Allister MacGillivray CM, D. Litt (honors), is a Canadian singer/songwriter, guitarist, and music historian from the

Cape Breton Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

region of

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. He was born January 17, 1948, in the coal-mining and fishing town of

Glace Bay Glace Bay (Scottish Gaelic: ''Glasbaidh'') is a community in the eastern part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada. It forms part of the general area referred to as Industrial Cape Breton. Formerly an incorporated ...

Early life

He began performing at the age of seven, later became a boy chorister and, as a teen, sang in local folk bands. During his twenties and thirties, he traveled the world as a guitar accompanist with some prominent Celtic performers, including

Ryan's Fancy Ryan’s Fancy was an Irish folk music group active from 1971–1983. The band consisted of multi-instrumentalists Denis Ryan, Fergus O'Byrne, and Dermot O'Reilly, all of whom were Irish immigrants to Canada. History 1967–1970: Early year ...

, Makem & Clancy (

Tommy Makem Thomas Makem (4 November 1932 – 1 August 2007) was an internationally celebrated Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banj ...

Liam Clancy Liam Clancy ( ga, Liam Mac Fhlannchadha; 2 September 1935 – 4 December 2009) was an Irish folk singer from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. He was the youngest member of the influential folk group the Clancy Brothers, regarded as Ireland's ...

) and

John Allan Cameron John Allan Cameron, (16 December 1938 – 22 November 2006) was a Canadian folk singer, "The Godfather of Celtic Music" in Canada. Noted for performing traditional music on his twelve string guitar, he released his first album in 1969. He ...

. With Cameron, he performed on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville in 1970, earning a lengthy standing ovation and stealing the show from the likes of

Hank Snow Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (May 9, 1914 – December 20, 1999) was a Canadian-American country music artist. Most popular in the 1950s, he had a career that spanned more than 50 years, he recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on ...

Roy Rogers Roy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye; November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and television host. Following early work under his given name, first as co-founder of the Sons of the Pioneers and then acting, the rebra ...

, and

Bill Monroe William Smith "Bill" Monroe (; September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the " Father of Bluegrass". The genre take ...

. Since leaving the road, MacGillivray has lived close to the village of Marion Bridge, also known as ''Drochaid Mhira'' which remains strongly Gaelic.

Early career

A well-respected author/composer, his most popular songs include: "Away From The Roll Of The Sea", "Coal Town Road", "Kitty Bawn O'Brien", "Tie Me Down", "Here's To Song", "Sea People", and "You'll Be Home Again" — all published by Cabot Trail Music (SOCAN). He is best known for a composition called "Song for the Mira" that provided the theme as well as the sound track for an Atlantic Canadian film, '' Marion Bridge''. "Song For the Mira" has been translated into Italian, Dutch, French, Scots Gaelic, Japanese, and Mi' kmaq, is available on well over 300 recordings, and is a standard in the Canadian choral-music repertoire. One of the most recorded songs ever by an eastern Canadian writer, "Out On The Mira" (an alternate title) has been covered by

Anne Murray Morna Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) is a retired Canadian singer. Her albums, consisting primarily of pop, country, and adult contemporary music, have sold over 55 million copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray was the fir ...

, Foster & Allen, Celtic Thunder, Daniel O'Donnell, Denny Doherty (of

The Mamas & The Papas The Mamas & the Papas were a folk rock vocal group formed in Los Angeles, California, which recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968. The group was a defining force in the music scene of the counterculture of the 1960s. The group consisted of Am ...

), Noel Harrison, Phil Coulter,

The Canadian Tenors The Tenors (formerly known as The Canadian Tenors) are a vocal group consisting of Victor Micallef, Clifton Murray, Alberto Urso, and Mark Masri. They perform operatic pop music that is a mixture of classical and pop, featuring songs such as ...

, Frank Patterson, The Los Angeles Children's Chorus, and scores of other noted performers. In 2018, it was inducted into The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Later career

In the mid-1970s, MacGillivray penned ''Coal Town Road'' for Fergus O'Byrne of

. The song was later adopted as part of the regular repertoire of folk groups like Cockersdale (England), The Clark Family Group which includes Timothy Jeffery Clark, Simon Clark, Noah Clark and Sophia Clark (Bridgewater, Nova Scotia) and The Barra MacNeils (Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia). ''Coal Town Road'' documents an important part of Canadian history in that Canada has experienced the same types of labor and environmental exploitation as the United States—and has reacted in similar song-style ways. Significantly, this song is sung by the Nova Scotian coal-miner group, The Men of the Deeps. MacGillivray's songs are often performed by choral groups, with over 1000 choirs throughout the world performing his works in classical contexts. His ''Away from the Roll of the Sea'' is known in Italy as and is sung in typically Italian operatic style by the group Coro Leone Bologna. The song has also been performed in Korean by The Hanyang University Male Choir, and is known in Taiwanese as having been sung by The National Taiwan University Chorus.

