After living in Mexico for twenty-seven years, sometimes the thought runs through my mind that Canada has little history and even less culture. But despite that, with the perspective of time and distance a few individuals stand out as being strong contributors to culture. In music there are four: jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, composer Claude Vivier, poet and song-writer Leonard Cohen, and pianist Glenn Gould. Interesting that three of the four are from Montreal. Outside of music my knowledge is limited, but we could certainly add to the list writer Mordecai Richler, literary critic Northrop Frye and possibly Jordan Peterson, but we have to see how he wears over time. Richler is another Montrealer and Frye was also born in Quebec, but not in Montreal. Peterson was born in Alberta but attended McGill University in Montreal.
Yes, of course there are many others, but less-known to me. There are quite a few artists that I only have a vague knowledge of, Jack Shadbolt for one, born in England but lived in Vancouver, the Group of Seven and likely others, but I don't have the experience to name names.
I'm spurred to write this because I am re-reading, as I said the other day, a marvelous work of literary criticism by Northrop Frye. As Oscar Peterson is one of the best jazz pianists ever, so we should count Frye as one of the best literary critics ever, certainly that I have ever read and my reading in this area runs from Aristotle through Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, Bakhtin and Harold Bloom. If it were not for Northrop Frye, few of us would know what Menippean satire was!
For an envoi there is likely nothing better than a little Oscar Peterson:
5 comments:
Another Canadian I like to read is Bryan Townsend! As for musicians, I would add Rush and Neil Young.
Thanks, Will!! My knowledge of Canadian popular music is pretty limited, but I do know that I'm not fond of Celine Dion.
I respect Rush more than I actually like their music but the sure did go the distance. Neil Young wrote enough great songs that even if he pales as a lyricist compared to Leonard Cohen I often like his music better. "Suzanne" is good but "Cinnamon Girl" just rocks harder.
Bryan, I think your observation about the quantum of Canadian History and Canadian Culture raises an interesting point about nations in the "new world". Objectively, Canada has a long history before the "settler era". That history, and contemporaneous First Nations culture is largely unrecorded as it was chiefly dependent on the oral tradition for its intergenerational perpetuation (totem carvings and petroglyphs aside).
Keeping these factors in view, how does Canada measure up to Australia, New Zealand and the US? (I realize that my comparative nations are those with Anglo settlers. Is the situation of those countries with Spanish, Portuguese and Italian settlers richer?)
Bryan, the "new world" comment is from me. I have been absent for so long that I mistakenly published as "Anon"! Sorry. I should know better as one of your side bar quoted commentators :) The Music Salon is still "required reading" in my opinion.
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