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April 10, 2008
Keys To Success
Local pianist Dougie MacPhee to be invested as member of the
Order of Canada today
CHRIS SHANNON, The Cape Breton Post
SYDNEY —
Dougie MacPhee modestly calls his life as a pianist a
“sideline career.”
Renowned
in Celtic music circles, MacPhee is viewed as Cape Breton’s
foremost piano soloist. This morning, he will receive one of
his biggest honours when Gov.-Gen. Michaëlle Jean invests
him as a member of the Order of Canada.
“I
actually got the news on my birthday,” MacPhee said, noting
he learned of his appointment last June. “It’s a wonderful
honour. I never thought I’d receive something like this.”
Retired
from Cape Breton University’s Beaton Institute after 23
years of service, MacPhee restored documents and also acted
as a music consultant at the university. Even though he’s a
well-known entertainer, he wanted to keep a steady job.
“It was
always a sideline career. I’ve always had work so I had
security in that way, but my first love was the music,” he
said.
The native
of New Waterford is celebrated both as an accompanist and
soloist. His distinctive style and unique ability to emulate
the sound of the Cape Breton fiddle on the piano paved the
way for concert tours across North America and Europe over
several decades. In the 1970s, MacPhee played piano
accompaniment for five fiddlers in the nationally broadcast
CBC Halifax music variety show, Ceilidh.
“I had in
the back of my mind that I wanted to be not just a good
accompanist but I wanted to be an outstanding soloist and I
wanted to play and do the things on the piano that the
fiddlers do.
“I would
accent my music as the fiddler or the piper would accent
theirs. When I’m playing tunes, half the tunes I’m playing
I’m thinking of the fiddler that impressed me while playing
that, and I’m imaging in my mind that they’re playing along
with me.”
And unlike
many of his counterparts, he was considered “old” when he
began playing the piano.
“Usually
they start at four or five, but I was 12 before I started to
play,” MacPhee said.
The Order
of Canada is our country’s highest civilian honour. It was
created in 1967 during Canada’s centennial year to recognize
a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to
community and service to the nation.
Jean will
bestow the honour on two companions, 11 officers and 30
members during the ceremony at Rideau Hall.
Another Cape Breton native will receive the honour today.
Arthur McDonald, the Gordon and Patricia Gray chair of
particle astrophysics at Queen’s University and director of
the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, is being elevated to the
status of Officer of the Order of Canada.
McDonald,
originally from Sydney, is a former professor of physics at
Princeton University but gained fame as a scientist at the
Sudbury Neutrino Observatory — a 10-storey laboratory
located 2.1 kilometres underground in a working nickel mine.
Windsor,
Ont. resident Alistair MacLeod, often called “Cape Breton’s
ambassador of fiction,” will also be elevated to an Officer
of the Order.
Spending
part of his life in Cape Breton, he authored books on the
province and its proud and spirited people, including his
novel, No Great Mischief, which, among many other accolades,
earned MacLeod the richest prize in fiction — the
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. CPAC, the
Canadian parliamentary channel, will air the ceremony
beginning at 3:30 p.m.
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Above photo:
Margaree (by Victor Maurice Faubert)
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