Release: Natalie MacMaster and "Catharsis"

Natalie MacMaster plays today's random tune, called Catharsis. A fiddler from Novia Scotia, Canada who plays music steeped in the roots of traditional Cape Breton music, Natalie MacMaster comes from a musical pedigree which includes her uncle Buddy MacMaster and cousin Ashley MacIsaac, as well as a distant familial relationship with Jack White. She began playing fiddle at age nine and by sixteen she had released her first album. Originally concentrating only on Cape Breton music, she has expanded her repertoire to include music from Scotland, Ireland and American bluegrass. She has been named a member of the Order of Canada, has won many awards for her music, and has collaborated and toured with musicians such as The Chieftains, Faith Hill, Carlos Santana, Alison Krauss and Yo-Yo Ma. You can find Catharsis on her 1997 album No Boundaries, and on the various artists compilation Putumayo Presents: Celtic Tides.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalie_MacMaster

As the Black Mill Turns: Ashley MacIsaac with Mary Jane Lamond and "Sleepy Maggie"

Juno Award winning and platinum-selling fiddler Ashley MacIsaac, accompanied by singer Mary Jane Lamond, brings us the random tune today called Sleepy Maggie. A Canadian artist from Cape Breton, Ashley MacIsaac is from a family of fiddlers - his sisters are all touring fiddlers and his cousin is Canadian fiddler Natalie MacMaster. In addition to his music, he is known as an openly gay musician, his struggle with addiction to crack cocaine in the late 1990s, and occasionally eccentric behavior. He has indicated a recent desire to enter Canadian politics. Sleepy Maggie is sung in Scots Gaelic by Mary Jane Lamond, a Canadian Celtic folk musician who presents traditional Celtic tunes in contemporary musical styles. Her vocals on this song first brought her to widespread public attention. You can find Sleepy Maggie on MacIsaac's 1995 album Hi™ How Are You Today? and on the 1998 compilation CD Putumayo Presents: Celtic Tides.