The last train left the station long ago. But The Judique Flyer, better known
today as master Cape Breton fiddler Buddy MacMaster, is still making regular
stops. At the age of 76 MacMaster, who was recently named a member of the Order of
Canada, continues to fly (though not by train these days), down a track that
takes him from his home just by the church in Judique as you head to Inverness
on Route 19, all the way to Scotland, the Yukon, Montana, Halifax and stops
between. Yet, when home, he has a reputation for not being able to turn down a request to
play at a party or wedding. He still plays weekly dances in Cape Breton, and
when he does, according to guitarist, friend and musical collaborator Dave
MacIsaac, the fiddlers in town take all the front row seats. "He's got it all - tone, timing, phrasing, expression, dynamics, choice of
tunes. He's almost the perfect fiddler. And he's had it all for a long time. My
father, who was also a fiddler, heard him at 18. Buddy was Buddy at 18 years
old," MacIsaac says. MacIsaac accompanies MacMaster on two tracks on MacMaster's new CD, The Judique
Flyer, which, incredibly, given his stature in the world, is only his second
recording, following 1989's Judique on the Floor, (although amateur tapes made
at dances do show up from time to time). The CD, officially released last Sunday afternoon in the Judique Community
Centre, features MacMaster playing 14 of his choicest medleys with 14 different
accompanists, all, with the exception of MacIsaac, pianists. "It was (executive producer) Stephen MacDonald's idea," MacMaster said over the
phone from Judique earlier this week where I caught him between his mid-morning
tea and getting in the car for a trip to Port Hawkesbury. "I thought it would be a pretty good idea. All are accomplished players. A good
accompanist has to have good timing - to be right with you - and a good touch.
They all have different touches - I can hear the difference." "When you have good accompaniment, it's easier to play - it puts you in the
mood." The list of pianists on the CD is a roll-call of some of Cape Breton's best
known players: Joey Beaton, Betty Lou Beaton, Tracey Dares, Marie MacLellan,
Maybelle Chisholm MacQueen, Dave MacIsaac, Joel Chiasson, Jackie Dunn, Mac
Morin, Hilda Chaisson, Mary Jessie MacDonald, Howie MacDonald, Doug MacPhee and
Mary Elizabeth MacInnis. Listening closely to The Judique Flyer is a rich experience. Each accompanist
throws a subtly different light on MacMaster's playing, making you even more
aware of the inspiring lilt of his phrasing, his rock-solid "timing", and the
wealth of subtly-integrated graces that make his sound and rhythm sparkle. His combination of tunes in the 14 medleys is typically superb. "He's got great
taste in putting medleys of tunes together," MacIsaac says. "Some tunes are
good to come out of a strathspey, others not. A lot of Buddy's medleys have
become standard medleys." As with all great players, the origin of their excellence is a mystery.
MacMaster learned to play from listening to his mother lilt Gaelic tunes and
hearing Gaelic in his house as he was growing up. "I don't speak Gaelic, but I have a Gaelic accent from listening to Gaelic
speakers," MacMaster says. "There is a debate about the effect (of the Gaelic)
on fiddling. I think it does have an effect. Some people in Cape Breton say the
word 'community' with a drawl on the 'u'. That's the Gaelic influence." Perhaps that drawl finds its way into the way MacMaster plays certain melody
notes in a tune, dwelling ever so slightly on the note before lifting off it. It's a style he developed playing for community dances and through years of
practice. As railway telegrapher, station agent and a variety of other
positions for 45 years working for Canadian National Railways, MacMaster would
often find himself alone in a station with time on his hands. He used it to
play the violin. He sometimes played for waiting passengers, and occasionally when the tracks
were clear, according to Paul MacDonald's excellent liner notes on The Judique
Flyer CD, other station agents would phone in their good-nights and sometimes
ask Buddy to play a tune. Still more agents would patch in. "Buddy's nightly
serenades were eagerly anticipated at depots throughout the Maritimes,"
MacDonald writes. "I did some playing in country stations," MacMaster, who retired in 1988,
recalls. "Sometimes after midnight, when the line was clear. I used to hear the
telegraph wire going, and I would pick up a bit of news from the dispatchers.
I'd hear what was going on all the time." MacMaster didn't learn to read music till he was 23, a good eight years after he
began playing for dances. He was working in Antigonish at the time and picked
up an instruction book in a bookstore. While many of the vast number of tunes in his repertoire (it covers three
centuries of music according to Paul MacDonald), were learned through listening
to other players, he applied his new reading skill to learning tunes from
books. MacIsaac says that when Buddy learns a tune from a book he pretty well plays it
as it was written, a quality that shows up in the exquisite correctness of his
playing, which is strongly projected by the attention he gives to every note. Though retired, MacMaster says he's not bored. At home he gets up, has his
breakfast, says a few prayers, reads the paper. "Sometimes I go to the violin -
go through a few tunes." This summer has been extremely busy. He's been to Utah for a week of workshops,
Halifax for Scotia Festival of Music, Edmonton, Montana, the Yukon, and
Scotland for three weeks. "The next morning (after Scotland)," he says, "I was teaching at the Ceilidh
Trail School of Music (in Broad Cove, Inverness County). Sunday afternoon there
was the CD release. Right now I have to go to Port Hawkesbury to get some grub.
This afternoon there's a party in Inverness. I'm playing for the rest of the
week." "I got a lot of miles on me," he adds. "Like an old car." The CD release party last Sunday was crowded. MacIsaac went along to accompany
MacMaster on some tunes. When not accompanying, he says, "I just sat back and
watched Buddy's bow - those little grace notes he puts in - very tasty." "He just has the magic touch. You take a tune like Miss MacLeod's Reel, which
has been played to death. He just puts the Buddy to it."
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