ANDREA BEATON (Cape Breton)
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One of Cape Breton's most promising young fiddlers, Andrea Beaton comes by her music honestly. She's the youngest of generations of Beaton musicians. Her father, Kinnon, is one of today's most influential Cape Breton fiddlers. Her mother, Betty Beaton, is one of the great piano accompanists of her generation. Her paternal grandfather, Donald Angus Beaton, was one of the strongest and most popular players of his generation. Her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Beaton, is a strongly rhythmic piano player, with a great love of the music. Her uncle, Buddy MacMaster, is the most revered fiddler on Cape Breton island. Her cousins Natalie MacMaster, a world famous fiddler, Glenn Graham and Rodney MacDonald are all well-known fiddlers who also carry on the tradition.

And so it goes, back and across the generations. Cape Breton is an extraordinarily musical place, and Andrea is increasingly in the forefront of her generation. Her music is at once her own and deeply rooted in the tradition associated with the Mabou Coal Mines. And, like her father and grandfather, she is a composer in the tradition, adding fine new music to the island's repertoire.

KINNON & BETTY BEATON  (Cape Breton)

Kinnon Beaton was born on March 26, 1956 and has been playing the violin since 1968, a time when some worried that the music might be disappearing. Kinnon grew up in Mabou, N. S., listening to his father Donald Angus (fiddler and composer) and mother (pianist) playing at home as well as playing for dances in the hall across the road. Fiddler and composer Dan R. MacDonald lived behind that hall and frequently visited the Beaton home. Kinnon's good friend, the late John Morris Rankin who was also moved by the same music, also lived nearby.

Kinnon has taught workshops in Cape Breton, the USA and Scotland. He has performed at numerous dances, concerts and festivals throughout Canada, USA, and the UK. He has composed over 700 tunes, published two collection books and released 6 recordings.

Kinnon is almost always accompanied by his wife Betty Beaton, Buddy MacMaster's youngest sister, who began playing piano at age 5. The upright piano arrived in the MacMaster home in the early thirties, shipped to the tiny village of Judique by train, arriving on the Judique Flyer complete with a cardboard chart showing the black and white keys and the names of the notes.

Although Betty had a couple of years of piano training, all of her Cape Breton piano playing is done by ear. At fourteen years of age, she started playing dances with her brother Buddy and has been accompanying fiddlers for dances and concerts ever since. In more recent years, she can often be found accompanying her husband Kinnon Beaton.

SHELLY CAMPBELL (Cape Breton)

Born and raised in West Bay Road, Inverness County, Shelly has been playing traditional Cape Breton music for seventeen years. She was influenced by local fiddlers Stephanie Wills, Theresa MacLellan, Gertie Coffin and Alex Francis MacKay to name a few.

For the past 10 years, Shelly has been playing local concerts, pubs and festivals and is a popular player for dances. She has taught Cape Breton style fiddling in workshops and in private lessons throughout Cape Breton and in Scotland and recently taught at the Ceolas School of Music in South Uist Scotland.

Shelly also has an avid interest in the Gaelic language and its preservation in Cape Breton. She is currently teaching primary school in Whycocomagh, Cape Breton as well as teaching private fiddle lessons. Her playing is powerful, lively and graceful and deeply rooted in the traditions she grew up listening to.

STAN CHAPMAN (Antigonish)

Originally from New Glasgow, N.S., now living in Antigonish, N.S. studied violin under Vera Campbell, and progressed through Toronto Royal Conservatory Violin and Theory exams. His interest in fiddling came from his father and uncle who were both fiddlers. He has been teaching classroom music in the school system in Nova Scotia for 30 years, and has taught Cape Breton Fiddle to many students as well. He has conducted fiddle groups including the Cape Breton Fiddler's Association, and has directed fiddle workshops in the United States and parts of Canada.

ALLAN DEWAR (Antigonish)

Allan's background in the Cape Breton Musical Tradition is the backbone of his ability to accompany any fiddler, past and present. From Carl MacKenzie, Buddy MacMaster, Rodney MacDonald, Howie MacDonald, John Morris Rankin and John Pellerin for dances and Ceilidhs, to the new generation fiddlers such as Troy MacGillivray and Shelly Campbell.

