Ashley Dwayne MacIsaac is a Canadian fiddler, pianist, singer and songwriter from Cape Breton Island. He has received three Juno Awards, winning for Best New Solo Artist and Best Roots & Traditional Album – Solo at the Juno Awards of 1996, and for Best Instrumental Artist at the Juno Awards of 1997. His 1995 album Hi™ How Are You Today? was a double-platinum selling Canadian record. MacIsaac published an autobiography, Fiddling with Disaster in 2003.
The music of Canada's Maritime provinces has included many artists from both the traditional and pop genres, and is mostly European in origin. The traditional genre is dominated by the music brought to the region by the European settlers, the most well known of which are the Scots & Irish celtic and Acadian traditions. Successful pop acts from all genres have had degrees of national and international success since the beginning of recorded music period. Performers as diverse as Hank Snow, Stan Rogers, Anne Murray, the Rankin Family, Barachois, The Men of the Deeps and April Wine have all experienced tremendous success as popular music acts with considerable national and international tours and record sales.
Hugh Alan "Buddy" MacMaster was a Canadian fiddler. He performed and recorded both locally and internationally, and was regarded as an expert on the tradition and lore of Cape Breton fiddle music.
The Gaelic College, formally The Royal Cape Breton Gaelic College, is a non-profit educational institution located in the community of St. Anns, Nova Scotia, on Cape Breton Island, along the Cabot Trail. Founded in 1938, its focus has been on the perpetuation of Highland Scottish Gaelic culture.
In the province of Nova Scotia in Canada, Celtic music has played a significant role, both in its traditional forms and fused with other musical styles. Nova Scotia's folk music features traditional tunes brought over from the Scottish Highlands in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as well as localized forms such as Cape Breton fiddle music. In recent years, a wide variety of other musical genres have emerged in Nova Scotia, which has produced several country music stars such as Hank Snow, Wilf Carter, Anne Murray, and Rita MacNeil.
Mary Jane Lamond is a Canadian Celtic folk musician who performs traditional Canadian Gaelic folk songs from Cape Breton Island. Her music combines traditional and contemporary material. Lamond is known as the vocalist on Ashley MacIsaac's 1995 hit single "Sleepy Maggie", and for her solo Top 40 hit "Horo Ghoid thu Nighean", the first single from her 1997 album Suas e!. Her 2012 collaboration with fiddler Wendy MacIsaac, Seinn, was named one of the top 10 folk and americana albums of 2012 by National Public Radio in the United States.
Cape Breton fiddling is a regional violin style which falls within the Celtic music idiom. The more predominant style in Cape Breton Island's fiddle music was brought to North America by Scottish immigrants during the Highland Clearances. These Scottish immigrants were primarily from Gaelic-speaking regions in the Scottish Highlands and the Outer Hebrides. Although fiddling has changed considerably since this time in Scotland, it is widely held that the tradition of Scottish fiddle music has been better preserved in Cape Breton. While there is a similar tradition from the Irish-style fiddling, that style is largely overlooked as a result of the strong Scottish presence in the area.
Celtic music is primarily associated with the folk traditions of Ireland, Scotland, Brittany and Wales, as well as the popular styles derived from folk culture. In addition, a number of other areas of the world are known for the use of Celtic musical styles and techniques, including Newfoundland, and much of the folk music of Canada's Maritimes, especially on Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island.
Scottish fiddling may be distinguished from other folk fiddling styles by its particular precision of execution and energy in the delivery, for example, the rendering of the dotted-quaver/semi-quaver rhythmic patterns, commonly used in the Strathspey. Christine Martin, in her Traditional Scottish Fiddling players guide, discusses the techniques of "hack bowing", "the Scotch snap", and "snap bowing". These techniques contrast quite sharply with the most common bowing patterns of Irish fiddling. The style has a very large repertoire consisting of a great variation of rhythms and key signatures. There is also a strong link to the playing of traditional Scottish bagpipes which is better known throughout the world.
Glenn Graham is a Canadian musician, composer, author, and academic from Judique, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.
Donald Angus Beaton (1912–1981) was a Canadian blacksmith and a Cape Breton-style fiddler.
Hugh Alexander “Sandy” MacIntyre (1935–2021) was one of the most respected artists in the tradition of Cape Breton fiddle music.
Canadian fiddle is the aggregate body of tunes, styles and musicians engaging the traditional folk music of Canada on the fiddle. It is an integral extension of the Anglo-Celtic and Québécois French folk music tradition but has distinct features found only in the Western hemisphere.
Rachel Davis is a Canadian fiddler from Baddeck on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.
William Hugh Lamey (1914–1991) was a renowned and influential Cape Breton fiddler. He was a pioneer in recorded performances of the music. As an avid collector of rare tunes, he amassed one of the most comprehensive and valuable collections of written Scottish violin music.
Heather Elaine Rankin is a Canadian singer, songwriter and actor. She is most well known as a member of the multi-platinum selling musical group The Rankin Family.
Lee Cremo was a Mi'kmaq fiddler from Cape Breton Island, Canada.
Còig is a Canadian folk music quartet from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The group consists of Darren McMullen, Rachel Davis, Jason Roach and Chrissy Crowley.
Morgan Toney is a Mi'kmaq folk singer-songwriter and fiddler from Nova Scotia, Canada, whose music blends Celtic folk and traditional Mi'kmaq music. He is a member of the Wagmatcook First Nation.
The Maritime Fiddle Festival is the longest running old-time fiddle contest in Canada. It is also the largest fiddle contest in the region.
