They call it “Raise a Ruckus for Radio Two” and organizers say protests have been planned for 13 cities: Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, London, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax, Charlottetown and St. John’s.
The protests will demand a rethinking or reversal of planned changes to CBC Radio Two, which have included a reduction in the amount of classical music programming to make way for music of a variety of genres.
The CBC says the changes are necessary to reflect Canadians’ changing music tastes, and that the CBC’s mandate is to give airtime to underplayed Canadian artists.
|
Email This Post |
| Changes to CBC Radio Two |
Is it reasonable to expect basically all classical all the time from a tax payer funded station?
If people have such limited tastes in music there are other subscription services which deliver all classical all the time.
Given that the percentage of the population that enjoys classical music can be counted with two fingers, it is perhaps time that the money we spend on Radio 2 be dedicated to providing content for the rest of us.
This protest is ridiculous.
These PEOPLE are ridiculous.
If CBC is to remain RELEVANT and appeal to a younger demographic….
(no offence but the demographic who are protesting tomorrow aren’t going to be around in the next 20-30 years)
….then they have to DIVERSIFY their offerings.
It’s like watching my grandmother take a temper tantrum. Enough already. Take out your teeth, drink your prune juice, and go to bed.
Fingers of one hand?
Full coverage of Radio 2 is over one million in the four major markets, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. It only has 14 stations, few compared to Radio One.
Will they drop off when CBC admin guts serious music? Will alternatives pop up for those listeners or ar they lost forever?
I think opening to other genres hardly counts as “gutting serious music”. There is a lot of “serious music” in the other genres too. I think it’s far more important to play Canadian music in addition to classical music, rather than dedicating a national station to playing only one type of music made by (mostly) European composers.
Right now, music lovers around the world are listening to Canadian music because it’s excellent. It’s a shame that these musicians only have a CBC venue on the satellite station. It’s time for CBC Radio 2 to share some air time with some other types of serious music.
What is with these complainers? I can vaguely remember the Radio Revolution that launched As It Happens, This Country in the Morning, The World at Eight (and Six), and many others. Some people thought the sky was falling then too. It’s time a revolution of sorts happened at Radio 2. Let’s all take a deep breath and give it a chance. We might just hear something wonderful.
Emily: CBC Radio had a proposal for Radio 3 to hit the FM waves. They dropped it and told nobody about it. And, serious music was present on Radio Two, oh, at least 6 years back. What happened to Brave New Waves? That was an excellent and indepth show to ‘alternative’ (word doesn’t count anymore) or ‘indie’ (does that word mean anything anymore?) genres appealing to all sorts of demographics. And I wholly agree with you on the ’serious’ music aspect, unmentioned in the article, but obviously read as a deep concern among many through your posting. Mind you, Jan Arden is already playing on EZRock. I’ve heard Feist on Top 40 format. To imagine that changes were implemented: I could see CBC only playing the already known classical top 40 hit: Pachabel’s Canon, and the like. Moses Znaimer has delved into it, but not with great success will it ever be as good as Radio Two’s diverse programming, from Monday to Sunday.
Stephen: I agree. Let’s get the CBC brass to put Radio 3 back into play, not only on our iPods.
Laker: I’ve heard more than just classical on CBC; infact, they’ve been playing all sorts for a long while now. I’ve music created by our native fellow Canadians, jazz, hip hop, rock and ambient. What happened to Brave New Waves? And, why should I have to pay for a subscription service to receive Canadian content in the form of ‘classical’ when CBC has 1 of 2 radio channels to deliver free to those all across our country- no matter how remote we are? Those satelite radios are deemed expensive with my budget. I will not capitulate to listening to a livestream on internet, as the sound quality is further from its more true broadcasting form.
