Buddy MacMaster

Hugh Alan "Buddy" MacMaster (October 18, 1924 – August 20, 2014) 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.

Early life MacMaster was born in 1924 into a Gaelic-speaking home in Timmins, Ontario to John Duncan MacMaster and Sarah Agnes MacDonald MacMaster. The family was originally from Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, and in 1928 they returned to Cape Breton to settle in the town of Judique. MacMaster's father played the fiddle, but his mother sang to him from birth, lilting with a Gaelic inflection peculiar to the area. At an early age, MacMaster began to play the fiddle. At age 12, he had his first public performance at an amateur hour in Port Hood, Nova Scotia, and at age 14 he played his first professional gig at a square dance in the nearby town of Troy.

Career MacMaster continued to play nights at square dances across Nova Scotia, He continued to play music of mainly Scottish origin, supplemented with traditional Cape Breton and Nova Scotia tunes, and gained an international reputation, touring in Europe and the United States. He was one of the first Cape Breton fiddlers to be asked to teach in Scotland.

In 2005 he recorded an album with his niece, fiddler Natalie MacMaster.

Awards MacMaster was awarded an honorary doctorate from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish in 1995,

Personal life MacMaster married Marie Beaton in 1968. They had two children, Mary Elizabeth MacMaster MacInnis (also a musician) and Allan Gerard MacMaster. MacMaster's youngest sister, Betty Lou Beaton, is one of Cape Breton's finest pianists and is married to well-known fiddler and composer Kinnon Beaton. He is also the uncle of Natalie MacMaster, another Cape Breton fiddler who has toured extensively and gained an international following and a distant cousin of American musician and record producer Jack White whose paternal grandparents were from Antigonish and Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia.

His son, Allan, was elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in October 2009, representing the electoral district of Inverness as a Progressive Conservative.

Death MacMaster died at his home in Judique, Nova Scotia on August 20, 2014. He was 89.

Discography Judique on the Floor (1989) Glencoe Hall (1991) The Judique Flyer (2000) Cape Breton Tradition (2003) Traditional Music from Cape Breton Island (2005) with Natalie MacMaster

He has also released a video, Buddy MacMaster, Master of the Cape Breton Fiddle.