Four people to be inducted into Cape Breton Music Hall of Fame Thursday night

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Big night for East Coast music

Natalie MacMaster remembers uncle Buddy

Four people will be inducted into the Cape Breton Music Hall of Fame on Thursday evening during a gala concert at Centre 200 in Sydney, N.S.

This year marks the fourth annual induction ceremony for the Cape Breton Music Industry Cooperative (CBMIC) Music Hall of Fame.

Among the 2026 inductees is the late Buddy MacMaster, a legendary fiddler from Judique, N.S., whose musical career and influence spanned decades of his life.

MacMaster passed away in 2014 at the age of 89.

His niece, renowned fiddler and recording artist Natalie MacMaster, and other members of her family will be on hand to honour MacMaster’s induction.

Performer and songwriter Allister MacGillivray, known for his iconic tune “Song For The Mira,” and Bill MacNeil, whose career in radio station management and East Coast music has spanned more than 40 years, will also be inducted.

MacNeil is currently general manager of The Coast 89.7, a community radio station in Sydney.

Gordie Sampson, a world-renowned songwriter and musician originally from Big Pond, N.S., who now lives in Nashville, is also among the inductees.

Dylan Guthro, son of 2025 Hall of Fame inductee Bruce Guthro, travelled back home to Cape Breton from Tennessee to honour Sampson’s induction.

“Gordie has been instrumental in so many Cape Breton songwriters, Nova Scotia songwriters,” Guthro said. “He takes us all under his wing. There is going to be a lot of us on that stage tonight and we just love him. We can’t wait to be up there and support him.”

“We built this with no other template in mind,” added organizing committee member Aaron Lewis.

“This (Hall of Fame) is totally, 100 per cent Cape Breton-built and we’re very proud of that and it’s just like the music is. The music is Cape Breton-built and the Hall of Fame, we like to think of as our own vision.”

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