Yesterday the CBC launched “The Great Canadian Song Quest“, a social media campaign that aims to draw on Canadians’ passion for the landscape and music.

The idea is to ask Canadians to nominate places they would like celebrated in a song, select the winners, then vote on who performs the songs.

Kai Black, the executive producer of daytime programming at CBC Radio 2, thought up the idea this summer while driving up to a cottage. “We were jammed in a tiny little car, with a bag of chips on my lap, and we saw the sign for Bobcaygeon,” and, as Black tells it, everyone in the car burst into the Tragically Hip song “It was in Bobcaygeon…” he says singing.

“So I thought to myself what if you asked Canadians what places you would want immortalized in song?”

Black says the inspiration for the campaign was last year’s Obama’s playlist. “That went really viral,” he says, “and what it told me that Canadians are passionate about music.”

Right now the campaign is focused on building the foundation on social networks. There are templates for creating your own blog, digital badges and banners, Twitter hashtags and bunch of other bells and whistles. Then on Sept 28th the nomination phase opens and Canadians will be able to start nominating their 13 most music-worthy places.

I think someone has to nominate the flying saucer in Moonbeam, Ontario. What’s yours?

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