News Release Archive
EDUCATION/CULTURE--MUSEUM & MUSICIAN PARTNER FOR FIRST CD LAUNCH
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A museum and a musician have joined creative forces to produce
the first CD and audio-cassette of original songs based on museum
themes and exhibits in Nova Scotia.
Dan McKinnon, a Nova Scotia-born singer, songwriter and Halifax
performer, has written 11 songs based on historical themes
presented in the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, part of the
Nova Scotia Museum.
Together with Mr. McKinnon's rendition of Farewell to Nova
Scotia, the 12 songs make up an inspiring recording called
Between Wind & Water. The recording will be launched at 7:30 this
evening, July 29, at the Maritime Museum on Lower Water Street,
Halifax. Members of the public are invited to attend.
Education and Culture Minister Robbie Harrison said each of the
25 museum sites within the Nova Scotia Museum continually looks
for new ways to bring more visitors through their doors.
"Our museum staff and volunteers work very hard to make visits
more meaningful and the memories more lasting," Mr. Harrison
said. "One way they do this is by helping visitors relate what
they see in an exhibit to a personal experience, or perhaps to a
story told to them by a parent or grandparent. What better way to
create this emotion -- to evoke passion and feeling -- than
through music?"
The CD project was inspired by a song about the merchant navy
that Mr. McKinnon penned and performed at the November 1996
opening of the museum's Second World War convoy exhibit. Many
Miles to Go tells, from a veteran's perspective, the story of the
trials faced by merchant seamen.
"By the end of the performance, there was barely a dry eye in the
house," said Michael Murray, acting director of the Maritime
Museum. "We realized then we had an opportunity to tell the
public about other aspects of our maritime heritage in a unique
and special way -- an approach with a strong emotional punch."
Dan McKinnon was similarly excited about recording a CD and
describes the project as "a merging of a like vision and a
passion for our rich history and . . . using music to convey this
heritage in a way that speaks of some of the people, places and
events that make us feel uniquely and distinctly Nova Scotian."
Eight months later, under the guidance of museum staff and
produced in the studios of Learning Resources and Technology,
part of the Department of Education and Culture, Between Wind
& Water has been created.
In addition to Many Miles to Go, other songs include The Captain
and the Queen about the famed schooner Bluenose; The Wind in Your
Soul about the voyages of Nova Scotian Joshua Slocum, first to
sail around the globe alone; Shifting Sands about ever-changing
Sable Island; and Remember Me, a poignant and haunting song about
the 1917 Halifax Explosion.
At tonight's launch, Mr. McKinnon will perform many of the songs
and will be available to chat before and after the program. This
being the Year of Music, what better way to celebrate than take
part?
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Contact: Michael Murray
902-424-7715
Donna MacDonald
902-424-2615
trp July 29, 1997 - 11 a.m.
