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Spoiler America (Sweary) :
Unofficial National Anthems
- Thread starter Traitorfish
- Start date
The Brazilian national anthem is quite well liked by Brazilians, despite being very pompous and I'm sure not properly understood by 99% of the population (the lyrics being written by a professor of Portuguese who deliberately made them extremely difficult). To its credit, it talks about love and nature, not war and sacrifice like most anthems.
But if there's an alternative anthem, I suppose it's Aquarela do Brasil.
But if there's an alternative anthem, I suppose it's Aquarela do Brasil.
Evie
Pronounced like Eevee
Well, I only heard the Hockey Song for the first time last summer on Parliament Hill...but the very first thing I said to the friend I was with at the time was indeed along the lines of "Forget O Canada, this should totally be the anthem"
The French version never had "all thy son's" (or any french equivalent) to begin with. The only vaguely gendered line is "terre de nos aieux", but "nos aieux", while it can be read as "our forefathers", can also be read as "our forebears". I always thought the inclusion of "sons" in the English version was mildly stupid, and I'm glad it's slowly going away.
All for skipping the "God keep our land" bit, too.
The French version never had "all thy son's" (or any french equivalent) to begin with. The only vaguely gendered line is "terre de nos aieux", but "nos aieux", while it can be read as "our forefathers", can also be read as "our forebears". I always thought the inclusion of "sons" in the English version was mildly stupid, and I'm glad it's slowly going away.
All for skipping the "God keep our land" bit, too.
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Our second unofficial Dutch national anthem is "de Zilvervloot", celebrating the capturing of a Spanish silverfleet in 1628, during our 80-year freedom war. The song was made in 1844, heydays of nationalism everywhere.
On a side note, our current National Anthem is the "Wilhelmus" written in 1570, two years after the war with Spain started.
On a side note, our current National Anthem is the "Wilhelmus" written in 1570, two years after the war with Spain started.
The original English version of O Canada didn't have the "all thy sons" (no apostrophe; that's an important distinction that is tripping up all the twits who insist that "all of us command" is ungrammatical). Those words were added as a PR thing - to make joining the Canadian military a more masculine, more patriotic thing. Of course it never occurred to the people at that time that women could be patriotic, even though women did serve in both wars in non-combat roles.
If you could see the vitriol on CBC.ca in the comment pages regarding Mauril Belanger's proposed change, you might not think that "all thy sons" will go away any time soon. The Reformacons are absolutely vile on this topic, female Reformacons as well. They keep saying that women didn't do anything in the wars, just sat back and let men do all the work.
Women ran the farms, worked in the factories, did nursing, clerical work, were drivers and mechanics (the Queen herself did this in World War II, when she was still Princess Elizabeth), and took over doing a thousand different jobs that the men were doing, because the men went off to fight and someone had to do them.
And now that women are allowed combat roles, it's no longer possible to say that women don't deserve to be acknowledged in the anthem because they never fought.
I'd really thought this change might be possible this time. I have to wonder how many Reformacons voted against it not for sexist reasons, but for sheer spite from having lost the 2015 election.
I don't know why that change was made, unless it was in keeping with the blackmail the Progressive Conservative premiers engaged in back around 1980-82, when Trudeau was trying to convince them to sign on to the Constitution. "Include God or we won't sign."
So ever since then, we've been stuck with an anthem that says only Christian males are patriotic. I refuse to sing that, so I have my own version, which is a combination of the religion-neutral first verse I learned as a child, and Mauril Belanger's proposed new lyrics. You should see the downvotes I get on CBC.ca when I point out that asking "God" to keep our land "glorious and free" is basically saying, "Help, we're screwed! We don't know what we're doing, so get us out of this mess!"
Now here's another possibility. There are lots of different videos posted on YouTube of this song, using different images. But this is a live performance of The Arrogant Worms (the name of their group) and the name of the song is "Canada's Really Big."
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I meant to reply to this part of your post earlier.
Stompin' Tom Connors was, and continues to be even after his death, one of Canada's treasures. I remember listening to him on the radio when I was a young child, singing the song about the capital cities of the provinces and territories, and that's how I learned them: "Edmonton is a mighty fine town; they never turn the Maple Leaf upside-down!" (and insert whichever city's name applies). I remember when my mother worked on the cleaning staff at the motel near our acreage; she came back one evening, telling us that Stompin' Tom Connors had stayed there. I guess he was on tour and stopped here. I wish I could have seen him perform in person. I've only seen him on TV and in videos.
