Bio & Publicity Photos
courtesy ofWendy MacIsaac's Website |
Throughout high school, Wendy was kept busy with her talents; not only with fiddle and dancing but as a solo pianist and accompanyist. She belonged to the group known as the "Special 7" comprised of Wendy, Natalie MacMaster, Ashley MacIsaac, Rodney MacDonald, Jackie Dunn, Stephanie Wills, and the Warner sisters (Melody and Kelly). After she graduated, Wendy began working on projects of her own, releasing her first CD The Reel Thing in 1994. She has been a member of the Summertime Review and has toured with Breakin' Tradition, Ashley MacIsaac, and is currently touring with Mary Jane Lamond. She has traveled the globe from North America to Italy, and across to Ireland. During all of this touring, Wendy still managed to record her second CD That's What You Get (1996). She has taught at home and has done workshops all over North America in all three disciplines, fiddle, piano, and stepdancing. She has also recorded with Mary Jane Lamond and with the Chieftains in ‘97 and played and appeared in Mary Jane's first video, Stepping Song. Working along side Mary Jane, Wendy took part in the Lilith Fair tour, opened for the Chieftains on their Canadian tour, opened for Capercaille for their UK tour, performed two years in a row at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow (Scotland), and three years in a row at the Irish Arts Foundation festival in San Francisco. From: The East Coast Ceilidh (By John R. Zinck) Wendy MacIsaac is following in the footsteps of many who came before her. She is one of the best young fiddlers to emerge from Cape Breton, and is right along-side her friend and fellow performer, Natalie MacMaster, and cousin, Ashley MacIsaac. This Creignish talent started her formal training at the age of twelve with lessons from teaching great, Stan Chapman. Before that she learned stepdancing and was already a veteran stepper by the time she picked up the fiddle. In her teens, she began performing with The Nova Scotia Youth Fiddlers under her instructor's direction and played a highlight performance with them in 1994 for the Pope John Paul. She began playing local dances and made trips to Boston, Detroit, and Toronto, entertaining lovers of the Scottish culture. For some time she was also part of "The Special Seven," which included the now world renowned talents of Natalie, Ashley, and Jackie Dunn. She also had the opportunity to return to her ancestral homeland, performing in Scotland in the fall of 1995. She has toured and performed with The Cape Breton Summertime Revue, The Rankins, The Barra MacNeils, and John Allan Cameron. Her talents are continually sought after as a musician and performer. Wendy began touring and playing with Mary Jane Lamond in support of her Suas e! album and is featured in Mary Jane's video for "Horo Ghoid Thu Nighean (Stepping Song)." Still in her early twenties, she released her debut album, The Reel Thing, in 1994, and then her second titled That's What You Get, in 1996. The album features twelve tracks, and with help from fellow traditionalists Ashley MacIsaac, Gordie Sampson, and Dave MacIsaac (to name just a few), it creates that down-home Cape Breton feel from start to finish. In 2003, Wendy released her long-awaited third CD, "Timeline." Wendy has received much attention from the traditionalists in Cape Breton, and those who enjoy the old style of fiddle playing. Showing dedication in what she does, Wendy MacIsaac has a long, prosperous career ahead of her. Wendy is also part of the new Celtic trad band called
"Beolach." |
Hi Wendy, You sound like you've been performing your whole life. What got you started in playing the fiddle, step-dancing and playing the piano? Who were your teachers? My mother Geraldine used to teach stepdancing with Natalie MacMaster's mom Minnie and I used to go and watch the lessons. Eventually I picked it up. When I was 12, I took fiddle lessons (with my cousin Ashley) from Stan Chapman in Antigonish every Friday night. Then when I was about 14, I became interested in the piano and my friend and fellow fiddle player, Stephanie Wills showed me the basics of chording. I picked the rest up on my own. For someone who is new to your music, how would you describe it? Do you play only the Cape Breton style or other styles as well? The Cape Breton style of music has always had an amazing drive to it and I think that the reason for this is because of the dancing. Almost all fiddlers in Cape Breton would have grown up playing for dances and you need to try to pay attention to the dancers trying not to play to fast or slow. When you hear the dancers feet, you get more energy and drive in your playing. I basically play only Cape Breton style. We sometimes throw an Irish tune in here and there. Do you have any other musicians in your family? Are your parents musical? Siblings? My father's father, Willie A MacIsaac played the fiddle, and my mother's mother, Hughena (MacDonald) Campbell, was a great dancer. Her family was known as The White Miller's and they were all known to be great dancers. My mom was and still is a good dancer. All of my family has music in them, my brother Stephen can play the fiddle a little and the guitar. And then of course there's my cousins Ashley and Lisa. You tour with bands (Mary Jane Lamond & Beolach) as well as solo. Do you have a preference over touring solo or by yourself? Have you done much playing on your own outside of the Maritimes? I enjoy touring with Mary Jane Lamond and Beolach very much. I also like the solo thing shows. You can play what ever you want at those performances. I have done some solo shows in Scotland, San Francisco, Detroit, Boston and different parts of Maine to name a few. In the early 90's the popularity of Cape Breton fiddling was on the rise. You teach at various camps around Cape Breton, the Maritimes, the United States and in Europe. Do you find that there is still a great amount of interest in young people wanting to pick up the fiddle these days and learn the Cape Breton style? I think that there is defiantly still a demand from the young people to learn Cape Breton style fiddling, piano, and stepdancing. Maybe even more than in the early 90's. This summer has seen Beolach, Cape Breton's super group, made up of some of the finest musicians in Cape Breton, touring quite a bit in Canada and the US. How has the response been to this group around the world, as you've toured parts of Canada, the US and Europe? We have had an incredible response at all of the shows we have done so far. Everyone seems to love the big sound we get out of having a six piece band and having three of us step dance during the show. The tour we just finished in August of the West coast of Canada and the US was just great. The audiences were fabulous.
