Natalie MacMaster

Saturday night, Main Stage

The slot in the Saturday night concert before Tommy Emmanuel was Natalie MacMaster, who was at the top of Darling Wife's "must see" list. She's a fiddler from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia who plays traditional maritime/Celtic music. According to DW, she's a former child prodigy from a family of musicians from Cape Breton who all play the traditional style. DW said she saw her on TV from a young age, and was looking forward to seeing her in person.

She hit the stage like she was shot out of a gun - very high energy, backed by a five-piece band. The musicianship was impeccable - but the most noteworthy thing to me was how she moved. She was never still - she danced the whole time she played. I'm sure it was some kind of traditional step dance, and it was mesmerizing to watch her move while the musical pyrotechnics were happening.

Sunday morning, Camp Stage

Darling Wife loved her the most - but the rest of us weren't far behind. Everyone at the campground later was raving about the back-to-back sets of Natalie and Tommy Emmanuel. And people were laughing and shaking their heads over the fact that she said she's had six kids over the past eight years - including a four-month-old.

Sunday morning, there was a Celtic lineup at the smaller Camp Stage, and Natalie was on the bill for that, so all of our camp went to see it. We were excited to see her in a small, more informal setting, and she didn't disappoint. She came out with just a drummer and a keyboardist, and started out sitting down. But by the second song, she couldn't help herself and got up and started moving. She played for 45 minutes, and left us yelling for more.

Seeing her, and so many other good fiddlers, gave me strong desire to learn the fiddle. But I have to resist - there are only so many hours in the day.

A quick YouTube search doesn't turn up any footage of her performance at the Folk Fest, but here's a good example of her playing.