Though International Women Day was last week (March 8th), my music pick this week is all about women. Grant Lawrence plotted together a podcast on CBC Radio 3 of the top 10 Canadian Female Singers which you can listen to here.
I’ve plotted each of their video blow for your viewing pleasure. Canadian Women rock everyday!
“The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame is an important institution that celebrates the successes achieved by Canadian music creators,” said Eric Baptiste, CEO of SOCAN. “The Hall of Fame gives our legendary songwriters and composers the public recognition they deserve. Their creations form not only a cherished part of the fabric of Canadian culture, but also contribute to the economic success of the music industry.”
The objective of the CSHF is to honour, celebrate, and educate Canadians about the outstanding accomplishments of Canadian popular music songwriters and those who have contributed significantly to their legacy. “The Hall of Fame is a great fit for SOCAN as we continue to champion the work of our members coast to coast,” continued Baptiste.
The next step in the transition involves creating a new governance structure and establishing a new board of directors. While SOCAN will now operate the CHSF, its directors will include representatives from Canada’s music industry, including CSHF’s founding partners, the Canadian Music Publishers Association (CMPA) and the Songwriter’s Association of Canada (SAC).
“SOCAN’s new commitment to CSHF recognises the important work CSHF has done, and has still to accomplish, in honouring Canadian songs and songwriters,” said Catharine Saxberg, Executive Director, CMPA. “As a proud founder, CMPA is very excited about the potential to make CSHF even stronger with the resources and talents that SOCAN will contribute under this new agreement.”
“As one of the founding partners, the Songwriters Association of Canada is very pleased to welcome SOCAN’s increased support and involvement in the CSHF,” said Eddie Schwartz, President, SAC. “SOCAN’s commitment ensures that the CSHF will be able to continue honouring the outstanding achievements of Francophone and Anglophone songwriters, and to celebrate this rich and unique musical heritage for many years to come.”
In the news from the Grammy’s last night: With the somber cloud of Whitney Houston death, there was still time to celebrate some needed Canadian content. 28 year old singer Melanie Fiona won Grammys for Best Traditional R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for her collaboration with Cee Lo Green, Fool For You. “I want to thank so many people for helping me get here and being a part of this amazing record. Thank you so much to my parents, my family (and) my friends back home in Toronto, Canada.”
Fiona on Whitney,
“Whitney Houston is the first voice and memory I have of music. My mom used to play her for me to fall asleep in the crib. Hers was the first song I ever sang. She has been an inspiration to me throughout my entire career, for her presence as an artist, her voice, and what she was able to do and the way she made people feel. I would not be up here as a nominee or as a winner without her influence and presence in my life, so it’s very emotional for me.”
Other Canadian content included Montreal’s Caroline Robert who won for best recording package for her design of the deluxe re-release of Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs. Arcade Fire’s disc won album of the year at last year’s Grammys.
Montreal was also represented by a performance from DJ Deadmau5.
Beyond this years Grammy’s there was a couple of CBC commercials that popped up on the old tv screen. CBC Music is the new home base for all things music in Canada. It looks like CBC Radio3 is all grown up.
A bit sad, but getting more music out to more Canadians is never a bad thing. You can read the full piece at CBCMusic.ca but here’s a small piece from Steve Pratt
“Hi all, Steve Pratt here. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the director of CBC Radio 3 and CBC Digital Music. I’d like to welcome you to the latest incarnation of CBC Radio 3 and the all-new site for CBC Music.
In a nutshell, CBC Music provides CBC Radio 2, and 12 genres of music (Classical, Jazz, Singer-Songwriter,World, Rock, Pop, Blues, R&B/Soul, Hip-Hop, Aboriginal,Country and Electronic), the ability to make their own communities in the same way all of you have helped make Radio 3 such a wonderful experience for anyone who loves independent Canadian music. In fact, without you and everything you’ve done to help guide Radio 3, this new website and new communities would not have been possible.
