About Us

Cape Breton Live is a free internet radio show with the purpose of promoting Cape Breton style music, it's musicians and culture worldwide.Our website at www.capebretonlive.com features close to 50 free shows available for streaming. Recorded at house parties, concerts and pubs, the shows highlight the traditional music of Canada's East Coast.

We feature some of Cape Breton's best fiddlers, piano players, pipers, singers and more. Some you will have heard of and others you may not have heard of, but all embrace the culture and 'drive' that this music is known for.

The online radio show was conceived by Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, who brought Cheryl Smith on board to produce the recorded shows. 

THE CAPE BRETON LIVE CREW:

Producer:
Cheryl Smith, OutFront Productions Inc.
www.outfrontproductions.com

Recording Engineers:
Allan Dewar, Celtic Music Interpretive Centre
Troy MacGillivray, Trolleymac Music

Cape Breton Live On Tour Bookings:
Cheryl Smith, OutFront Productions Inc.
bookings@capebretonlive.com
www.capebretonlive.com/tour

Original Press Release, August 2005:

Welcome to Cape Breton Live Radio, where we broadcast a new show recorded live from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia each week. We feature some of Cape Breton's best fiddlers, piano players, pipers, singers and more. Some you will have heard of and others you may not have heard of, but all embrace the culture and 'drive' that this music is known for.

Cape Breton Island has lured visitors to her shores for thousands of years. Around every bend, Cape Breton Island offers stunning vistas of rugged coastline, bays and inlets, verdant hills and rolling farmlands. It is an amazing place, where the sand and sea air have joined forces with the enchantment of it’s history to create an indescribable atmosphere.

Scottish traditions and Gaelic folklore come alive here, a place filled with music and warm hearted people. Large numbers of Scottish immigrants settled here between the 1780s and 1820s, along with Irish, Mi’kmaq and Acadians. They brought with them their Gaelic language and their passionate love of music.

"We are aware of the strong attraction of Cape Breton music and culture to people, as we are constantly being told by the fans who frequent our shows,” says Producer Natalie MacMaster. "It excites people and stays with them long after they leave. So, we thought, if you can’t get here in person, join us on the Web."

MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, the lead fiddle player of Leahy, were married in 2002 and are together launching the Cape Breton Live project as a platform for the musical community they belong to and from which they draw inspiration. With the help of Executive Producer Cheryl Smith and showhost Shane MacDougall, they aim to bring Cape Breton music to a wider audience through the web.

"It is an effort to share the music and culture of Cape Breton with the rest of the world," says Leahy, "and our hope is that the beauty that lives here will be felt through this program."

If you are not fortunate enough to be here in person to experience a Cape Breton Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee. Gaelic for party or gathering), we hope this show will give you a feel for what Cape Breton music is all about.

So sit back, turn up the speakers and enjoy the tunes...