Anonymous: I’ve been listening to the CBC since I was a wee lad- really wee, and by choice. I am now 30 years old. Are you saying that I will die when I’m 50? There is an abundance of people of all sorts of demographics that will make Radio Two stay the course, and not let it fail our culture by being gutted and turned inside out. Radio Two reflect’s Canada’s cultures on many genres already. Radio One does as well. Both these channels display the way that we are tied in, connected and portray our society in an expressive form. We should be proud of it and expand on it. BBC has 7 radio channels among many private stations.
Save classical music at the CBC. Don’t corner it into a 10-3 slot on all weekdays. That’s not catering to younger generations at all. Younger generations will need Radio Two after school
Paraphrasing, the mandate of the CBC is to support the Canadian cultural identity.
Classical music is primarily all about dead white guys from Europe, or modern guys trying to sound like dwgfe. No, I dont hate classical music, but I dont see anything uniquely Canadian about it either.
I dont thnk they should abandon the Classical music entirely, but if they spend more air time featuring rising Canadian musicians of other genres I think that is more closely attuned to their mandate.
I listen to CBC-1 daily - not much music, but lots of Canadian current affairs, which suits me just fine.
wait! cbc has not one but two radio stations ?!?
interesting….
I am sick and tired of hearing about the CBC not giving sufficient coverage to “Canadian” material (whatever that is..). Good Canadian popular material is already promoted already….and goodness alive we really don’t neet to use the CBC Radio 2 to promote mediocre stuff which would otherwise be mercifully consigned to the garbage bin.
CBC Radio 2 should continue to focus on “classical” music….it certainly should not be contracting its offerings.
The basic fact is that “classical music” speaks to the very fundamental issues of our existence. It is the music we turn to when we are thinking about the most important issues faced by any human being - birth, life, love and death. The strength and the power of music such as Beethoven’s 9th symphony has the capacity to move us in ways that more popular music never can.
And it is not just the older generation who are so moved…Many teenagers recount their first awakening to a lifelong interest in the classics. As they mature they also realize the transient nature of pop music (Beatles being notable exceptions) which is faddish and simply does not stand the test of time. It is inconceivable that anyone could experience anything remotely similar to the depth and intensity of feeling experienced when listening to the best of the classics, by listening to pop idols such as Celine Dion.
The two genres are like night and day.
Let’s get away from cultural relativism and recognize that some works of art are indeed superior to others and it is our sacred duty to ensure that the flame of classical music does not die out.
Yes - it’s a minority interest….but then so are other things such as the study of philosophy. Where would we be without the overarching principles provided by that discipline?
The worth of some things is simply beyond measure.
Today, in cold wet weather on Sparks Street Mall in Ottawa, I was joined by well over 100 others to protest the planned changes to Radio 2 and the end of CBC Radio Orchestra. There are critical posts here about the public funding of classical music. There is close to a billion dollars of public funding for the CBC. Besides Radio 1 and Radio 2 it brings us Hockey Night in Canada, CBC News, Little Mosque on the Prairie, Politics with Don Newman, Kenny v Spenny, Royal Canadian Air Farce, This hour Has 22 Minutes, Just for Laughs, The Rick Mercer Report, Marketplace, The Border, The Hour, Fifth Estate etc., Maybe there is one of these programs that these critics like. So it takes all kinds to make this world.
In September only five hours out of 24 on weekdays, that’s just over 20%, will be devoted to classical music with 40% of that Canadian Content.
Lovers of the great classical composers are just one of the groups that have their special interest. The music may be 400 years old or it may have been written last week but it has to be special to lovers of classical music. Some want Gregorian Chant some want Osvaldo Golijov. Whatever sort of classical music one likes most you can be assured that it will survive and be played around the world by all ethnic groups. There is a Symphony Orchestra in Baghdad, China has produced some wonderful artists, The Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela played concerts in London to universal critical praise, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra is a project started by conductor Daniel Barenboim and Professor Edward Said of Columbia University, it brings together players from Palestine and Arab nations to play classical music to help heal the divisions between nations in the middle east. Daniel Barenboim’s web site tells more about this remarkable man and what he is doing to further musical education around the world.
