NORTHERN

from page 55

the Guess Who's 1970 hit "American
Woman," which was covered — nearly
note-for-note — by Lenny Kravitz in
1999.
It's also easy to discern the Canadian
qualities in the work of such artists as
MacMaster, Jesse Winchester and the
McGarrigle Sisters (one of whose two
members, Kate, is Wainwright's mother).
But there is almost nothing that can
be pinpointed as sounding even
remotely Canadian in the work of, say,
Morissette, Krall, Sum 41, Bryan
Adams, Celine Dion, Anne Murray or
such almost-forgotten acts as
Loverboy, Corey Harr and April Wine.
"Our English sounds pretty much
like yours," Harmer said. "But the sub,
ject matter can vary. Being a younger
culture and country, and one that
came into being with less of a 'Let's
fight the British military might' thing,
we came into being in a younger, more
naive way. So perhaps there's been less
of a sense of confidence.
Page elaborated on that lack of con-
fidence, a condition that, happily, has
started to improve in recent years.
"The biggest expectation Canadians
have for their musicians [who go
abroad] is: 'Please don't embarrass us.
Don't offend anybody,"' he said,
speaking from a tour stop in the
Midwest.
"There's a sense of 'We want you to
break ground, and be iconoclastic, but
don't go too far.'
"When Canada lost its innocence
was when [track star] Ben Johnson got
disqualified from the 1988 Olympics.
It was the first time we got the lime-
light and didn't crave it anymore. We
felt like: 'This is something that
should happen in the States:"

"

Facing A Backlash

Swimming up the dark rivers to dis-

cover your source / A source of strange

and unrequited remorse /And I found

the end of the work; of course / But

its not the end of the worlt4 of course /

Its just a Vancouver divorce

— from "Vancouver Divorce," by

Gordon Downie (2001)

Crash Test Dummies, who had a big
international hit (with 1994's
`Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm').
"They'd say: 'Yeah, we remember
them when they were popular [in
Canada].' At the same time, there isn't
an appetite for something truly revolu-
tionary in music in Canada, as much
as for something that will make it in
the U.S."
Those sentiments were amplified by
the Tragically Hip's Downie.
"Ultimately, you choose to live here
before anything else, even before you
work here," said Downie, whose
recent first solo album and book of
poetry, Coke Machine Glow, fared well
in Canada but not abroad.
"The idea of living here and travel-
ing to America in a rock band shows a
certain ambition. In America you have
a luxury, in that you're performing in
your homeland.
"It's something people here lament,"
he continued. "Not just with us, but
when a doctor goes to practice in the
U.S. it's called 'brain drain,' although
I don't ascribe to that.
"People like Joni Mitchell, Neil
Young and the Band created a model,
which said: All you've really got is
your songs.'
"We tend to look for the real deal
from up here, although that doesn't
mean I'm claiming any prescience. But
it's a very diverse cultural mosaic we
have."
The Internet is one way for
Canadian acts to be heard beyond
their borders (Maplemusic.com is an
especially good Web site for American
listeners to discover rising young indie
acts). But if bands or solo artists lack
the financial resources to promote
their albums and tour abroad, making
-an impact beyond Canada becomes an
even more difficult prospect.
Still, there are numerous musicians
who are happy to live and work solely
in their homeland. Others gamely
attempt the delicate balancing act of
remaining based in Canada, while
seeking to make inroads abroad.
"The main thing to remember,"
Wainwright stressed, "is that we're all
just citizens of the world. On one
hand, our nationality as Canadians is
important. But, really, the less nation-
alistic you are in general, the better."

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When Canadian musicians do seek
success elsewhere, they often face a
backlash in their homeland, Page
explained.
"A lot of people who had chances to
make it in the States got torn down
before they could go there," he said.
"They would do that with artists like

— Arts & Entertainment Editor Gail
Zimmerman contributed to this article.

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12/28
2001

57