I think I will stick with the traditional style for the most part, especially for my solo recordings. I love Cape Breton traditional music. One of my favorite tracks on the CD is the last one "Stephanie and Jackie." It sounds like it was such fun to record, judging from the energy on it. What was that day in the studio like? The cut with Stephanie and Jackie was a blast. We hadn't rehearsed for it and just went in, played it a couple of times through and then recorded it. I have been playing with the girls for close to twenty years now so I was looking forward to doing this number. Do you have a favorite track on the CD? I think my favorite cut is Hughena's March. Number 2. The strathspeys on it are some of my favorites. There are a couple old recordings on this CD featuring your grandfather and grandmother and even you when you were younger. Tell us about the source of these tracks. My grandparents had an old reel to reel player at the house in Glencoe and I decided to use a couple of clips from the tapes. When reel to reel players first came out, it was such a novelty and everyone would take turns fooling around with them, recording themselves singing or whistling a tune or whatever. This is what I included on my cd. My grandfather was messing around recording himself singing and playing the jaw harp and same with my grandmother and mother. It was my grandfather who had me sitting up on the table jigging tunes when I was recorded at age three. My grandfather passed away in 1996 and everyone who knew him and who has heard my cd says they love the cut of him and press repeat to hear it over and over. It's just alot of fun. What's on the agenda for the coming months for you? Just staying around Cape Breton performing? I have been busy playing in Cape Breton since the second week in August and we(Beolach) will be busy in September playing for some conferences in Halifax and also a trip down to Maine and to St. John's, Newfoundland. Then we are into Celtic Colors where we are usually quite busy. Who are some of your musical influences? John Morris Rankin was a big influence of mine as well as Willie Kennedy, Angus Chisholm, Arthur Muise. What do you enjoy to do when you're off the road? I usually try to get in as many visits with my grandmother who is now 92. I like to keep in touch with my friends and I like to cook. I sometimes miss that when I'm away, but thankfully I love to eat out too!!
Lillith Fair, playing in Brazil for a world music festival, touring the UK with Capercaillie, touring with the Chieftains (all with Mary Jane Lamond), playing for the Pope in Halifax in 1984, playing with amazing musicians over the years. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? Hopefully doing the same thing on a bigger level. Being able to make a living out of being a Cape Breton traditional musician. Is there a place that you have yet to tour that you would like to visit? We're hoping to tour a bit in Australia in 2005. Maybe Europe again, Ireland, Italy, France and Switzerland, would be cool. What's your favorite movie / tv show? I'd say that The Lord of the Rings(The Fellowship of the Ring) is up there with one of my favorite movies and I like CSI. I don't watch much TV. Who are your favorite musicians? I like so many fiddlers but outside of that I am a fan of Sting, Eric Clapton, Juliana Hatfield, Norah Jones, Shawn Colvin (who I met on the Lillith Fair tour) and some local bands like Mir and Crush. If you could perform with anyone in the world, who would it be and why? I'd say it would be too hard to pick just one person. I really like what Sting does musically though. I think my favorite performance otherwise would be on Saturday Night Live as a member of the cast doing the skits. That would be fun! Best of luck with your career in the months and years to come! Wendy MacIsaac
October
November
For more info on Wendy MacIsaac and/or to purchase her CD's, check out her website at http://www.islandviewcreations.com/wendymacisaac or http://www.wendymacisaac.com Fan Mail: wendy@beolach.com Booking Information: Wendy MacIsaac, Box 9662, Port Hastings, NS, B9A 3R7, Canada If you're interested in more Canadian Celtic Music, visit Kimberley's Canadian Celtic Music Website. |
For your chance to win this prize, email your answer in to the following question: "What two instruments does Wendy MacIsaac play? The deadline to enter is September 30, 2003. Good luck! |
Wendy MacIsaac was born to Donald and
Geraldine MacIsaac. She and her three younger brothers grew up in Creignish, Cape Breton.
Her mom, who often taught others to dance, started Wendy dancing with a few steps around
the age of five. Soon, Wendy was driving tractors and ski doos and dancing in the concerts
in Creignish. Wendy was content with this until she had to play her friend's fiddle in a
grade 5 Christmas Concert. It was then that she became curious and wanted to play the
fiddle. For the next three years, she was a student of Stan Chapman, from Antigonish. 
Thanks for
allowing us to do an interview with you for The Canadian Celtic Music Website Spotlight.
You have just
released your third CD "Timeline" which has been a long time coming. This is a
mostly-traditional CD which is what your others are as well. Is this the style you're most
comfortable with or might you do a contemporary CD one day?
What have been some of the highlights of your career so far?
September
Thanks
to Wendy MacIsaac, we have a copy of her new CD "Timeline" to give away to 1
lucky winner.