UNIVERSITY OF SAINT ANTHONY

(Dr. Santiago G. Ortega Memorial)

City of Iriga, Philippines 4431

GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH

Music of Canada

History

The music of Canada reflects the diverse influences that have shaped the country. Indigenous
Peoples, the Irish, the British, and the French have all made unique contributions to the musical heritage
of Canada. American culture has also subsequently influenced the music because of the proximity
between the two countries.
Since French explorer Samuel de Champlain arrived in 1605 and established the
first permanent French settlements at Port Royal and Québec in 1608, the country has
produced its own composers, musicians, and ensemble. Canadian music reflects a
variety of regional scenes. It has a wide and diverse accumulation of music from many
different individual communities all across Canada.
Canada Music Fund is one of the government support programs that assist a wide range of
musicians and entrepreneurs who create, produce, and market original and diverse Canadian music. With
Canada being vast in size, the country throughout its history has had regional music scenes that reflected
the multicultural influences that have shaped the country. The Canadian music industry is the sixth-largest
in the world, producing internationally renowned composers, musicians and ensembles.

Music Genres

Blues
Canadian blues is the blues and blues-related music like blues rock performed
by blues bands and performers in Canada. The main blues instruments: guitar
(acoustic and electric, harmonica ("blues harp"), keyboards (piano and Hammond
organ), bass and drums. In many cases, blues artists take on multiple roles. Now lets
listen to one example of blue music.

Classical Music

In Canada, classical music includes a range of musical styles rooted in the traditions of Western
or European classical music that European settlers brought to the country from the 17th century and
onwards. As well, it includes musical styles brought by other ethnic communities
from the 19th century and onwards, such as Indian classical music (Hindustani and
Carnatic music) and Chinese classical music. Well known ensembles in Canada are
Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and a numberof
well-known Baroque orchestras and chamber ensembles, such as the Musici de
Montréal Chamber Orchestra, the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber
Choir.

Country Music
Country music is known for its ballads and dance tunes (also known as
"honky-tonk music") with simple form, folk lyrics, and harmonies generally
accompanied by instruments such as banjos, fiddles, harmonicas, and many types of
guitar. Country music has a long history in Canada. The genre evolved out of the
diverse musical practices of the Appalachian region of the United States.
Appalachian music is derived from various influences, including the ballads, hymns
and fiddle music of the British Isles (particularly Scotland), the African music and blues of early African
Americans, and to a lesser extent the music of Continental Europe.
Grime Music
 UNIVERSITY OF SAINT ANTHONY
(Dr. Santiago G. Ortega Memorial)
City of Iriga, Philippines 4431

GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH

Grime is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM). It developed out of the earlier UK dance style
UK garage, and draws influences from jungle, dancehall, and hip hop. The style is typified by rapid,
syncopated breakbeats, generally around 140 beats per minute and often features an aggressive or jagged
electronic sound.

Hip-Hop Music
The Canadian hip-hop scene was established in the 1980s. Through a variety of factors, it
developed much slower than Canada's popular rock music scene, and apart from a short-lived burst of
mainstream popularity from 1989 to 1991, it remained largely an underground phenomenon until the early
2000s. Canada had hip hop artists right from the early days of the scene—the first known Canadian rap
single, Mr. Q's "Ladies' Delight", which was released in 1979 .

Jazz Music
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans,
Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. here are hundreds
of local and regionally based Canadian jazz bands and performers. A number of Canadian jazz artists have
achieved international prominence,
including Oscar Peterson, Maynard Ferguson,
and Gil Evans. The first jazz concert in Canada
was by the touring Creole Orchestra and Ragtime
Band, led by Bill Johnson and featuring
cornetist Freddie Keppard at the Pantages
Playhouse Theatre in Winnipeg, Manitoba on
September 21, 1914. This performance was the
first jazz performance outside the United States
and the beginning of jazz as an international
movement.

Rock Music
Rock music is a wide and diverse part of the general music of Canada, beginning with American
and British style rock and roll in the mid-20th century. Since then
Canada has had a considerable impact on the development of
modern popular music called rock. Canada has produced many of
the genre's most significant groups and performers while
contributing substantively to the development of the most
popular subgenres, which include pop rock, progressive
rock, country rock, folk rock, hard rock, punk rock, heavy metal,
and indie rock. Most Canadians with successful recording careers in
the 1950s had moved to the US, where the population level and
media exposure would eclipse that of Canada. Ronnie Hawkins,
an Arkansas born rockabilly singer, moved to Canada in 1958, becoming a prominent figure in Canadian
blues and rock devoting his life to popularizing Canadian musicians.[48] He formed a backing band
called The Hawks, which produced some of the earliest Canadian rock stars. Among them were the
members of The Band, who began touring with Bob Dylan in 1966, and then struck out on their own in
1968.

Specific Forms
 UNIVERSITY OF SAINT ANTHONY
(Dr. Santiago G. Ortega Memorial)
City of Iriga, Philippines 4431

GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH

Inuit Music
Inuit music was based around drums but has since grown to include fiddles and accordions.
Music was dance-oriented and requested luck in hunting, gambling, or weather, and only rarely, if ever,
expressing traditional purposes like love or specialized forms like work songs and lullabies. Katajjaq, or
"Inuit throat singing", has become well known as a curiosity. In this traditional singing style, female
singers produce melodies from deep in their throats.

'Kwakwaka'wakw Music
'Kwakwaka'wakw music is a sacred and ancient art of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples that has been
practiced for thousands of years. The Kwakwaka'wakw peoples use instruments in conjunction
with dance and song for the purposes of ceremony, ritual, and storytelling. The Kwakwaka'wakw are a
collective of twenty-five nations of the Wakashan language family who altogether form part of a larger
identity comprising the Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, located in what is known
today as British Columbia, Canada.

Famous Music Artist of Canada

Paul Anka Shania Twain Michael Buble

Bryan Adams Avril Lavigne Celine Dion