By Rosemary Ford
Staff Writer

You want to know what famed fiddler Natalie MacMaster is playing at her upcoming “Christmas in Cape Breton” shows?

Too bad. She’s not telling.

“I normally don’t like to talk about it,” said MacMaster in an interview in advance of two shows at The Music Hall in Portsmouth.

“I like it to be a surprise.”

MacMaster is a bit beyond laying out her playlist to entice people to come to her show. The performer with gold albums and a recent Grammy nomination to her credit sells out shows on her name alone.

MacMaster’s professional career began at age 16, nearly 20 years ago. She grew up in a musical household, where Celtic music was always on the record player.

“I started to fiddle because I grew up in a fiddle-friendly household,” she said. “My mother always had fiddles playing on the record player. The community I grew up in had a lot of fiddle concerts. It was all around. I loved it.”

She got her first instrument from a relative as a gift. And in the years that follow, MacMaster didn’t exactly have trouble figuring out how to make a living as a musician. She had a blueprint for success from her uncle, acclaimed fiddler Buddy MacMaster.

“I have never been hungry, so to speak, for stardom or fame,” she said.

“I am very much a  believer of work hard, practice hard but let life unfold as it will naturally. That is not to say that I am one to say that I am completely carefree and don’t give a thought to the next day. It has unfolded very naturally.”

While her main focus has been the traditional Celtic music she grew up with in Cape Breton, a community with roots in Scotland and Ireland in Nova Scotia, MacMaster also has wowed with her ability to bring different flavors and influences into Celtic music.

“I love all kinds of music, any kind of music,” she said. “As long as it is well played, I enjoyed it. I grew up with pop, rock, heavy metal.”

From her collaborations with a flamenco guitarists to classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma, MacMaster has become known as an innovator. She has created interesting spins on traditional Celtic music, with the likes of banjo prodigy Béla Fleck, fellow fiddling marvel Alison Krauss, and electrifying superstar guitarist Carlos Santana.

While her list of cohorts reads like a who’s who of serious musicians, MacMaster isn’t wound up in the ins and outs of the music industry. When the Grammy nominations were announced earlier this month, she didn’t even know it was that time of year, let alone that she was part of a Grammy-nominated project (Ma’s holiday CD, “Songs of Joy and Peace”).

“I didn’t expect it,” she said. “I don’t think like that.”

Still, it’s the Celtic classics that are her favorite and she plans to pepper those in along with holiday favorites at her concerts in Portsmouth.

“It’s more of a Christmas show than I have ever done in the past,” she said.

“Lots of dancing, lots of Christmas music, there’s a local choir guesting, a couple of real tender moments where my mother speaks to the audience.”

She said her holiday shows help get her in the Christmas spirit and ready to celebrate with her family back home. She’s been traveling with her two young daughters — ages 4 and 10 months. Her husband, fiddler Donnell Leahy, has been performing and traveling with her 2-year-old son.

“I am a Christmas girl,” she said. “I think it is the best time of year. I will be baking and loving up my family.”

When the holidays are over, MacMaster will get back to work on her latest album which will feature traditional Celtic music — her first in eight years.

The album should be available by March or April.

“It’s such a pure, honest music. It doesn’t come from wealth and popularity,” she said. “It comes from tradition and family. Therefore it has longevity. I don’t think it will ever stop being appealing to people of all walks of life.”

About the artist
Born June 13, 1972 to parents Alex and Minnie MacMaster in Troy, Inverness County, Nova Scotia,
Showed her fiddling prowess at age 9 at concert in Glendale, Cape Breton.
Delivered her first album, “Four On The Floor,” at 16.
Grammy-nominated for “My Roots Are Showing,” “Blueprint” and “Yours Truly.”
Holds a Bachelor of Education degree from Nova Scotia Teacher’s College.
Performed with The Chieftains, Paul Simon, Faith Hill and Luciano Pavarotti, among others.

If you go:
What: Natalie MacMaster, “Christmas in Cape Breton.”
When: Sunday, Dec. 20, at 2 and 7 p.m.
Where: The Music Hall, 104 Congress St., Portsmouth.
How: Tickets are $34 and $43, available at The Music Hall box office, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, by calling 603-436-2400, or visiting www.themusichall.org.