7/16/2023 0 Comments Gord downyMore importantly, the Hip challenged conventions. The band would rise from bar-band oddballs to an arena-filling act, capturing 16 Juno Awards along the way. Formed in 1983, the Hip was at the forefront of a movement that saw Canadian rock bands beginning to write original songs about their country. Downie recorded 14 albums with the Tragically Hip, a Kingston-born alt-rock quintet composed of guitarists Rob Baker and Paul Langlois, bassist Gord Sinclair, drummer Johnny Fay and the singer-lyricist Mr. He succumbed to glioblastoma, an aggressive, incurable form of brain cancer that was diagnosed in December of 2015. 17 surrounded by his family and children, the Tragically HipĪnnounced in a statement. Downie, an imaginative songwriter, inimitable live performer, environmentalist, advocate for First Nations people and published poet,ĭied on Oct. Over the course of a robustly artistic life he would lyrically caress a country, whether rhyming "Jacques Cartier" with "right this way," or singing about a late-breaking story on the CBC.īobcaygeon he and the Tragically Hip put a small Ontario summer town on the map, and with a song much more rugged, Fifty-Mission Cap, a buried piece of hockey lore was anthemically conveyed: It was a spur of the moment remark at the time, but the boast was verifiable and career-defining. "I can stroke you people all night long," he said, "with little things about where you live." After describing the Nova Scotian capital as the "Paris of the Maritimes," the wild-eyed frontman continued. In between songs at the Misty Moon music room in Halifax, with his dark brown bangs matted in sweat against his forehead, a loose-limbed Mr. Note: This resource is not considered an authentic First Peoples resource.On April 6, 1990, the Tragically Hip's Gord Downie was an intriguing singer on the upswing, not yet the Canadian-rock laureate he would later become. Recommended resource for English First Peoples grades 10-11 for units on Childhood through the Eyes of Indigenous Writers and First Steps - Exploring Residential School and Reconciliation through Children's Literature. Proceeds from Secret Path will be donated to The Gord Downie Secret Path Fund for Truth and Reconciliation via The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) at The University of Manitoba. The next hundred years are going to be painful as we come to know Chanie Wenjack and thousands like him-as we find out about ourselves, about all of us-but only when we do can we truly call ourselves, “Canada.” Every year as we remember Chanie Wenjack, the hope for Secret Path is that it educates all Canadians young and old on this omitted part of our history, urging our entire nation to play an active role in the preservation of Indigenous lives and culture in Canada. Secret Path acknowledges a dark part of Canada’s history-the long-suppressed mistreatment of Indigenous children and families by the residential school system-with the hope of starting our country on a road to reconciliation. We are not the country we thought we were. He didn’t know where it was, nor how to find it, but, like so many kids-more than anyone will be able to imagine-he tried.Ĭhanie’s story is Canada’s story. Secret Path is a ten song album by Gord Downie with a graphic novel by illustrator Jeff Lemire that tells the story of Chanie “Charlie” Wenjack, a twelve-year-old boy who died in flight from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School fifty years ago.Ĭhanie, misnamed Charlie by his teachers, was a young boy who died on October 22, 1966, walking the railroad tracks, trying to escape from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School to return home.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |