Welcome to the launch of The Tapedeck… Actually it’s more an introduction than anything else. Alright, so you’re probably sort of confused right now, wondering what this is all about… well The Tapedeck is a brand new initiative I’ve come up with and worked on for the past couple of weeks to [at least] try and break some barriers between Montreal cultures. As you may know, I’m from Montreal and while I love everybody (mostly everybody), language has always been somewhat of an issue here. It used to be worse before, but there’s still always a little complaint being expressed once in a while : at times, about English people not speaking French enough, or the English crowd saying that French are not lenient enough about the whole deal.
I was not born, but raised in a French speaking environment. I soon discovered that while the French culture of Quebec was interesting, I couldn’t relate to it as much as I could with its less promoted English counterpart… I never really understood why, but it seemed like it was my calling from the beginning even if I totally embraced the fact that was a French Canadian at heart or at least raised as one. No matter what language I speak, I am first and foremost from Montreal and will always be from this beautiful city (even if I was technically born in Taipei, Taiwan).
I think this reflects in Above & Beyond. I mean sure I do write in English, because it is easier for me to write in Shakespeare’s language than in Voltaire’s, but I always try to bring you guys the music that I like from Montreal. Whether it is in English like Arcade Fire or in French like La Patère Rose, much like the different styles of music I post, language is definitely not an issue for me and it’s something that I’ll always try to push forward to the readers.
I can thank the Internet for making this possible, because while I do love Montreal with all my heart, I realized that Montreal might be missing on a good chunk of its own culture whenever something is not in French. While many of you already know, I feel the exposure of the English culture of Montreal in the French medias is not as important as it should be. And I’m not only talking about music, I mean, who knows who Marcus Troy is? Or what Indecent Xposure actually is doing for Montreal? Did they hear about this Montreal indie band named No Joy who is currently making major noise in the United States? Or even who was Sugar Sammy before actually getting some recognition for his work after doing a French version of his skit at a Just For Laugh show with Rachid Badouri? I only named a few, but these are some influencial and interesting people, yet none of them are widely known outside of certain circles in Montreal and I feel like the French medias are dropping the ball on this one.
Alright, so I might have digressed along the way and rant much more than I initially expected, but it all comes down to this. Yes, before you say it, I do understand the responsibility that the medias have to protect our language from losing more ground to English by pushing French speaking artists up front. I mean we are after all the last breed of population to actively use French in our everyday lives on this side of the ocean, but they seem to forget that Montreal is not only French and that a good part of its people actually speak English as their mother language. In an age marked by social networks, multi-cultural societies, change and embracing that change, their way of putting down gates around us seems such an archaic thing to do as it just extends and reinforces the distance between our two cultures instead of bringing them closer and making us one as they should be trying to do in the first place.
And this distance is something I want to try and fix… Which might sound odd as Above & Beyond is an English blog in the first place, and as you probably know by now, is run by a French Canadian. So no, I won’t change this blog to Plus Haut & Plus Loin, or anything similar, but I will do exactly what I feel the French medias should be doing [a lot more], but as English media point of view and by that I mean, using Above & Beyond as a medium to bring forward Francophone personalities and artists that a majority of English readers might not be familiar with or even know at all and take this opportunity get to know their musical tastes and what they’re into, basically getting to know what’s in their Tapedeck and how music affects their everyday lives and their craft and also using this to showcase a little bit of my hometown through it’s people that may be less known as they are mostly Francophones and using their own exposure to bring other Francophones on my blog and interest them into things they might not know.
I’m not exactly sure when the first edition of The Tapedeck will actually come out, but I’m aiming at the upcoming weeks. I already have a bunch of people lined up and all I need to do is actually structure the questions and technicalities… The first person to ever grace the Tapedeck will be this young, talented fellow and good friend of mine named Alexandre Champagne that some of you may or may not know from Contrat d’Gars. Should be a good one!
Until then,
Cheers!
tags:
rant