So what does CBC do? it drops its only orchestra because it can’t afford to pay for it. Is this the best Canada can do for the world of music.
SHAME!
I think the protests represents something larger. It’s not that intelligence is on trial per se, but depth and subtlety People are feeling threatened. The rapidity of the information age is making us all dizzy.
Classical (serious) music endures. That’s why people are passionate about it.
Apropo my last post
As one banner at the Ottawa protest today said,
“All Cassical Music is World Music”
To Jennifer McGuire:
Please can we have more of this World Music genre.
Speaking as one of those boring old fifty-plus foot-in-the-grave dinosaurs, while I enjoy classical music, I rarely listen to it. I far prefer a mix, which has included Nightlines, Brave New Waves, Radio Three, and now includes more Radio Three (via web and podcasts), Tonic, and The Signal. Not to mention a certain amount of - gasp! - commercial radio. So count me out when it comes to keeping Radio Two the way it was. Bring on the new, bring on the Canadian, but don’t forget history.
It’s not just about fuddy-duddies standing in the way of progress and clinging to music of long dead white men - it’s about remembering not everything in life should be about short term thinking. Sadly, the CBC has forgotten this by bowing to pressure from business interests who will benefit from its current decision dressed up as “moving with the times.” As a teenager, I naturally preferred the contemporary music popular with my peergroup and promoted by the record companies of the day. However, my parents, teachers and the larger culture saw to it that I was exposed to classical music - like it or not! I hope the protests will help the CBC recall its long term mandate to be part of many ways in which we collectively protect and promote a legacy to the younger generations of appreciation for music of such quality that it is still performed live after hundreds of years. The music of Paul Anka and Elvis didn’t keep me captivated for more than a few. The music of Sibelius, Rachmaninoff and Bach continues to give me growing pleasure after half a century. Us ol’ fuddy duddies just want the young to someday be able to say the same.
Perhaps one of the objections these people have is due to a slippery slope fallacy. If one extrapolates from CBC’s recent decision, one may conclude that in 10 years there will be no Western Art Music music on CBC2 or the radio. This may be incorrect though. There will always be a market for Western Art Music, because it is invariably a higher art form then all other forms of music (with the exception of high calibre Jazz). These protesters are partly in error by thinking that the modern era has produced new modes of thinking which threaten to end Western Art music. But Popular music has been around for thousands of years, since the lute playing minstrels on the corners of ancient Greece sang about drugs, wine, and sex, not unlike the pop music of today! We make the error of thinking that pop music is new, and that it is taking over the Western art music market, but pop music was more popular than “classical” music 2200 years ago, and Western Art music will always be available to those who look for something beyond the banalities of life and politics in music.
I believe we should take back the broadcasts while we can–I propose a weekly show filled with requests for requiems and death dirges to be aired on the now-dumped Here’s to You. Seems fitting to have requiems for the deceased CBC2.
In keeping with the new CBC2 programming and to show that we are willing to forgive and forget, I suggest “They Got the Gold Mine, We Got the Shaft”. (Oh, I forgot that this classic country example is not Can-Con.)
Perhaps a new young composer could write an original requiem for all the programs pushin’ up the daisies.
Morons!
My wife and I were part of a a small but enthusiastic group marching in front of CBC in Windsor today even though Windsor was not one of the cities that had an organized protest. Some but by no means all of the marchers were old. Two already has an appropriate mixture of classical and other genres of music. It is not broken; it is excellent. Why ruin it?
Speaking as a young emerging professional composer, 27 years old– I can say that I’m certainly not the only person of my generation to be affected and upset by all that is going on with the CBC right now. I was out at the rally in Vancouver today, which had about 400 people– and was certainly not the only young person there in attendance.
In particular, the axing of the CBC Radio Orchestra, and the discarding of its classical recordings catalogue is a huge issue– it is essentially erasing and invalidating 70+ years of irreplaceable CANADIAN musical heritage. Most upsetting to me, it is showing me that Canada is totally ignorant with regards to classical/contemporary art music– it does not care about supporting emerging composers, conductors, and performers– though we are its cultural future.
