Allister to receive Order of Canada honour

[Joe]

From Ciarán MacGillivray via Facebook:
 

"I would like to announce the wonderful news that my dad, Allister MacGillivray, is being honoured with the Order of Canada!! Congratulations Dad!!"

Congratulations Allister on your honour...a well-deserved recognition and a testament to your songs' influence.

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If any member wishes to add his/her congratulations, please reply below and I will make sure Allister receives them.

[Ginny]

I just saw the Barra MacNeils posting about this on Facebook as well! That is absolutely a well-deserved award for someone who has written so many great songs that capture the true essence and nature of East Coast culture

[garthmoe]

Congratulations, Allister

You have done much to deserve this honour by your creativity in music and the songs you have written and spread throughout the world of music. Furthermore, you have made it possible for the traditions you have upheld to be carried on by your children, Ciarán and Fiona, ( and by many, many others) by inculcating them with a love for music and the history behind it. All the best on your achievement.

Yours truly,
Garth Reid

[Joe]

GREAT NEWS!

Allister's wife Beverly has informed me of when Allister will be in Ottawa to receive his honour. Beverly's note appears in full, below....

At 12 noon on December 14 (2013), the lilting strains of "Away From The Roll Of The Sea" will resound from The Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in our nation's capital. The official carilloneur, Andrea McCrady, has offered to perform the song on the clock tower's massive 53-bell, multi-tonne mechanism in honour of Allister's visit to Ottawa to receive the Order Of Canada. As an added bonus, the MacGillivray family has been invited to sit with Dr. McCrady in the belfry during her performance of the work -- and, needless to say, we're very much looking forward to that unique and wonderful experience.

--The MacGillivrays

[Joe]

A special note from the MacGillivrays:

The Office of the Secretary to the Governor General is pleased to announce that a "live" webcast of the Order of Canada Investiture ceremony will be available.

For those who cannot not attend in person, tune in on www.gg.ca/index.aspx?lan=eng, on December 13, 2013, at 10:30 a.m. (Eastern standard time).

Then on the 14th, at noon, "Away From The Roll Of The Sea" will resound from The Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

[Joe]

CONGRATULATIONS ALLISTER!

[Joe]

An article from yesterday's Cape Breton Post about today's special event at Parliament Hill in Ottawa...

www.capebretonpost.com/section/2013-12-12/article-3540350/MacGillvray-to-enter-Order-of-Canada/1

An excerpt appears below...

For MacGillivray, hearing his music flow from the Peace Tower will mark the most unusual place yet where his tunes have been featured.

His songs have travelled the world and one his best known works, "Song For the Mira," is one of the most recorded East Coast songs. It has been performed in Dutch, French, Mi'kmaq and even Japanese.

Choirs worldwide have also sung the lyrics extolling the peacefulness of Cape Breton's Mira River along which MacGillivray now makes his home.

He has recordings which have been put to bagpipe arrangements, ukulele bands and he's even heard a bird whistle a few bars of one of his tunes.

MacGillivray, 65, of Albert Bridge, is being inducted "for his contributions as a musician and composer whose songs are widely known for their depictions of Cape Breton and its people."

"This whole thing caught me off guard. How does something like this happen? I don't understand why someone would pick me," said MacGillivray, in reflecting on the meaning of receiving one of the country's highest awards.

MacGillivray has written many of Cape Breton's most recognized songs including, "Coal Town Road," "You'll Be Home Again," "Sea People," "Songs of Home," "Tie Me Down," and "Here's To Song."

[mott]

Congratulations to Allister! Quite an honor I am sure.

[Joe]

Canadian musician Allister MacGillivray (L) poses with Governor General David Johnston after being awarded the rank of Member in the Order of Canada, during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa December 13, 2013

Photo credit - REUTERS/Chris Wattie (click on photo for larger image)

Attachments:

[Joe]

On December 13, Allister spoke with Wendy Bergfeldt of CBC's Main Street Nova Scotia programme.

www.cbc.ca/mainstreetcb/archives/audio.html

Click this link, and go to the 3rd item down (on the bottom left),
"Allister MacGillivray – Order of Canada".
Press the green and while play button to hear the program.

The clip is 16 minutes; Allister is interviewed from 3:59 in.

Also on the programme is Buddy MacDonald and the Peace Tower Carillion musician Dr. Andrea McCrady.