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| quote: | Originally posted by LKD
well here's a question. do the artists defining music have to be current and canadians based out of canada still? |
I'd hazard to say that to be considered to be "defining" Canadian music you could go one of two routes: 1)Inside the borders — so a band or artist that Canadians uniquely identify as homegrown talent that represents what it is to be Canadian through their work (subject matter, tone, musicianship); or 2)Outside our borders — by being clearly identifiable as Canadian and is contributing to shaping the international music landscape without cowing to the latest trends in music as a maxim so as to sell more albums.
Like I said, I have no answer to any of this, but it's a loaded question for sure. In fact, it's a consistently developing thought which I hope to be able to keep refining throughout this discussion.
But to relate back to The 'Hip for a moment, at their peak most people around the world if asked to identify a distinctly Canadian band or sound (if they knew any artists of that ilk at all) would likely point to the Tragically Hip as the vanguards of what it meant to be a Canadian musician as opposed to just a popular musician in general.
So I guess to further refine it would be to posit: if you were to try to describe/play "Canadian" music for someone from another country when they asked you to play some for them, would you still turn to The Tragically Hip and say "that's Canadian right there" or is there another artist out there that would now take up that primacy of place?
To answer your question of whether or not they need to be current, I'd say no. But if it goes too far back & their contributions no longer resonate with Canadians themselves, then it would be safe to say they really don't define anything & are now resigned to history.
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"The function of music is to release us from the tyranny of conscious thought." — Sir Thomas Beecham
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and 2nd would probably be Shania Twain. She made me appreciate (somewhat) country music w/ a pop twist.
