by Becky Blumenthal.Back in the early 1990s, Seattle was the place to be if you were a music lover. Home to the infamous Nirvana, Hole, Pearl Jam, and, Bikini Kill, Seattle produced most of the popular music of the day. Unfortunately, the nineties are over, and Seattle is still cool, but no longer the haven of new music. Now, the place to be is Montreal, which is quickly becoming the musical city du jour. Last week, it was Williamsburg, before that Omaha, but now it's in Jack Frost Territory.
The American music scene seems to have a knack for depending on the originality of small cities, although, until now, it's typically stayed within U.S. boundaries. Only a five-hour drive from New York City or a one and a half hour flight costing a mere $150, Montreal is more accessible than we realize. While it has always had the reputation as being a place of musical experimentation, the eyes of America have not been focused on the city since the 1976 Olympics.
Why Montreal? That's a tricky question. Montreal is actually divided between the Francophones (French speakers) and the Anglophones (English speakers). In this case, the Francophones own the town, making up over sixty percent of the population. But, the Anglophones are bringing new attention to the music scene. Aside from mainstream acts Rufus Wainwright and Simple Plan, Montreal bands didn't begin to make heads turn until the Arcade Fire's rise in popularity last year.
Montreal is an ideal city for a band, both politically and economically. While Anglophone music is banned from the radio in Montreal, a governmental agency known as FACTOR: the Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent on Records, provides financing for demos, videos and tours of musicians who apply for aid. For example, The Dears, the Stars and the Unicorns have all applied for and received money from FACTOR.
Some musicians living in Montreal joke that the bad weather keeps them inside writing songs and rehearsing. A key reason for the popularity of Montreal: cheap urban real estate in a cultural haven. A growing music scene requires lots of cheap space for musicians to live, record, play and rehearse. What makes the real estate even cheaper is that tax credit is given to spaces that are used for artistic purposes.
Despite the fact that these English speaking bands are in the minority, they are thriving. Bands like Godspeed you! Black Emperor, the Dears, the Stars, former Smashing Pumpkin and Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur, the Unicorns, the Stills, and Kid Koala are all making waves.
No, Montreal hasn't given the music world an equivalent of Seattle's Nirvana. Nor does Montreal have it's own unique sound, like 'grunge.' But, much of the music that your friends are listening to is from Canada, so maybe you should check it out too, eh!?!
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5 comments:
that's it, I moving to canada
Err. English music is not banned from Montreal radio. There are many English language stations in Montreal that play everything from Pink Floyd to Brittney Spears to Arcade Fire. In fact, even the francophone stations play some English music.
All radio stations in Canada must adhere to the terms of their broadcast licence. The CRTC (Canada's FCC) decides those terms (with intense lobbying from business groups), such as what type of content (community programming, all news, rock, easy listening, classical, whatever) and what language (English or French). There is a further requirement, which is Canadian content - the licence will require the radio station to play, for example, 20% Canadian music to ensure that our smaller music scene is not overrun by the larger and better financed (mainstream) American music scenes.
Again, there is absolutely no censorship. Yes, the majority of the population in Montreal is francophone and as a (logical) result, all public signs must have French more prominent than any other language, but no, there is no censorship. Actually, the mix of languages and cultures encourages innovation and is probably partly responsible for the quality of the Montreal music scene.
Ever since the New York Times had a sudden interest in Montreal, we have all these unbeliavebly crazy theories on the "english minority". But the thing is, the NYT journalist and everybody else writting on Montreal haven't bothered checking out their so-called theories. Simple Plan has french speakers members who happens to sing in English.
Because they like it better? Yup! Because they are a minority? Not! 3 out of 4 members of the Stills are French born Quebecois. And does Regine Chassagne (Arcade Fire) sounds english to you? Anyway, half of their songs have frenchin them.
And...
Would you leave me alone with all that sudden Montreal scene! Montreal has always been musically lively and amazing. If a few more english speaker/listener would bother have a peek to Montreal's french music, they would realise it's pretty goddamn good too...
Isn't this article at least a year too late? Isn't Montreal over already?
over? Nothing's over until we say its over! :)
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