Allan's first 13 years, growing up in Halifax consisted of regular visits from Dave MacIsaac and most anyone who came to the city for a Cape Breton Dance. His musical beginnings were on acoustic guitar, playing for his sister on fiddle and mother on piano. It was the default instrument that wasn't already taken. Around the age of 8, he began to follow along on one of the piano while his mother would play solos or to a tape in the stereo, and was instructed to "do it right if you are going to do it at all". That is all it took for encouragement. There was no formal training of any sort, it was all by ear and by attending every concert, dance and house party he could.

Moving to Antigonish at age 13 was the best thing that could have pushed this interest forward. It was a nerve centre at that time for fiddlers coming to town to take lessons and it was close to Cape Breton. Through this growth of listening and learning, he soon became a regular every summer playing for local dances and "filling in for a set" to give the piano player a break.

Allan has toured all over the world with Jerry Holland and many others and has been a full time member of Natalie MacMaster's band since 2001.

MARION DEWAR (Antigonish)

Marion is from Antigonish, Nova Scotia and has been playing piano for a number of years. Her most recent accompanying assignment has been with Jerry Holland, traveling extensively throughout North America and Europe.

Marion comes from a musical background. Her mother Jean Fraser being an accompanist for many years was a mainstay in Eastern Nova Scotia and developed a reputation for reliable timing. Marion's son, Allan, is a piano accompanist having recorded with Jerry Holland, Dougie MacDonald and Mary Jane Lamond. He has traveled extensively with various musicians and is currently a member of Natalie MacMaster's band. Her daughter Joan plays fiddle and was a former member of the youth fiddlers who performed for the Papal visit to Halifax in 1984.

GLENN GRAHAM (Cape Breton)
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The oldest of four siblings, Glenn was born on April 29, 1974 to Danny and Mary (Beaton) Graham of Judique, Cape Breton. Danny, a well known Gaelic singer, and Mary, an accomplished pianist, always had music in their home, so there was little doubt that Glenn would follow his parents' example. In fact, Glenn sang a Gaelic song with his father in a Glendale concert when he was 7. His first fiddle lesson was from his uncle Kinnon Beaton at age 10,

Glenn has been a force to be reckoned with since he was a teenager, playing for dances when he was just 15 years old. Influenced by the ancient sounds of the "Mabou Coal Mines" fiddle style, Glenn’s roots go deep in the traditional Gaelic music of Cape Breton. Well over four generations of his family have produced more than fifty musicians including fiddlers, piano players, Gaelic singers, pipers, poets/songwriters, composers and dancers.

A Saint Francis Xavier University graduate - B.A. with Honours in Political Science - Glenn has recently completed a thesis on the evolution of Cape Breton fiddling for his Masters in Atlantic Canada Studies at Saint Mary’s University.

IAN MACDOUGALL (Cape Breton)

Ian has become one of the most sought after dance players on the island in recent years. With a style and repertoire that belies his young age, he fills dance halls with those eager for music and dancing. Those who hear him for the first time always comment on how “lively” a player he is and with what ease he is able to bring a dancer to their feet.

He captured this style of playing live on his first recording, From Foot Cape, released during the summer of 2003. As well as being a player in high demand who has performed throughout Canada, the Eastern United States and Scotland, Ian has also become a great teacher in his own right. He has taught at the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts & Crafts in St. Ann's during several of their summer sessions, took part in workshops for the Judique Interpretive Centre and has traveled to Scotland where he taught as the prestigious Ceolas Festival in South Uist. Ian is currently working on a second album due in the summer of 2005

HOWIE MACDONALD (Cape Breton)
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Howie has been a performer as long as he can remember. Whether at a family gathering or an international concert hall, Howie's job was always to entertain. Even while spending many years touring and recording with the Rankin Family, Howie still managed to release nine albums of his own.