Many of the above posted comments with regards to “classical” music and the CBC Radio 2 demographic are totally uninformed and misguided. There are many music students and young people who enjoy and find great satisfaction listening to classical music (among other things). “Classical” music itself encompasses a broad range of styles and subcategories, including among other things works composed by LIVING, CANADIAN COMPOSERS. I agree with those people who have said that axing the CBC Radio Orchestra is just like closing down the contemporary section of the National Gallery. This is equally unthinkable. The CBC Radio Orchestra has been a major platform for commissioning, performing, and recording new works by Canadian composers, even including collaborations outside of the typical “classical” genre (just take a look at the programme for their upcoming “Great Canadian Songbook” concert, with artists such as Veda Hille paying homage to Canadian poet/songwriter Leonard Cohen).
For me it is an issue of the fact that we have so much talent in this country (world-class musicians and soloists, conductors, and composers), yet the already sparse opportunities for supporting and showcasing this talent are being denied, downgraded, and eliminated. Pretty soon we will be losing Canadian talent, and people who actually want to live and work here will be forced to seek work elsewhere. This is NOT what I want the future of my country to look like. I want to see these musicians employed, appreciated, and respected here in Canada. I want to see the CBC, and Canada maintain some integrity. As for Canadian (classical/contemporary art music) composers– there are so few platforms and opportunities already to have orchestral music performed. We need much MORE support, not less. Canadian composers badly need to find related work and opportunities too, just like everyone else.
I feel that the CBC and our government need to take a hard look at what they are doing– I am very concerned for our future.
If Jennifer McGuire at CBC wants another example of “World Music” I urge her to read Angela Hewitt’s comments on her website about her concert in Seoul, South Korea this week. Here is a Canadian proving to the world that Bach, the “classiest” of Classical Composers is music for all people, young or old, asian or european or whatever. Take note Jennifer, this is going on every day all over the world.
Does the mandate of the CBC decree a level of nationalistic mediocrity.
I am sorry that CBC thinks the way to increase audience is to devalue the importance of those who already listen. And as far as the current “My CBC includes…” ad campaign goes, all it seems to be saying is that famous people who will put their names to a statement they didn’t actually make know more about what Canada needs from its national FM than the rest of us do. Not only is the campaign insulting, but it is also silly. Is there anyone out there besides CBC management who thinks that increasing Jann Arden’s air time will produce enough new listeners to make up for those you lose forever? As you will me? As for commenters who think we who care are “limited”, “ridiculous”, “complainers”, will they in fact be listening to the new Radio Two? I wonder.
“wait! cbc has not one but two radio stations ?!?”
In fact there are five.
The protest in Victoria went very well indeed. The neanderthal’s who are responding on this BLOG suggesting that RADIO 2 should become just another FM radio station, should be required to acknowledge that they are wearing their Stephen Harper T Shirts as they write that stuff
Turning RADIO 2 into just another commercial radio station gives the Harper Hacks a solid justification to privatize the Network..which U have to suspect is the real agenda for the change in format
Bruce
Bruce, Neanderthal here. (I won’t return the flame because, well just because)
You suggest that radio 2 should not turn into just ‘another fm radio station’.
I would agree that it should not become just another FM radio station. Commercial FM radio plays a pretty narrow range of music. Usually crap that is pushed on them from the labels. There is a ton a music out there that should be heard. If it displaces some classical music then that is ok too.
If you want all classical all the time spend the 10 bucks and pick up a sat radio.
I suggest that the next protest be held on Saturday morning so those of us who keep normal office hours can express their feeling as well. In fact, we are the ones suffering the most as CBC will ensure that we will be hermetically sealed and protected from the infection of classical music. I was interested that CBC radio downplayed the Victoria protest even though it made front page news in the main Saturday paper!
