Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy - So You Love (ft Yo-Yo Ma)

SO YOU LOVE: (Donnell’s comments)

So You Love has an interesting story…

Tim Edey was visiting for a few days, and as you can imagine, we were playing tunes. I shared some of my tune ideas with him, in particular the idea that eventually became So You Love, and as Tim does, he played along as if he’d been playing it for years! I said, “take a solo” and he went into a beautiful melody off the cuff. I loved it so much, I learned it note for note. Natalie happened to walk in, was moved to pick up her fiddle and within minutes came up with the first part.
It sat for a while until we brought it to Elmer who felt inspired to write another section and add some Elmer-isms! Bit by bit we added, guided by the inspiration of the music, until the piece felt complete.
Eventually, we were drawn towards the idea of adding a cello. Now who do you think first came to mind?? Yo-Yo Ma of course! Natalie had collaborated with him back in 2008 which was an incredible experience, that time for his project, Songs of Joy and Peace.

So we contacted him, sent him the music and Yo-Yo graciously recorded this track in his studio in New York, over zoom so that we could be “with him” from our studio in Ontario as he recorded it! Spectacular experience! Yo-Yo is a warm, personable, lighthearted gem in this world. We are so pleased with this final version of So You Love.