An excerpt from McGraw-Hill Ryerson�s new grade 12 textbook
�DEFINING CANADA: History, Identity & Culture�
Written by Mike Ford
What kind of popular music are you familiar with? How much of that music is made by Canadian musicians? Do you hear references to Canadian places, issues, events or personalities in their lyrics? Do you think you should? What happens to a country or region if the people living there only hear songs about other places?
Every culture in the world has its traditions of songs that describe that region�s particular characteristics and natural wonders, as well as the celebrations, challenges, work and shared dreams of its people. Canada is no exception. However, it is often difficult in the multi-channelled, commercially-hyped modern media for those songs of local relevance to find an airing. Even so, bubbling just under the surface, the tradition thrives. From Aboriginal drum-circle chants to the latest Urban Hip-Hop track, songs have been integral (if sometimes marginalized) reflection of the diverse cultures and identities of Canada.
The voyageurs of New France composed or adapted countless musical tales-songs that were as necessary to their work as their very paddles. Songs of migration, settlement, and working of the land echo down to us through the years, imparting some of the emotional information important to us as we try to imagine their lives in contrast to our own.
�A bustle-confusion a wonderful hustle, they�re all jiggin� squid on the squid-jiggin� ground.� Work songs of every kind sprung up from the saw-miles, fishing harbours and log-booms of the 19th century, often as locally unique variations of commonly-known melodies. In each case, they were songs that helped inspire a sense of community, of belonging, and of pride in labour.
All through the latter colonial days and through Confederation, the world of politics was peppered with satirical songs, tuneful editorials, electioneering marches and heroic ballads. Popular melodies from the rebellion of 1837 included the pro-Mackenzie satire I�ll Be A Tory � �I�ll drown Mackenzie�s types, I�ll cut�em into tripes, I�ll be a Tory in Upper Canada!� In Lower Canada, there was the mournful exile�s air, Un Canadien Errant � �Si tu vois mon pays, mon pays malheureaux, vas dis a mes amis que je me souviens d�eux�
The British sound and content of the many marches and heroic ballads connected to Canada�s World War experiences provide a telling insight into the nation�s new self-image in the first half of the twentieth century. But songs were also used all through that century as a vehicle of expression for participants in numerous social movements. Songs sung by Canadians seeking greater rights for women (Bread & Roses), workers and minorities (The Estevna Strike), movements concerned about nuclear weapons, environmental degradation (If A Tree Falls) and over-commericalization of Canadian society (American Woman) show how the popular song tradition has been mined to communicate urgent messages.
Some of Canada�s greatest examples of song reflecting or influencing popular identity are from Quebec�s Quiet Revolution. The incredible changes that occurred in Quebec society between the late fifties and mid-seventies were constantly being chronicled, celebrated and inspired by creative artists, playwrights, painters, film-makers, poets, and above all, singer-songwriters � Les Chansoniers. Felix Leclerc (for whom the modern-day Quebecois music awards are named), Robert Charlesbois, and Gilles Vigneault were the most famous of that era. Vigneault�s Mon Pays, Gens du Pays and II Me Reste Un Pays most graphically demostrate the connection between singer and society. These artists drew on and expanded French Canada�s immense folk-song tradition, and they, in turn, are followed today by groups and singers who have brought the concept of locally-relevant lyrics into the contemporary scene, such as Richard Desjardins, Les Colocs, Paul Piche.
The greater presence of American and British music on Canada�s English airwaves has left less room for songs of the above-mnetioned traditions, but that has perhaps made those who sing about us stand out even more. From the 1960s on, huge audiences have been reached by the likes of Stompin� Tom Conners (The Good Old Hockey Game, The Blue Berets, Subbury Staurday Night), The Guess Who (Running Back to Saskatoon), Gordon Lightfoot (Canadian Railroad Trilogy, The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald), Stan Rogers (Barret�s Privateers), Bruce Cockburn (If I Had A Rocket Launcher), The Tragically Hip (bobcaygeon) and more recently Maestro (416-905), Choclair (T.Dot Anthem) and Great Big Sea (Rant & Roar). IF one looks a little further, a huge wealth of modern material is waiting to be discovered. There are hundreds of established and newer acs writing lyrics about who they are, what they see, and what needs changing in 21st century Canadian society.
Perhaps the greatest reflection and influence music can present in this multicultural nation is not in the lyrical content at all � it is in the countless Canadian artists who create music based on styles hailing from every corner of the globe � often sung in languages other that our two official ones.
When working with people in the creation of relevant and socially-directed usic, I always keep in mind an answer given to me by a Grade 5 student one day. I was teaching a young class the Stompin� Tom song Bud The Spud, a rollicking tune about a guy who delivers truckloads of red P.E.I. potatoes to Toronto week after week. I asked the class to imagine that as that very moment there was a truyck driver on the 401 doing exactly the same job described in the son. �Imagine this driver turning on the radio as he drive and hearing Bud The Spud played on the radio. How would that driver feel?� A bashful 9-year-old stood up, cleared his throat, and after a short pause said, �He felt needed�>
Imagine that. Songs that make us feel needed. Songs that reflect our lives, communities, landscape, jobs, diverse heritages and dreams. Who will sing your generation�s Canada into existence? What would you celebrate in song? What would you scream in anger about? An eager nation awaits.
Mike Ford is a rollicking Canadian musician who brings Canadian history to life in Classrooms with his program, �Canada In Song�.