Since its inception more than a decade ago, Radio 3 has served as a living laboratory, where we’ve been able to try out new ideas. Our goal has been to do the best job we can for Canadian music and its creators. Until now, however, the R3 web experience has only been available to fans of independent Canadian music.
With the launch of CBC Music, fans of all genres can have an experience with the music they love”
I’ve been offline (music wise) for the last few months but here’s a band to get me back into the music thought process. I’m pretty late to the band (Russel Crow and Alyssa Milano beat me to the punch). The group is Walk off the Earth. Formed in Burlington, ON, the band consists of Sarah Blackwood, Gianni Luminati, Ryan Marshall, Mike Taylor and Joel Cassady.
They’ve covered the likes of Adele’ Someone Like You
Rihanna’s Man Down
But the video above as of me writing this post is standing at 51+ million views. I haven’t listened to Gotye, but I hope he’s sent them a thank you note.
I know this infographic was a while ago but its one of the many reasons why I love the CBC, CBC Radio and CBC Radio3 in general. Oh and the LA Times like them too.
“Reporting from Toronto — — It’s 1928, and the Canadian government is in a panic. It’s issued radio licenses to Canadian stations since 1922, but most Canadians are turning their dials to American programming. What to do? A royal commission on the future of broadcasting was convened, and eight years later, after a brief incarnation as a state-owned national broadcasting network, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. was born.
Born in London, Ontario; raised in Stratford, ON; groomed on YouTube, our Canadian phenom is a bubble that just won’t pop. Even with a tabloid sized story of Justin being a pint sized baby daddy, his numbers do not lie. Bieber for Prime Minister? You never know.
Never a bad thing showing off our Canadian all stars. This year a songwriter, an astronaut, a tennis player, and some brown guy that will “Put a hurt on you”. The Toronto Star’s Bruce DeMara has a nice little write up below, but here’s some video of this year sidewalk winner.
Best known for: Becoming the first Canadian woman in space and the world’s first neurologist in space when she travelled aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1992. More recently, she’s become known as a landscape photographer. She was named among North America’s best explorers by Time magazine in 2003.
Burton Cummings
Birthplace: Winnipeg
Best known for: Co-founding the Guess Who, and for writing or co-writing numerous Canadian and international hits, including “These Eyes,” “Laughing,” “Undun,” “Hand Me Down World,” “Clap for the Wolfman” and, of course, “American Woman,” which was named the greatest Canadian single of all time in the book 100 Top Canadian Singles.
Daniel Nestor
Birthplace: Belgrade, Yugoslavia and raised in Toronto
Best known for: Being the third most decorated doubles champion in tennis history. He won 73 ATP Tour doubles titles. He’s also the only player ever to win all four Grand Slams, all of the Masters Series events, the year-end Masters Cup and Olympic Gold (for Canada in Sydney) in doubles.
Sandra Oh
Birthplace: Ottawa
Best known for: Her role as the driven Dr. Cristina Yang in Grey’s Anatomy, for which she has won a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Golden Globe and five Emmy nominations. She also had a significant part in the 2004 movie Sideways. She first came to prominence in Canada playing a teenage prostitute in The Diary of Evelyn Lau in 1997.
Russell Peters
Birthplace: Toronto
Best known for: His live comedy shows and YouTube clips, specializing in sometimes raunchy humour that skewers all ethnic groups, including his own Anglo-Indian background. He was on Forbes magazine’s list of top-earning comedians in 2009 and 2010. And his autobiography, Call Me Russell, was a bestseller.
Mordecai Richler
Birthplace: Montreal
Best known for: His novels, including The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, which became a 1974 movie starring Richard Dreyfuss; St. Urbain’s Horsemen, which won the Governor General’s Literary Award; and Barney’s Version, which won the Giller Prize for Fiction and became a Genie- and Golden Globe-winning movie (also nominated for one Oscar) starring Paul Giamatti.
Just a tad more than Mounties, Beavers and Maple Syrup 