By definition, serious classical music is cerebral and demands an intellectual engagement. It represents the ultimate human musical creativity, whether one listens to Bach’s choral masterpieces, Wagner’s Ring Cycle or a Schubert string quartet. Admittedly, more popular music has broader appeal, hence its proliferation on the commercial channels that try to cater to the largest common denominator. CBC’s argument that it want to be more inclusive of Canada’s national diversity is specious at best. There is plenty of choice of genres of popular music available on commercial radio that is freely available, and CRTC’s Canadian content requirements ensure that native talent is adequately recognized. I always considered the portion of my tax money that goes to Radio Two was well deserved, and would happily support allocating a higher portion of this money to it (even if it means raising my taxes slightly). But I cannot justify supporting public radio that is increasingly indistinguishable from commercial radio.
I am not being an elitist. I do listen to more popular music now and then, and I know where to get it – you literally can’t miss it on the dial. But if I wanted to indulge my senses, I always turned to my pride and joy – Radio Two. Don’t destroy it. WNED, the Buffalo Public Radio franchise, is excellent radio (“classical music all day and all night” plus at least two operas per week), and we in Toronto are lucky to be within earshot of its transmitter, but unfortunately reception is often unreliable. Perhaps if we lobby for a WNED transmitter in Toronto (I can hear the CRTC crying foul), then you can do with Radio Two whatever you wish.
Disclosure: I am not a classical music performer, seller of records, or in any way connected to the music industry. I have no financial/commercial interest in classical music. There is no angle in this note. I just love great music. It is profoundly moving, satisfying, and inspiring. The rest of the world recognize this, and so should we.
To lefties like Bruce there is only one valid position in any argument - that would be his position. To lefties like Bruce, not only is everyone but him wrong, but they’re in fact subhuman. Typical, but sad. The sad part is that lefties like him continue to fund their myopic hatred on tax payer dollars. Typical CBCer.
I really want my grandchildren to say that they got to listen to CBC classical music every time they got to ride in my car. It is about the only time they get to hear that great music and they will not be riding in my car between 10 and 3. So sad!!
I remember coming to Vancouver 25 years ago without my stereo and vinyl, and spending long hours tuning in to CBC FM’s amazing programming. In fact, it was the only channel I ever listened to, and it kept me company well after the eventual arrival of my stereo. My car radio preference has been CBC 105.7 for years, although of late it has been changing, and the changes bother me, because the rationale for those changes doesn’t quite add up; and because I am not convinced that always catering to the “will of the masses” is a good thing. If we always went the broad and easy way, there would be no fine restaurants, no fine wines, and no fine music. The whole-sale slaughter of so much of CBC’s fine music programming belies that part of CBC’s mandate that pays lip service to “educating” the public, which I interpret as meaning giving its listeners something of value and substance whether they all immediately appreciate it or not, as opposed to the more lucrative but also more trivial “newest and latest”. In addition, school-aged children and adults with livelihoods or daytimes devoid of radio contact will have access to this Most High art form almost exclusively curtailed. I think that CBC should be better than that - I think it should be better than all the other radio stations, and value, and stand up for, and promote classical music. I think that CBC, as a public station, should act in the longterm interests of its listening public, play music of a lasting and edifying nature, and not succomb to the will of the pencil pushers and number crunchers. It is neither the mandate nor the nature of public radio (as with public TV) to be merely a reflection of cultural tastes. I believe its calling to be better, higher, more earnest than this. And I believe that the proposed changes will further erode its ability to inspire, entertain and educate the Canadian public. CBC is not just another radio station, Please don’t turn it into one!
