Wake Up to Music Monday

Cape Breton Island is known for its rich culture and its deep roots in music, so every Monday I will feature videos showcasing Cape Breton Island's finest musicians from Fiddlers to Songwriters, to the Gaelic Song and the Rock n Roll!  

Allister MacGillivray

Allister MacGillivray: renowned songwriter, guitarist, record producer, folklorist and author! He was born and raised in the coal-mining/fishing town of Glace Bay. His grandparents on the MacGillivray side were Gaelic-speaking, and various cousins played violin, guitar or accordion at weekly family-music-sessions -- before the intrusion of television. 

A child performer from the age of seven, he met many of the stars of Cape Breton's musical community while touring variety shows. In addition to this exposure to traditional and popular music, he was recruited by boy choirs, and studied and sang Gregorian chant. Allister became enthralled with British and American folk-music at the age of thirteen, and from then on performed only with folk-oriented bands.

During his university years, he worked and recorded in Kansas City, Missouri, with a group from The Dutch East Indies. Following graduation from St. F.X U. in Antigonish, he toured two years with a trio headed by Cape Breton folksinger John Allan Cameron. Besides its own dedicated following, the group opened for Anne Murray and The Irish Rovers, bringing the house down in a 1970 appearance at "The Grand Ole Opry" in Nashville, Tennessee. (http://cypresschoral.com/Composers/MacGillivray.html)

“Song for the Mira” is a contemporary folk song in the Celtic style, written in 1973 by Allister MacGillivray. Its lyrics speak of a longing for, and eventual return to, the serenity of the Mira River region of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Brought to international attention by Anne Murray and covered more than 300 times, the song has become a standard in the Celtic repertoire and something of an anthem in Nova Scotia. (http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/song-for-the-mira-emc/)

Sunday, May 6th 2018, "Song For The Mira" was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters' Hall of Fame, at The East Coast Industry and Music Awards Show in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Celtic Thunder Version of "Song for the Mira"