Allister MacGillivray: renowned songwriter, guitarist, record producer, folklorist and author from the Island of Cape Breton in the province of Nova Scotia, in eastern Canada.

He was born and raised in the coalmining/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 the mid seventies, Allister performed as a fulltime guitarist with the Irish/Newfoundland group Ryan's Fancy, which toured Canada and Ireland. He recorded and co-produced several albums with this trio, and again was musical director on both regional and national television programs. At this point his songwriting career began to blossom. Ryan's Fancy recorded Allister's "Sea People", "Tie Me Down" and "Coal Town Road", and the group featured "Song For The Mira" during many of their live performances.

A particular highlight of Allister's performing career was accompanying Irish superstars Tommy Makem & Liam Clancy, in television series and several extended tours of the eastern United States and Canada. Allister left "the road" around 1980, choosing to settle in rural Cape Breton to concentrate on an eclectic career of songwriting, composing and documenting the Cape Breton experience.

As a noted folklorist/author, he has compiled and published the following books:

1. "The Cape Breton Fiddler" - a collection of photographs and character sketches of the noted Island violinists through the ages.

2. "A Cape Breton Ceilidh" - the history of Cape Breton's stepdancing and piano playing traditions, including stories of the participants and hundreds of photographs.

3. "The Cape Breton Song Collection" - forty-eight of the Island's finest songs arranged for voice and piano (with guitar chords, photos and song histories), featuring works by Rita MacNeil, Kenzie MacNeil, Leon Dubinsky, Charlie MacKinnon, Scotty Turner and many others.

4. "The Nova Scotia Song Collection" - thirty-four of the province's greatest compositions arranged for voice and piano (with guitar chords, photos and song histories), featuring works by Hank Snow, Wilf Carter, Denny Doherty (of The Mamas & The Papas), Stan Rogers, Ed McCurdy and folklorist Dr. Helen Creighton.

5. "The Men of the Deeps ~ The Continuing Saga" - the story of The Men Of The Deeps, North America's only coal miners' chorus.

6. "Song For The Mira" - thirteen songs by Allister MacGillivray, arranged for voice and piano (with guitar chords and photos).

As a songwriter, Allister has several works recorded internationally, among the best-known being "Song For The Mira", "Away From The Roll Of The Sea", "Here's to Song", "Kitty Bawn O'Brien", "Coal Town Road" and "Song For Peace". (Note: all the songs are published by Cabot Trail Music (SOCAN). For further copyright information contact Mark Altman, Morning Music, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, (905) 625-2676.)

Allister's composition "Song For The Mira" (a.k.a. "Out On The Mira") is an enduring Canadian classic with over 130 recordings world-wide, including foreign-language covers. Among the many popular versions are those by Anne Murray, Foster & Allen, John McDermott, Phil Coulter, Frank Patterson, Mary O'Hara, Gordon Bok, The Barra MacNeils, and The Toronto Children's Chorus. Choral arrangements of his songs (sales over one hundred thousand copies) include "Song For The Mira", "Away From The Roll Of The Sea", "Song For Peace", "Here's To Song", "Songs Of Home" and "Bye, Bye My Island".

Among the many studio sessions Allister has produced is "Judique On The Floor", the acclaimed CD/cassette by Cape Breton fiddler Buddy MacMaster, featuring John Morris Rankin of The Rankin Family on piano. He has also co-produced all three of the critically-acclaimed CD's by The Cottars.

During the last several years, Allister has worked as researcher and artistic director on a series of short films on the Cape Breton style of traditional Scottish fiddling (see the Highland Legacy DVD), and continued his intuitive songwriting.

Among the recent honours he received:

• The province of Nova Scotia "for the gift of music and promoting Celtic culture"
• The Cape Breton Tourist Association "for writing beautiful songs which promote the traditions, the culture and the heritage of Cape Breton".
• Official Bard of Clan MacGillivray, Canada
• Honorary Doctorate of Letters from The University College of Cape Breton, May 1997

Today, Allister MacGillivray lives and works on Cape Breton Island with his wife, Beverly, and two children (Ciarán & Fiona of the Celtic band, THE COTTARS).

More information can be found on both Allister and "Song For The Mira" under separate listings in The Encyclopedia Of Music In Canada.