For almost 75 years CBC Radio has provided quality entertainment. Thanks to the barbarian commissars who have grabbed Harper-like control over Radio 2 this is soon to end. Sunday’s 9 hour broadcast of the 9 Beethoven symphonies shows us what the CBC at its best can do. Surely this is worth saving: the greatest music from the greatest composers who ever lived and to encourage all talented young Canadian composers and musicians. The pernicious cabal ruining CBC 2 would have us enter another Dark Age of the mind and soul. It is impossible to imagine a great national radio network acting like this anywhere in Europe or in the world for that matter. It is a national disgrace and an outrage to all Canadians who treasure intelligence, rationality and probity. The CBC once won international awards for excellence. No more alas, when stupidity rules the waves.
Why do neo-cons like Mike, feel that the mantle of spokesperson for all taxpayers rests upon their shoulders as by divine right?
My taxes go towards the medicare that also cares for right-wingers suffering from hypertension, heart attacks and gout. Neo-cons drive on the highways my taxes pay to keep paved.
I presume to speak, however, only for myself and would ask that anyone else who wishes to represent me as a taxpayer put their name forward at the next election.
Spin the radio dial AM or FM and you will hear hundreds of private broadcasters playing popular music, top 40, country and western ‘tears-in-my-beer’ music. I don’t want my tax dollars spent to crowd the radio dial with another popular demographic commercially viable radio station: I listen to the CBC because it doesn’t pander. It communicates, educates and where-ever in the country I find myself, I will always find myself at home by listening to the CBC.
Amen. “Mike” doesn’t speak for me either. Nor any does anyone else who shares his beliefs. As a Canadian citizen, I’ll speak for myself.
And on the subject: while I’m not a Radio 2 listener, I consider it worth keeping and improving upon from time to time. I also think there’s still room for the CBC Radio Orchestra. Maybe we do need a Radio 4 for the classicists of all ages among us…?
I want CBC to keep it’s classical programming because I like it. My tax dollars pay for it too. It’s more than the music, it’s the people who present it. They make the music interesting and fun and make it come alive. They educate us about the music, about the composers, about how they lived, about why they wrote the music and why it was important to them and we find connection with them and their music. It connects us with something that is transcends time and something that is universal to our human experience. There’s a reason that the music of Bach and Mozart stimulates brain development and so much other music doesn’t.
We live in a time where music and other arts are being removed from schools. Classical music becomes less relevant because people have no frame of reference from which to appreciate it. Children go through grade school never having played an instrument. This is part of the reason why the changes are being made, not because of any demographic issues, but because of lack of desire on a broader scale which comes from lack of knowledge, appreciation and understanding, and that is truly unfortunate. CBC 2 has been in the business of educating and bridging the gap between what people don’t know and what they need in order to appreciate the great music of the past and present. What will be even more unfortunate is what will happen to Canada culturally without such influences in the future.
Last, before I get of my soapbox, I’m a classical singer, well away from dying in the next 20 to 50 years, at the beginnings of a career. CBC has given me hope that our country appreciates and values what we classical artists do, it has given me opportunities to be heard on the airwaves, opportunities to compete in Debut and Westcoast performance, opportunities to share great Canadian music with the public and given me food to listen to and to ponder. To varying degrees, this probably represents the experience of many of us in the arts. With the loss of the orchestra (a money saving tactic that has allowed CBC to publish full-page articles in major Canadian newspapers telling people how great all the changes are…), young performers and your composers competition, many great shows and now many more, we are losing a part of our identity as Canadian artists and an important venue to express our work. We are losing something that has encouraged, driven, nurtured and sustained young aspiring musicians and established ones alike. We are throwing away that benefit for future musicians. I feel betrayed by the CBC.
The argument that classical music is all about dead white guys is foolish nonsense. It’s not a matter of being resistant to change. No one radio program can possibly meet all tastes and interests of listeners. What is being lost right now is the opportunity to be introduced to new performers and unfamiliar musical traditions.
Apart from CBC Radio 2, where am I going to hear the work of Robert Fleming, Marjan Mozetich, Michael Conway Baker, Alexina Louie, Jean Coulthard, Srul Irving Glick, Harry Somers, R. Murray Schafer?
