Mary Jane Lamond is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

Celtic folk musician who performs traditional

Canadian Gaelic Canadian Gaelic or Cape Breton Gaelic (, or ), often known in Canadian English simply as Gaelic, is a collective term for the dialects of Scottish Gaelic spoken in Atlantic Canada. Scottish Gaels were settled in Nova Scotia from 1773, with the ...

folk songs from

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...

. Her music combines traditional and contemporary material. Lamond is the vocalist on

Ashley MacIsaac Ashley Dwayne MacIsaac (born February 24, 1975) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter and actor from Cape Breton Island. He has received three Juno Awards, winning for Best New Solo Artist and Best Roots & Traditional Album – Solo at th ...

's 1995 hit single "Sleepy Maggie", and had a solo Top 40 hit with "Horo Ghoid thu Nighean", the first single from her 1997 album ''Suas e!''. Her 2012 collaboration with fiddler Wendy MacIsaac, ''Seinn,'' was named one of the top 10 folk and americana albums of 2012 by National Public Radio in the United States.

Early life and education

Born in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...

, the youngest of five children, Lamond moved a number of times during her childhood, to a series of cities and towns in Ontario and Quebec. Her parents were both originally from Nova Scotia, however, and she often visited her father's parents in

Cape Breton Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...

during her summer vacations. There she was first exposed to Celtic culture in general and to Scottish Gaelic music and the Scottish Gaelic language in particular. Lamond graduated from

Westmount High School Westmount High School () is a public co-educational anglophone secondary school located in Westmount, Quebec, Canada, located near Alexis Nihon Complex Shopping Mall. Westmount High is Quebec's first and only public school to offer Advanced ...

in Montreal, and then returned to Nova Scotia to enroll in the Celtic Studies program at

St. Francis Xavier University St. Francis Xavier University is a public undergraduate liberal arts university located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a member of the Maple League, a group of primarily undergraduate universities in Eastern Canada. History St. Fran ...

, where she studied the school's collection of 350 field recordings of traditional Scots-Gaelic songs. She graduated with a minor in Music at

Antigonish, Nova Scotia Antigonish ( ; ) is a town in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The town is home to St. Francis Xavier University and the oldest continuous Highland games outside Scotland. It is approximately 160 kilometres (100 miles) northeast of Halif ...

Career

While still a student, Lamond recorded an album of traditional material called ''Bho Thir Nan Craobh (From the Land of the Trees)'', which she released independently in 1994. Among the musicians on the album was fiddler

. MacIsaac had first seen Lamond perform in 1991 with a local band in Antigonish and was impressed with what he saw as her "punk attitude," even as she was singing Gaelic songs. MacIsaac and Lamond collaborated again in 1995 on the song "Sleepy Maggie" for his album ''

Hi™ How Are You Today? ''Hi™ How Are You Today?'' is an album by Canadian fiddler Ashley MacIsaac, released in 1995 on A&M Records' Ancient Music imprint. MacIsaac's major label debut and his most commercially and critically successful album, it spawned the Canadian T ...

'', which became a breakthrough recording for both of them. Lamond followed this up with a solo album in 1997 called ''Suas e!'' (which in English means, roughly, "Go for it!"). The album was nominated for a Juno Award and an East Coast Music award. She released ''Làn Dùil'' in 1999, which cultural magazine PopMatters said "should establish her as a major talent in Celtic and world music. ''Orain Ghàidhlig'', most of which was recorded live in North River, Cape Breton Island, followed in 2001. After 2000, Lamond mostly put her solo recording career aside for a variety of other projects, including composition for film and stage, and working with a variety of cultural agencies. Her most recent solo album to date is the 2005 recording ''Stòras'', which means "a treasure" in English. Also in 2005, she contributed the song "Mo Mhaeli Bheag Og" to the charity album '' Voyces United for UNHCR''. She has been active in the ongoing preservation and revitalization of the

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

culture in Cape Breton as a member of the Gaelic Council of Nova Scotia and the Creative Nova Scotia Leadership Council, and as a teacher of Gaelic language and song workshops. In September 2012, Lamond and fiddler Wendy McIsaac released the album ''Seinn''. "Their guitar-and-fiddle matchup is beautifully balanced, behind butter-smooth vocals and timeless melodies," said a reviewer on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

, which named the album as one of the year's top 10 folk and Americana albums. In November 2013, ''Seinn'' won a Canadian Folk Music Award for traditional album of the year and a Music Nova Scotia award for traditional/roots recording of the year.