BTW, @Evie: My dad was into hockey long before Gretzky was around, and he'd watch Hockey Night in Canada every chance he got. I think I was about 5 or 6, maybe a bit younger... anyway, I learned the names of more of the Quebec players than I did of players from other places (with the exception of one of my mother's cousins, who played for our local team and never made it anywhere near the NHL).
Evie
Pronounced like Eevee
I know so little about so much of English Canada's musical scene (and yes, I consider that a sad thing), and most of what I've picked up I've picked up in my few years in Ottawa. The great local legends of music in my childhood were Gilles Vigneault, Michel Rivard, Félix Leclerc. Not Tom Connor or Gord Dowie (or the Arrogant Worms, not that they're on the same level, but I love The Last Saskatchewan Pirate). Not a strike against them ; it's just...they weren't part of the culture I grew up in.
Obviously, I'm not a pre-Gretzky fan of hockey (he already had two NHL seasons, not counting the WHA, under his belt by the time I was born; heck, I was seven when he was traded so in a very real sense to me he's more associated with Los Angeles than Edmonton, and it was the post-Gretzky Oilers - Mark Messier's team, not Wayne Gretzky's - that were briefly "my team" during the late eighties (between my Nordiques phase and my finally settling on the Penguins (which remain my second team after the Habs to this day, Mario Lemieux is still my favorite player ever and Jaromir Jagr remains among my favs).
Obviously, I'm not a pre-Gretzky fan of hockey (he already had two NHL seasons, not counting the WHA, under his belt by the time I was born; heck, I was seven when he was traded so in a very real sense to me he's more associated with Los Angeles than Edmonton, and it was the post-Gretzky Oilers - Mark Messier's team, not Wayne Gretzky's - that were briefly "my team" during the late eighties (between my Nordiques phase and my finally settling on the Penguins (which remain my second team after the Habs to this day, Mario Lemieux is still my favorite player ever and Jaromir Jagr remains among my favs).
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Speaking of the daredevil. He is at last in Canada:
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And I've never heard of the singers you mention. René Simard was popular when I was a teenager; he had his own show for awhile, and I did watch it occasionally. There were a few other French-Canadian singers I'd see if they were guesting on another show, like the Irish Rovers or John Allan Cameron. As for The Arrogant Worms, I'd heard a couple of their songs before, but spent some time tonight listening to more of them. First time I ever heard "The Last Saskatchewan Pirate". It's cute. Fun fact: There's a pirate ship-shaped monkey bar/climbing sort of thing at Mackenzie Trails Picnic Park, which is part of the Waskasoo Park trail system in Red Deer. It's close to where I used to work at Kerry Wood Nature Centre (in the interpretive centre) and I lived close by there some years ago.
Please tell me that you were at least familiar with Gordon Lightfoot. I became a fan in 1974, when my Grade 7 music class learned a couple of his songs. As was the case with a lot of songs back when I played the organ regularly, I listened to "Early Morning Rain" a few times, and then went home and played it on the organ. My grandmother really liked that one, and also "Did She Mention My Name?". I have to admit that I prefer the Irish Rovers' version of "The Great Canadian Railroad Trilogy" over Lightfoot's version.
Admittedly I watched hockey more because it was something to do with my dad, rather than an interest in the game itself. And back on the acreage, there were years at a time when we only had one channel. So it was watch hockey or don't watch TV at all. Mind you, I do enjoy Olympic hockey (less fighting) and it doesn't matter which city's team the players are from, because it's Canada I'm cheering for. And of course most Canadian kids grow up having played hockey in some form. I can't skate worth a damn, but I wasn't bad at floor hockey.
Evie
Pronounced like Eevee
I wish I could say I heard of him when I was young, Valka. I’m sorry 
There really are two completely distinct cultures that rarely interact except at the edges (eg, french speakers outside Quebec, english-speakers in Quebec, and most everyone on both sides of the Ottawa valley) in Canada. Which is natural, since language is central to culture, and many cultural things just don’t translate very well, especially music and humor. Even if they do translate tolerably, a translated work almost always loses something of itself. Most of what interaction we do get is when one of the two culture's artists make it big internationally (and both Simard and, more recently, Celine Dion fall in that category), and essentially pass through the US media machine.
