Artist:Mary Jane Lamond
Song:Seinn O
Album:Suas e!
Mary Jane Lamond is the current standard bearer of the Celtic music of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. She performs traditional music in Gaelic sometimes with electric instruments. She was born in 1960 in Kingston, ON. During childhood her family moved a lot between Ontario and Quebec. But her parents were from Nova Scotia and she learned about Celtic music while visiting her grandparents in Cape Breton. After graduating from high school in Montreal, Mary Jane studied Celtic Studies at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, NS. She studied the school's collection of 350 field recordings of traditional Gaelic songs. She recorded and self released the 1994 album Bho Thir Nan Craobh. Fiddler Ashley MacIsaac played on that album. She appeared on MacIsaac's 1995 album Hi How Are You Today?. When the single Sleepy Maggie featuring Mary Jane's vocals became a hit in dance clubs, Mary Jane got a record deal with Wicklow Records. The 1997 album Suas e! was nominated for a Juno. The album is all traditional songs sung in Gaelic. Most of the album was produced by Mary Jane's singer cousin Laurel MacDonald and her producer Philip Strong. Ashley MacIsaac makes a guest appearance and jazz guitarist Rob Piltch and Blue Rodeo pianist James Gray are among the musicians who appear on the album. Mary Jane last recorded in 2012. She currently tours with her cousin Laurel MacDonald and special guests performing traditional Acadian songs. Here's Mary Jane Lamond with Heather Rankin and Alyth McCormack performing Seinn O on the 1999 CBC TV special Celtic Electric.
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