Style and modern influence

Instrumentally, his songs have been arranged for bagpipes, brass quintet, recorder ensemble, jazz ensemble, ukulele ensemble, massed brass & pipe band, guitar, violin, piano, and symphony suite. He is also one of the few composers to have a commercially produced alcoholic beverage named after one of his songs. "Cape Breton Silver", a specialty liquor made by

Glenora Distillers Glenora Distillers is a distiller based in Glenville, Nova Scotia, Canada, on Cape Breton Island. Their most prominent product is Glen Breton Rare whisky, made in the Scottish-style in that it is a single malt Canadian whisky, not a rye, as is t ...

and available in Nova Scotia outlets, was inspired by a MacGillivray composition of the same name. MacGillivray concluded his singing & playing career in the early 1980s in order to write songs and books and to make films about the musical traditions of Cape Breton Island. He continues to write and arrange music, has released a compilation CD, and is involved in the operation of Sea-Cape Music Ltd., the company which distributes his books. Books he has published include: * ''Song For The Mira'' (1979), a collection of thirteen original songs. * ''The Cape Breton Fiddler'' (1981), a historical and photographic look at Cape Breton's Scottish violin tradition. * ''The Cape Breton Song Collection'' (1985), an anthology of the Island's best-loved compositions. * ''A Cape Breton Ceilidh'' (1988), a historical and photographic look at Cape Breton's unique step-dancing and piano-playing traditions. * ''The Nova Scotia Song Collection'' (1989). This anthology deals with the works of Hank Snow, Wilf Carter, Stan Rogers, Dr. Helen Creighton, etc. * ''Diamonds In The Rough'' (Vols. 1 & 2), the story of The Men Of The Deeps, Cape Breton's coal mining chorus. * ''Songs From The Mira'' (2001), a collection of thirty-two original songs. His children, Ciarán and Fiona MacGillivray, are also noted performers in the Celtic-music field.

Awards and accolades

He has a Bachelor of Arts degree (

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. Franc ...

), has been awarded an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

by The University College of Cape Breton, and has been designated The Official Bard of Clan MacGillivray Canada. On December 13, 2013, he was appointed to the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

(2013). His citation of investiture to

Rideau Hall Rideau Hall (officially Government House) is the official residence in Ottawa of both the Canadian monarch and their representative, the governor general of Canada. It stands in Canada's capital on a estate at 1 Sussex Drive, with the main b ...

reads as follows:

Cape Breton's musical heritage has been enriched by the contributions of Allister MacGillivray. A musician and composer, he is beloved for his original songs, many of which depict the traditional way of life of Cape Breton coal miners and fishermen. His compositions are popular with both professional and amateur choirs, notably his "Song for the Mira", considered a classic and translated into several languages. His various anthologies and publications about fiddling, step dancing, and the Gaelic language have also helped to preserve the island's traditional culture.

Allister MacGillivray, C.M., Albert Bridge (Nouvelle-Écosse)

''Par sa contribution, Allister MacGillivray a enrichi le patrimoine musical du Cap Breton. Musicien et compositeur, il est extrêmement apprécié pour ses chansons originales, dont beaucoup évoquent le mode de vie traditionnel des mineurs et des pêcheurs du Cap Breton. Ses compositions sont populaires auprès des chœurs professionnels et amateurs, tout particulièrement son œuvre Song for the Mira, considérée aujourd'hui comme un classique et traduite en plusieurs langues. Ses différentes anthologies et publications sur le violon et la danse populaires ainsi que sur le gaélique ont aussi contribué à préserver la culture traditionnelle de l'île.''

On May 6, 2018, in a ceremony in Halifax, NS, MacGillivray's "Song For the Mira" was inducted into The Canadian Songwriter's Hall of Fame. On November 15, 2022, at Province House in Halifax, NS, Allister MacGillivray was presented with the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Medal in a ceremony conducted by Lieutenant-Governor LeBlanc.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macgillivray, Allister Living people People from Glace Bay Musicians from Nova Scotia Canadian singer-songwriters 1948 births Members of the Order of Canada