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Add this programme to your calendarOh, Canada!
Just a few months after pecking my way out of my egg, I took flight with my parents to live in a place called Sainte Rose du Lac, on the prairies of Manitoba. I was far too young to form any memories of the place that I can recall, instead I have appropriated stories from my family. Dad skiing to work, Mum wrapping us kids up in so many layers that we could hardly move, stuffing us in cardboard boxes and dragging us in sleds across frozen lakes to feed bears peanut butter sandwiches in the Riding Mountain National Park, before singing us to sleep beneath the wailing of the Northern Lights.
All the half imagined memories I've been fed over the years have woven together with vague conceptions of Canada's vast landscape, so now beyond the Atlantic, just above the USA, lies a dreamlike expanse of windswept plains, fragrent pine forests and endless, bitter cold lakes.
Although this may bear some resemblance to parts of Canada, I'm sure it's a laughably naive description to anyone who actually knows the place. The variety and cultural blend of music played on this week's Treasure Nest gives the lie to this romantic silliness. Nonetheless, the gorgeous, atmospheric sounds of The Wilderness of Manitoba have plucked at my memory's heartstrings since the moment I first heard them, making me long for recollections of a childhood lost in Canada before my brain began to record.
Anyway, enough reminiscing, back to Treasure Nest, Canada style! This particular treetop shrine to audio joy is lined with varied rhythms from across the country. There's Quebecois folk, both traditional and new, from the slightly unhinged, stridently sexy a cappella harmonies of Galant, tu Perds ton Temps to Bette + Wallet's punk accordian lament about squeegee kids in winter.
From Toronto there's Cuban licked jazz in the shape of Jane Bunnett. Canada's first lady of saxophone and flute, as well as being an award winning composer and musician, is a social activist whose work to spread cultural understanding between Canada and Cuba has earnt her the official recognition of her home country in the shape of The Order of Canada. Bunnett's music is an incredibly rich blend, challenging and vital in its layering of rhythmic culture upon culture. Her latest project, Embracing Voices, is a perfect example of her imaginative, boundary breaking approach.
There's also a healthy dose of lo-fi shoestaring from Alberta's Chad Vangaalen, who's EP is available for free download from his Myspace, and a heartbreaking lovesong from Montreal's Leif Vollebekk. Add to the mix Canadian heavyweights Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, and three super slick kinky lounge pop numbers from coquettish chanteuse Caracol, a few non Canadian crepes to layer between the maple syrup, some rambling from this little bird, and Treasure Nest's good to go.
Playlist for Oh, Canada! Treasure Nest 24.01.10
Les Sauvageau - Les Tireux D' Roches Dingo De DJango - Christine Tassan and les Imposteures L'amour est un tricheur - Caracol Master Song - Leonard Cohen La Comparsa - Jane Bunnett Somerhill - The Miserable Rich Crows Feet - The Wilderness of Manitoba Willow Tree - Chad VanGaalen Love on the Brew (Radio Edit) - Worm Go! Canada - 6 Day Riot You Couldn't Lie To Me In Paris - Leif Vollebekk Cold box - Caracol Squeegees - Bette + Wallet Shosholoza - Zogma In The Pines - Sarah McQuaid That Song About the Midway - Joni Mitchell Our socks forever more - This Is The Kit Samara (Bulerías) - Camarón De La Isla Decara A La Pared - Lhasa De Sela Rabbit Story - Ahn Sook Sun En Filant Ma Quenouille - Ffynnon P Stands For Paddy/Road To Lisdenvoorna/Sporting Paddy - Dave Gossage and The Celtic Mindwarp Quand J'étais Fille À Marier - Galant, tu Perds ton Temps Summer Shoes On - Michael Jerome Brown Get Up-Sam Sam - Les Mon Oncles Paye La Traite - La Bottine Souriante Tes larmes - Caracol Ula Nagalei - Nørn Que Reste T'il De Nos Amours ? - Angelo Debarre & Ludovic Beier El Rio - Jane Bunnett and The Spirits of Havana
