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Recently, an Irish friend of mine has been regaling me with his favourite music. I was inspired to try to put together, from what is available on YouTube, a complilation of songs that would introduce him to what Canadian traditional music has to offer.
I offer this for the enjoyment of fellow Canadians, to introduce others to the essence of Canadian culture, and most of all as a fiercely felt rebuttal to those who do not believe Canada has a distinct and unified culture. I challenge those, especially Canadians, who pathetically ignore or deride Canadian culture in favour of an imported "multiculturalism."
For if you listen to these songs, you find that they hang together as one vast work. Themes are repeated: the pain of going away, movement across great distances, growing up, the family, the seasons turning, the ordinary life of ordinary people. Most of all, as I see it, there is a distinct Canadian theme of the ordinary man trying to survive in the face of vast forces that always threaten to overwhelm him. Just as Margaret Atwood has said: the Canadian theme is Survival. It is the heroism of everyday life.
No pretension for Canadians, and no faith in the possibility of changing the world. It is the little way, with little, personal, transcendences.
As a Canadian, listening to it, I nurse the suspicion that, on this, of all the world's people, only Canadians are truly sane.
Let's buiild on what we have.
Here's the playlist. Be sure to select "shuffle."
I offer this for the enjoyment of fellow Canadians, to introduce others to the essence of Canadian culture, and most of all as a fiercely felt rebuttal to those who do not believe Canada has a distinct and unified culture. I challenge those, especially Canadians, who pathetically ignore or deride Canadian culture in favour of an imported "multiculturalism."
For if you listen to these songs, you find that they hang together as one vast work. Themes are repeated: the pain of going away, movement across great distances, growing up, the family, the seasons turning, the ordinary life of ordinary people. Most of all, as I see it, there is a distinct Canadian theme of the ordinary man trying to survive in the face of vast forces that always threaten to overwhelm him. Just as Margaret Atwood has said: the Canadian theme is Survival. It is the heroism of everyday life.
No pretension for Canadians, and no faith in the possibility of changing the world. It is the little way, with little, personal, transcendences.
As a Canadian, listening to it, I nurse the suspicion that, on this, of all the world's people, only Canadians are truly sane.
Let's buiild on what we have.
Here's the playlist. Be sure to select "shuffle."
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