Some Canadian musicians and content material creators are reflecting a sudden surge in patriotism as they pay attention anxiously to the crescendo and decrescendo of United States President Donald Trump’s rhetoric against their country.
The professional-Canada songs at present spreading throughout social media, together with some by Canadian celebrities, reveal a spread of reactions to Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, whereas additionally contributing to the nationwide temper.
These songs are putting, as a result of Canadians have in current many years been comparatively uninterested in loud assertions of nationalist sentiment, exterior of sporting events.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Patrick Doyle
Shared identification
When shared identification has been emphasised, it has typically been to advertise provincial separatism or the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Uncritical Canadian nationalism has, to some, felt inappropriate for the reason that 2015 findings and proposals of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
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Patriotic emotions have been additional sophisticated in the course of the pandemic, when the flag was co-opted by people opposing public well being restrictions.
In these contexts, many commentators have for a while struggled to find a shared Canadian perspective towards the nation.
Phrases akin to “multicultural nationalism,” “plural nationalism” and even “a postnational nation” are maybe the very best descriptors of nationalist sentiment when it’s expressed in Canada.
In music, Canadian nationalism is simply hardly ever articulated, past performances of the anthem. The pop songs that inform notably Canadian tales are typically extra sentimental than nationalistic — songs like Gordon Lightfoot’s “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” or Anne Murray’s “Snowbird.”
But one thing has shifted amid Trump’s verbal and financial assaults on Canada started, because the reactions of sports activities followers to performances of the U.S. anthem have also demonstrated.
Songs on the commerce struggle
As a scholar of music and nationalism, I’m fascinated about what the a number of dozen songs concerning the commerce struggle that I’ve positioned would possibly counsel about that shift.
The patriotic songs by apparently Canadian creators that I talk about listed here are all drawn from Fb and Instagram feeds and looking out YouTube utilizing English-language phrases akin to “Canada tariffs track,” “51st state track,” and “Canadian patriotic track.” A deeper dive into Québec-specific, francophone and multilingual responses can be extra important methods of this.
They characterize an array of musical types, together with rock, steel, reggae, country, folk and pop.
A lot of the songs I discovered have authentic music: these setting new lyrics to present copyrighted tunes aren’t included right here. I additionally excluded the few songs with probably slanderous materials. A quantity make use of AI. Indigenous and self-identified immigrant views thus far appear under-represented.
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Patriotism, Canadian-style
An specific patriotism is probably the most putting — and new — characteristic of this repertoire. What is evident on this sampling, nonetheless, is that Canadians nonetheless stay allergic to jingoistic nationalism — blindly professing or adhering to perception within the advantage of 1’s nation.
TV host and comedian Tom Green’s “I’m a Canadian”, for instance, is a humorous, self-deprecating track that celebrates Canada’s uniqueness with out being exclusionary or making claims of exceptionalism.
This mild Canadianism can also be mirrored in stereotypically well mannered refusals of Trump’s provide to hitch america: “Thanks, but we’re already great! We don’t need to borrow your stars or your fate!”
These songs rejoice politically benign options of Canada — its pure world, its chilly winters, its meals and its love of sports activities.
Canadian values, in the meantime, are offered as compassionate, noble and good: “We stand for truth and kindness, and we help those in need.”
The place Canadians are the first viewers, resilience is usually foregrounded.
The soothing singer-songwriter type of “Canada’s Home,” for example, gently encourages power and fortitude. Once more, sturdy ethical values are emphasised: “Canada’s integrity is what bullies can’t stand.”
Songs for the U.S.
Many songs appear geared toward an American viewers, along with a Canadian one.
In “We Used to Be the Better of Mates” by Jim Cuddy, a Canadian Music Hall of Famer and Blue Rodeo frontman, the listener is politely reminded of the lengthy friendship between the U.S. and Canada. Cuddy makes use of a captivating folks type to remind People of cultural and political experiences shared with Canada, and of difficult instances when Canadians had their again.
Cuddy’s wistfulness for a threatened friendship contrasts with songs that take a extra assertive stance, particularly in response to Trump’s 51st state threats. With titles like “Canada is Not For Sale,” such songs emphasize the flag and the rights of Canadians.
Just a few songs go additional nonetheless, abandoning conventional courtesies for sarcasm and even rudeness.
Assertions of Canadian power recur repeatedly. The “elbows up” movement, impressed by the second Canadian comic Mike Myers mouthed this hockey phrase associated with Gordie Howe on Saturday Night time Reside, has produced a number of songs about Canada’s readiness to withstand American actions.
Though songs of this kind are extra defiant, they however maintain true to conventional Canadian values. “Elbows Up Canada!” celebrates unity and “holding the road” collectively. Utilizing AI-created video imagery, this track juxtaposes pictures of early settlers with a short picture of Indigenous folks in conventional gown or regalia standing with a Canadian flag, reflecting the lyrics, “aspect by aspect”.
I’ll be aware that this track’s transient depiction of Indigenous presence is uncommon amongst songs I discovered. In meditations about nationwide unity, most of those creators make no allusions to Indigenous Peoples, or Canada’s ethnolinguistic or racial variety.
In so doing, these songs reduce identities that are important to many Canadians to be able to bolster nationwide identification. They implicitly encourage all residents to place apart what separates them to deal with an exterior menace.
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In a cross-border context, these songs don’t articulate hatred of People as a folks. The frustration they specific is constantly directed at Trump, not the U.S. as an entire.
However with a looming election in Canada and the actions and rhetoric of each international locations shifting day by day, it’s attainable this will change. Will the music and the cultural dialog turn into extra hostile? Will Canadians themselves develop involved if their nation’s patriotic turn becomes belligerent?
As Cornell College political scientist Benedict Anderson argued in 1983, a nation is in the end an “imagined community,” as a result of we will by no means know everybody inside it. The sensation of nationwide belonging occurs solely in our minds and is bolstered by the tales we inform ourselves.
Music has a singular capability to take part on this reinforcement, constructing shared identification throughout huge and diverse areas. It could actually additionally enable us to distinguish ourselves from others. Each capacities are being absolutely exploited on this difficult second.
