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Dan R. MacDonald | |
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| Born | Dan Rory MacDonald (1911-02-02)February 2, 1911 Port Hood, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Died | September 20, 1976(1976-09-20) (aged 65) |
| Occupation | Fiddler |
| Instrument | Violin |
Dan Rory MacDonald (February 2, 1911 – September 20, 1976) was a Canadian fiddler[1] who lived in Cape Breton. He is notable for his composition of manyfiddle tunes.[2][3]
MacDonald was born to Johnny "the Carpenter" MacDonald (Johnny “Ghilleasbuig Iain” of Glencoe Road, a noted fiddler) and Jessie O'Hanley in southwest Port Hood, at the home of Angus "the Carpenter" MacDonald (brother of Johnny). MacDonald was raised inJudique,Inverness County onCape Breton Island. Known as "Dan R.", he was encouraged by his father to study music at an early age. His father took him to the home of Hugh A. O’Hanley in Judique South in 1921, where Angus A. MacDougall and Allan MacDougall would go to play the fiddle. Hugh O'Hanley gave Dan R. a violin which had belonged to Hugh's brother and Dan R.'s grandfather, Allan O’Hanley. In 1930, MacDonald went to Glendale and learned to read music from John Willie MacEachern.
MacDonald made his first radio appearance in 1935 on radio stationCJCB inSydney. The next year he composed his first tune, areel calledThe Red Shoes. He made his first recording in 1939, including one of his own compositions calledLassies of Campbell Street. MacDonald enlisted in the army in 1940, and served inBritain,France,Germany, andBelgium. He regularly played on theBBC while stationed atAbergeldie Castle inScotland. He also met and was taught byJ. Murdoch Henderson, a Scottish composer and music critic. During his time in Scotland MacDonald composedHeather Hill.
After his discharge in 1946, MacDonald briefly moved toBoston, and then toHamilton, Ontario, followed by eleven years inWindsor working in the automotive plants. He later became part of the group, The Five MacDonald Fiddlers, organized by a fiddler named Johnnie Archie MacDonald. The group recorded twoLPs.
In 1957, MacDonald left Windsor and moved to the mining town ofElliot Lake. However, he soon had to give up his job due to failing eyesight, and he moved back to Nova Scotia in 1959. He first settled in Sydney, where he recorded four LPs for Rodeo Records. He spent his remaining years living in various parts of Cape Breton. During the 1970s, he became a regular performer on theCBC Television programCeilidh. MacDonald was a fluent speaker ofScottish Gaelic and was recorded playing and discussing his music in his native language, for Scotland'sBBC Radio nan Gàidheal in 1972. He made his final public performance in July 1976, at a concert at Broad Cove. He died on September 20, 1976, atInverness, Nova Scotia.
MacDonald estimated in the early 1970s that he had written over two thousand tunes which other musicians have recorded. In addition to the ones already mentioned, MacDonald wroteLime Hill,Tom Rae,The Boys of the Lake,The Trip to Windsor, andReichwall Forest. Two published volumes of his compositions exist:The Heather Hill Collection andThe Trip To Windsor Collection.[citation needed]
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