No Boundaries
Natalie MacMaster
Warner Music
1996
13 tracks
Forty years ago, spurred by Don Messer’s Jubilee, Country Hoedown, and other CBC programs on radio and television plus a certain nostalgia in Canada for simpler times, Canada’s Maritime music could be heard across our land. Back then, the music was primarily traditional, but it also helped introduce the world to talented young artists such as Gene McClelland and Anne Murray.
A decade or so ago, artists from our East Coast began to reclaim their territory on our airwaves and on our stages coast to coast with a vengeance. Artists like The Rankin Family, The Barra MacNeils, Ashley MacIsaac and a dozen others burst onto the scene with a force and vitality long missing from our contemporary folk music.
This time, there’s a difference: while the music is traditional, the artists bring to it contemporary instruments, sounds and techniques so that there is not the separation between traditional music and the talented young artist that might once have existed. Indeed, today’s young Maritime artists appeal to a broad spectrum of the population, including an enormous audience of youth one might expect to be listening to rock music instead.
Unlike many of her contemporaries, much of whose power resides in the largeness of their presence (The Rankins) or their shock value (MacIsaac), Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster has come up with quiet grace from a tradition of great Canadian fiddlers including King Gannam, Al Cherney, and her own uncle, Cape Breton champion fiddler Buddy MacMaster.
The history shows in the confidence with which MacMaster wields her bow, keeping the traditional elements but blending in her personal sense of the music. Although MacMaster’s music certainly incorporates many contemporary elements, including some rock guitar and arrangements that begin to sound like funk or moderate jazz fusion, the listener can always sense the artist’s strong respect for the past and for the music which has come out of it.
No Boundaries, MacMaster’s first CD and her first release on a major label, can only enhance her popularity with a growing audience of every generation which packs the halls wherever she performs in Canada and the United States. An eclectic mix of 13 tunes, including one song written and sung by fellow Cape Bretonner Bruce Guthro, this release is a toe-tapping treat for the ears.
A large part of MacMaster’s genius is that she manages to select musicians for her band who are among the finest in North America. Most members of MacMaster’s band are, like her, multiple award winners honored and respected among their peers. Worth noting are the lovely piano playing of Tracey Dares and the guitar work of Dave MacIsaac, although the sound would certainly be less without the contributions of Brian Leonard (drums), Michael Francis (guitar), Tom Szczesniak (Bass), Ray Parker (keyboards), and more than a dozen others. These musicians provide the ideal backdrop for MacMaster’s spirited fiddle.
"Fiddle and Bow" is an interesting contribution to this CD, as it is the only piece which includes singing (although MacMaster does some lovely Celtic scat on "The Drunken Piper") and is the first time she has included a sung piece on one of her recordings. This is the composition for which singer songwriter Bruce Guthro had been awarded the "SOCAN Songwriter of the Year" award this year. Guthro’s performance of his song on No Boundaries has a soulful traditional feel to it yet is timeless in its appeal.
Many of the pieces on No Boundaries are medleys of traditional and contemporary fiddle pieces in just about every style. "The Honeysuckle Set" begins the album with two hornpipes followed by two reels, carrying the listener into the spirit of the music. "My Friend Buddy" shifts the tempo with a series of jigs which set the stage for Guthrie’s sweet "Fiddle and Bow" to follow.
"Reel Beatrice" begins with a decidedly rock sound based primarily on drums with some guitar, and continues along that line with some nice work by Ray Parker on a keyboard that sounds like it might be that sixties rocker’s favourite, the Hammond B3. The traditional element floats above this base on the wings of MacMaster’s spritely, melodic playing.
"Catharsis" has much the same feel, although the music now begins with a funk guitar sound complemented by drums, with the traditional fiddle coming in above. The electric guitar in the bridge of this piece harks back to the folk/rock/country sounds of Charlie Daniels 25 years ago, as does the strong ending.
"The Beaumont Rag" harks back to an entirely different era, with all the style and grace of the western swing music that came out of Texas some fifty years ago. Dares and MacIsaac both shine in this piece.
Most of the music is, in fact, quite traditional and all of it is traditional at root, bringing echoes of a culture long relegated to the fringes. It is good to hear it coming back with such vitality. At just 24 years of age, Natalie MacMaster has a talent far beyond her years and is well worth giving a listen.
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Review written: 1997
Last modified: February 14, 2004
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