It's a sad thing, really. We do a decent job of preserving our two cultures, but a terrible job of sharing them with each other.
There really are two completely distinct cultures that rarely interact except at the edges (eg, french speakers outside Quebec, english-speakers in Quebec, and most everyone on both sides of the Ottawa valley) in Canada. Which is natural, since language is central to culture, and many cultural things just don’t translate very well, especially music and humor. Even if they do translate tolerably, a translated work almost always loses something of itself. Most of what interaction we do get is when one of the two culture's artists make it big internationally (and both Simard and, more recently, Celine Dion fall in that category), and essentially pass through the US media machine.
It's a sad thing, really. We do a decent job of preserving our two cultures, but a terrible job of sharing them with each other.
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Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
No one posted the America one yet, so I'm posting it. It's in the quote below, spoilered for language.
Evie
Pronounced like Eevee
(Perf beat you to it, post #21)
True. I'm flabbergasted that you hadn't heard of Gordon Lightfoot back then, since he's been around for so many decades. But then you could probably name a dozen of your favorite Quebecois singers and I wouldn't have heard of them. And in the French classes I've taken here, from Grade 4 through university level, pretty much nothing was taught of words and phrases unique to Quebec. It was all France French, if you get what I mean. We learned a bit of history and culture, some songs (children's songs, admittedly), but none of it was Canadian French. There were a couple of novels and a play we read in my college courses, and I know they had nothing to do with Canada (actually, I think Kyriakos might like them since they're so damned depressing).I wish I could say I heard of him when I was young, Valka. I’m sorry
There really are two completely distinct cultures that rarely interact except at the edges (eg, french speakers outside Quebec, english-speakers in Quebec, and most everyone on both sides of the Ottawa valley) in Canada. Which is natural, since language is central to culture, and many cultural things just don’t translate very well, especially music and humor. Even if they do translate tolerably, a translated work almost always loses something of itself. Most of what interaction we do get is when one of the two culture's artists make it big internationally (and both Simard and, more recently, Celine Dion fall in that category), and essentially pass through the US media machine.
It's a sad thing, really. We do a decent job of preserving our two cultures, but a terrible job of sharing them with each other.
My clearest memory of René Simard is that my teenage self thought he was really cute, but then I was at the age to notice that sort of thing at the time. I don't remember much of what he sounded like, or if I thought he was a good singer. I suppose I could look him up on YouTube to find out.
As for Celine Dion, I absolutely do not understand the appeal. Yes, the theme song from Titanic is nice. But as for Dion herself... yikes. She looks anorexic on a good day, and her speaking voice sounds really harsh. Mind you, I don't understand the appeal of Shania Twain, either, or probably most Canadian singers who don't do folk music.
The area in which the two cultures do tend to get shared is in figure skating. One of Canada's most successful pairs teams was Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler. When they were first paired up, he spoke no French and she spoke no English. But they overcame that language problem, and made it all the way to the Olympic podium. And there was the ice dancing team of Isabelle and Paul Duschenay; they had dual citizenship with Canada and France, and while they chose to skate for France, the Canadian fans cheered them on just as much as we cheered the Canadian teams.
OldBoomer
Warlord
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Never heard that one. Kinda catchy, but a little too warmongery... I think this one more subtly hits all of their key issues and manages to balance that nicely with a soft melody.
Evie
Pronounced like Eevee
Yeah, I imagine Vigneault and Rivard (to name just them) are probably in the same range. One practically wrote the unofficial Quebec anthem (which is also the other Quebec birthday song), and what *I* think should be the provincial anthem of Quebec (two different songs - the second one is the source of the quote on the parchment in my avatar), plus a handful of other very, very famous song, ranging from ballads to children songs.
And yes, sports and especially ice sports (hockey too) tend to be one of the common ground between the two cultures. I do remember Brasseur/Eisler, they're probably some of the first Olympics I remember (okay, no, I lie - my first memory of the Olympics is the Ben Johnson affair in Seoul in 88).
And yes, sports and especially ice sports (hockey too) tend to be one of the common ground between the two cultures. I do remember Brasseur/Eisler, they're probably some of the first Olympics I remember (okay, no, I lie - my first memory of the Olympics is the Ben Johnson affair in Seoul in 88).
