Greetings all, and happy birthday Canada!
Read on for a wicked CanCon playlist, a snapshot of how Ottawa residents are celebrating Canada Day, and a brand-new (and very Canadian) poem:
Canada Day Playlist 2019
If you’re looking for some new CanCon to blast today, I have the playlist for you: fifteen (give or take) of my favourite Canadian tracks from 2019, ranging from rap to rock to folk and everything in between.
You can read my comments here – or, if you would rather dispense with my commentary, you can just listen to the songs below:
Canada Day in Ottawa
Canada Day festivities were already in full force in Canada’s capital yesterday.
Just down the street from Parliament Hill, Major’s Hill Park featured a number of family-friendly activities and performances, including a set by synth-pop trio CHANCES:
The group took the stage at Ottawa’s Major’s Hill Park at around 2 pm. Accompanied by drummer Vincent Carré, singers Chloé Lacasse and Geneviève Toupin showed off strong vocal harmonies on darkly-gleaming songs that were alternately lively and ecstatic.
-CHANCES ft. Iskwe @ Major’s Hill Park; July 1/2019
The grounds were decked out with a ton of neat displays, including large yellow signs with excerpts from works by Canadian poets:
Speaking of poems…
I celebrated by sharing my poem “Ghosts of Parliament,” perhaps the most Canadian thing I’ve ever written, to Twitter and Instagram in the form of a ten-part photo series.
With photos taken in and around Parliament Hill’s Centre Block before it closed for renovations, the poem takes the form of a conversation between the various gargoyles, statues and carvings that lurk on the premises.
Happy Canada Day, everyone! Get out there and watch some fireworks (or stay in and watch a David Cronenberg movie; I don’t judge).
-Madison
