Canadian fiddler Dan MacDonald will showcase the Cape Breton fiddle style at the 4th Annual World Fiddle Day that will take place on Saturday, May 21st at Historic Fort York, in Toronto. MacDonald and other special guests will lead morning workshops, play an afternoon concert, followed by the giant community “Around-the-World” Fiddle Jam. All activities from noon on free.

Dan MacDonald is from a family of musicians from the small village of Ironville, Cape Breton and began playing fiddle at a very early age. His fiddle education came mostly from his father, Lloyd MacDonald, and from the surrounding musical culture of Cape Breton Island. In the late 1980s, MacDonald, and his family formed Scumalash, a traditional Cape Breton band, with whom he toured throughout the United Kingdom between 1988 and 1992, culminating in the release of a self-titled album. Scumalash recently returned from a reunion tour of England.

Dan moved to Toronto in 2003, where he became a co-host at the Irish music session at Dora Keogh Irish pub and later became a member of the traditional Irish group Spraoi, who performed at the Tranzac Club, Hugh’s Room and the Brampton Folk Festival. In 2006, MacDonald became music director of The Magic of Ireland, an Irish dance and music show, with which he toured the UK, Canada, the USA and Europe.

An active freelance performer and teacher, MacDonald currently plays with North Atlantic Drift, with Brian Tahaney and Ross Grifithes, with whom he has released two CDs.

For more information go to www.worldfiddleday.ca