMaster was also awarded an honorary doctorate from Niagara University in New York in 2006. In 2006, she was made a member of the Order of Canada, and in 2020, she was made a member of the Order of Nova Scotia.

They are a must see, so pop on over to https://www.natalieanddonnell.com/shows & stay in tune with their music!

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