Over the past couple of years, Howie has expanded his talents and gained popularity as a comedian. He has appeared in the Cape Breton Summertime Revue, a mainstage showcase for the East Coast Music Awards, Nancy White's Joke Box, Howie's Celtic Brew, The Rise & Follies of Cape Breton: The Second Coming and has most recently reprised his role in Island Mania, a new musical and comedy revue running for its second year at the Savoy Theatre. Howie is an accomplished piano player as well and has accompanied just about everyone on the island.

TROY MACGILLIVRAY (Antigonish)
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Troy MacGillivray's musical prowess can be attributed to an especially rare combination of commitment and bloodline. By the age of six, Troy was already impressing audiences with his step dancing skills. By 13 he was teaching piano at the renowned Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts. He has completed grade seven of the Toronto Conservatory of Music for classical piano, has spent four years in a stringed orchestra and has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in music from St. Francis Xavier University.

Troy's two recordings, Boomerang (2003) and Musical Ties (2001) both received East Coast Music Award nominations as well as Music Industry Association of Nova Scotia nominations.

Troy's bloodline is equally as impressive. The Lanark MacGillivrays and MacDonalds have been proprietors of the Gaelic tradition in North Eastern Nova Scotia for generations. Troy's grandfather, Hugh A. MacDonald, is a member of the Nova Scotia Country Hall of Fame - an honour bestowed for his contribution to the Gaelic culture of Nova Scotia. Troy's parents, Tony and Janice, are both talented musicians. His sister, Kendra, is a two time East Coast Music Award winning Celtic fiddler. And, his sister Sabra, is an accomplished dancer and percussionist.

KENDRA MACGILLIVRAY (Antigonish/PEI)
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Kendra won the ECMA "Female Artist of the Year" and "Instrumental Artist of the Year" awards in 2002. She has performed at festivals & events around the world, from a square dance or Scottish concert in Cape Breton to a main stage performance at the Glengarry Highland Games or Harrison Festival of the Arts or to a corporate event in Japan or Barbados, Kendra plays the music of her Scottish ancestors with energy and passion.

Kendra has performed with Philip Glass & Friends in concert at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Symphony Nova Scotia in the "Maritime Pops Series", Atlantic Scene Festival in Ottawa, Villa Montalvo in California and was a featured performer in DRUM!, the musical in Halifax. She was also featured in a CBS movie called, "Heart of a Stranger",
starring Jane Seymour and presented awards on the 2003 East Coast Music
Awards, a CBC production and the 2002 MIANS Music Awards.

She was also awarded the "Young Alumna of the Year" from her alma mater, St.Francis Xavier University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1995.  Originally from lanark, Antigonish County, Kendra n ow resides in Charlottetown, PEI with her husband Bruce Rainnie.

CARL MACKENZIE

Carl MacKenzie is a regular performer at dances, concerts and workshops across Cape Breton and has also performed throughout Canada, Ireland, Scotland and the United States. A traditional fiddler from Washabuck, Victoria County, Cape Breton, Carl has composed over fifty tunes.

His vast repertoire, which he prefers to learn from books, is expressive of the musical magic and soul that sets him apart from so many other musicians. Carl's tenth album, It’s A Corker!, was released in 2003, followed by “Highland Classic”, which was released in 2007.

MAC MORIN (Cape Breton)
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Mac Morin: Dancer, Piano & Keyboard player, is a talented Troy, Cape Breton native whose ancestors were noted Cape Breton step dancers for several generations. After two years on the road as Piano player with Natalie MacMaster’s band, touring all over the world and sharing the stage with such artists as the Chieftains and Mark O'Connor, Mac has since toured with Howie MacDonald’s 'Celtic Brew' and 'Rise & Follies of Cape Breton' shows.

Mac is also kept busy supplying accompaniment for fiddlers such as Ian MacDougall, the Rankin Sisters, Andrea Beaton, Rodney MacDonald, Glenn Graham, Howie MacDonald, Troy MacGillivray, Shelly Campbell, and Buddy MacMaster to name just a few.

Mac is also a full-time member of the energetic Cape Breton band 'Beolach' which features fiddlers Wendy MacIsaac and Mairi Rankin, Guitarist Patrick Gillis, and Piper Ryan J. MacNeil.