The CBC seems to have stopped recording classical music concerts for broadcast. How will I have the opportunity to hear the work of the Toronto Consort, or the Esprit Orchestra, or Symphony Nova Scotia once “classical” music is confined to a narrow time band.
The Arts Report used to connect me to the wider arts community in Canada - news about art galleries, museums, poetry prizes - culture broadly defined. All that has disappeared in the last year.
The hosts of Radio 2 traditionally have been deeply knowledgeable, articulate and well-informed. They have been able to introduce listeners to new music, new ideas, new performers. That’s gone and going with the “retirement” of key hosts and their replacement by new voices who are utterly in love with themselves and the sound of their own voices - rather than having anything to say about the music.
And the idea that a mash up of pop, jazz, world, (classical), blues, more pop, more pop somehow is culturally relevant and will magically appeal to a brand-new, more desirable demographic is equally false.
The CBC is betraying its mandate to adequately represent Canadian culture to Canadians and the world.
Whither, Danielle? 26 April, 2007 Vancouver BC
Oh, dear Mme. de Charbonneau
Where are you? I’d like to know.
Though I search my amps, both high and low
Your soothing sounds do fade and go…
I was devoted, I sought you out –
Now all I hear is blasts and shouts.
Chaque apres-midi, your theme left me sated,
Now, for your music, I pine, unabated.
What did they do with dinner’s repast?
I hear strange sounds, I chew too fast –
I cannot rest, like evenings past,
Appetite fades, I laze, I fast.
Oh, how I long for your sweet refrains!
Oh, how I yearn for the violins!
Oh! How this jangles and hurts my head!
Is Danielle ill? Bach forbid she’s dead!
I rend my cloak, I stare in space,
The chatter of rap explodes in my face.
I cannot drive, no more plaisir,
My iPod is empty of sounds held dear.
I search the dial, I span the digits,
My fingers twitch, my heartbeat fidgets –
Gone are the hours of soothing notes,
Gone the melodies’ weaves and floats!
I pace about, I tear my hair –
Beethoven and Liszt, please hear my prayer!
Mozart would weep if he beheld this pall –
Scarlatti, Vivaldi — exiled, all!
Telemann, Schubert, where do you hide?
My brain freaks out with jazz inside!
Rachmaninoff buried and Brahms rejected,
Yo-yo Ma is by blues infected!
CBC Two is hip and cool –
Despair seeps in, I’m just their fool.
Forgotten is our dear Classicist’s rule –
I drag weary feet, I lean, I drool.
Woe is the sound of “New” Radio:
Le crepuscule sans Charbonneau.
Return to me, please, dear Danielle –
Without “Music For A While,” my life’s a Sonic Hell!
A Devoted and Now Dejected Listener, W. Carr
Don’t let the Conservatives trash Canadian Heritage like the Reagan Admin did in the States! (Lynn (Mrs.) Cheney was appointed Head of the National Endowment for the Humanities! They attacked Mapplethorpe and Sandra Bernhardt et al.) If enough people demand it, the Military-indistrial pork-pigs will have to back off. Put your tax dollars, love and energy into ALL kinds of public arts, culture, schools and heritage, books, not bombs etc. The Great Turning is happening, and major values shifting… We CAN “have it all” where really creative, inspiring actions are concerned. Just keepbuilding bridges with one another and rattling their chains until they self-destruct.
Don’t let the Conservatives kill the Arts like the Reagan Admin did in the States. He appointed (Mrs.) Lynn Cheney to be Head of the National Endowment for the Humanities, for heaven’s sakes, and they tried to eject Mapplethorpe, Sandra Bernhardt and everybody else they didn’t like. Keep the old, welcome the new. Have one channel for us old classical farts and the new stuff on another one. Having more than one chanel isn’t that hard. Fundraise some other way, or yell at your reps to make your tax dollars talk. Don’t fight, just Move Forward…
Create, build bridges, love, sing, dance — books not bombs, y’know? Have it all…