Current work

In September 2017, Lamond announced a new collaborative project, ''Patchwork'', "a project dedicated to the presentation of traditional song in a contemporary context." Patchwork consists of Lamond and her cousin, Laurel MacDonald, who perform Gaelic and English language songs. They perform a show entitled "She Sings as She Flies: Revisiting the Helen Creighton Song Collection," and will be joined by Nicole LeBlanc, Kirsten Olivia, and Naomi Dawn Poulette singing songs from the Acadian, African Nova Scotian, and Mi'kmaq communities, respectively.

Discography

;Albums * ''Bho Thir Nan Craobh'' (1995) (English: From the Land of the Trees) * ''Suas e!'' (1997) (English: Go For It!) * ''Làn Dùil'' (1999) (English: Full of Hope) * ''Orain Ghàidhlig'' (2001) (English: Gaelic Songs) * ''Storas'' (2005) (English: A treasure) * ''Seinn'' (2012) with Wendy MacIsaac ;Contributing artist * ''

The Rough Guide to the Music of Canada ''The Rough Guide to the Music of Canada'' is a compilation album originally released in 2003. Part of the World Music Network Rough Guides series, it gives a wide overview of the music of Canada. Though contemporary styles are represented, the al ...

'' (2005)

Awards and achievements

;1996 *ECMA Award nomination – Female Artist (Bho Thir Nan Craobh) *ECMA Award nomination – Roots/Traditional Artist (Bho Thir Nan Craobh) ;1997 *Much Music Award – Global Groove – Bog a’ Lochain (Suas e!) *ECMA Award – Single for Sleepy Maggie (hi how are you today?, Ashley MacIsaac) ;1998 *JUNO Award nomination – Roots and Traditional Album: Solo (Suas e!) *ECMA Award nomination – Female Artist (Suas e!) *ECMA Award nomination – Album (Suas e!) *ECMA Award nomination – Video for Bog a’ Lochain (Suas e!) ;2000 *Juno Nomination – Roots and Traditional Album: Solo (Làn Dùil) *ECMA Award nomination – Album (Làn Dùil) *ECMA Award nomination – Roots/Traditional Solo Artist (Làn Dùil) *ECMA Award nomination – Female Artist (Làn Dùil) *ECMA Award nomination – Entertainer of the Year *MIANS Award nomination – Female Artist ;2001 *ECMA Award nomination – Female Artist (Òrain Ghàidhlig) ;2002 *ECMA Award Roots/Traditional Solo Artist Of The Year Award ;2005 *Canadian Folk Music Awards nomination – Traditional Singer *Canadian Folk Music Awards nomination – World Music Artist ;2006 *ECMA Award Female Artist of the Year Award (Stòras) *ECMA Award Roots/Traditional Solo Artist of the Year Award ;2007 *Women of Excellence Award Recipient ;2008 * Portia White Award Recipient ;2013 * Canadian Folk Music Award winner - Traditional Album (''Seinn'') * Canadian Folk Music Award nomination - Traditional Singer * Canadian Folk Music Award nomination - Ensemble * Music Nova Scotia Award winner - Traditional/Roots Recording (''Seinn'') * Music Nova Scotia Award nomination - Group Recording

References

External links

Mary Jane LamondMary Jane Lamond on Amazon MusicMary Jane Lamond & Wendy MacIsaac
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamond, Mary Jane Living people Canadian women folk singers Canadian folk-pop singers Canadian people of Scottish descent Musicians from Kingston, Ontario Scottish Gaelic singers Canadian Gaelic Canadian Folk Music Award winners 20th-century Canadian women singers 21st-century Canadian women singers Year of birth missing (living people)