taiko

Music, Music Mondays

Taiko: Indigenous Asian-Canadian Music

May 14, 2012, By Gary Cristall

May is Asian Heritage Month! Music historian Gary Cristall explores taiko drumming, a musical form that he asserts has transcended its origins to become distinctly Canadian!

Read More »

History, In the News

Halifax: The Titanic’s Undertaker

April 10, 2012, By Lauren Oostveen
halifax-receiving-bodies

Recovered bodies from the RMS Titanic arriving at the Mayflower Curling Club, Agricola Street which was set up as a temporary morgue, 1912. Image: Nova Scotia Archives.

Halifax’s role in the aftermath of the Titanic’s sinking has often been described as the great ship’s undertaker. St. John’s, Newfoundland, was closer to the wreck site, but Halifax was the closest port with railway and steamship connections to the United States.

Read More »

Leave a comment Tags: , ,

History, In the News

Identifying the Titanic’s Victims

April 10, 2012, By Lauren Oostveen
Titanic Bodies

Body of RMS Titanic victim aboard rescue vessel CS Minia being made ready for make-shift coffin. Image: Nova Scotia Archives

For the 328 people whose bodies were recovered at the site of the Titanic disaster, unique fatality reports  were created. They speak volumes about those whose bodies were retrieved. From third-class passengers to millionaires, these reports document their lives through what they had on their person that fateful night.

Read More »

Leave a comment Tags: , ,

Culture, History

Adolph Zukor: The Napoleon of Motion Pictures

April 4, 2012, By Wyndham Wise
Famous Players Lasky Corporation

The Famous Players Lasky Corporation

A friend in the business passed along an email press release a while back because he assumed I might be interested. It opened with, “Cineplex Entertainment will celebrate 100 years of movies and movie-going memories in 2012.” Curious, I thought. As a corporate entity, Cineplex has only been around since 1979, when entertainment lawyer/producer Garth Drabinsky and distributor/exhibitor Nat Tayor launched the company with their first Cineplex theatres in Toronto’s Eaton Centre. Hardly the birth of cinema (the first public screening took place in Paris, Dec. 28, 1895), so what was “1912” referring to?

Read More »

Leave a comment

Culture, History, In the News

Celebrating April Fool’s Day!

March 27, 2012, By Myriam Fontaine
april-fools

This postcard suggests that you can be cordial and sweet with someone, but hide your own rotten feelings towards them.

Although we can’t be certain, we believe that April Fool’s Day dates back to 1534 when King Charles IX of France changed the calendar so the year would begin on January 1st rather than the traditional April 1st.

Read More »

2 Comments Tags: ,

Au Fil Des Mots, Français

Courons le Poisson d’avril!

March 27, 2012, Par Myriam Fontaine

Courons le Poisson d’avril
Sans certitude aucune, on croit que la journée du Poisson d’avril remonte en 1534 alors que le roi de France, Charles IX, changea le calendrier, pour que l’année débute alors le 1er janvier au lieu du traditionnel 1er avril.

Read More »

Leave a comment Tags: ,

Culture, History

de Havilland Canada: Canadian Legends

March 27, 2012, By James Roxby Stewart
de-havilland-mosquitos

Pathfinder Mosquitos flew at low altitudes, visually identifying their targets and marking them.

de Havilland Canada‘s legacy lies in creating aircraft that are essentially Canadian – weatherproof, utilitarian and beautiful in a rugged way. Their planes are built to battle through Canada’s severe elements, but have also proven durable in all climates of the globe, essentially being Canada’s global ambassadors of the sky. de Havilland Canada has proven to the world that when you build aircraft to defeat Canada’s wilderness, you’ve created aircraft capable of defeating any spot on the globe. It rekindles the legends of the first pilots – adventurers, daredevils, fearless heroes – in anyone buzzing over land, water, sand and ice in de Havilland’s  very Canadian wings.
Read More »

Leave a comment Tags: , , ,

Culture, Music

Happy Birthday Jann Arden!

March 26, 2012, By Jennifer Higgs
jann-arden

Photo: Jeth Weinrich, 2000.

Canadian singer-songwriter Jann Arden was born on March 27th, 1962, in Calgary and raised in Springbank, Alberta. Known equally for her wit and skillful, heartfelt song-writing, Jann is a 10-time Juno award winner (an event which she hosted in 1997). In 2006 Jann was awarded a star on the Canada’s Walk of Fame. What is the secret to her success? In a 1995 Chatelaine article, she credited her passion for music to her father’s mother, “a stormin’ Mormon who was outspoken and flinty and played a tough, two-fisted piano.” You know her music, but how much do you really know about Jann Arden’s life and career?

Read More »

1 Comment Tags: , ,

Canada Soup, In the News

Canada Soup: The Tip of the Iceberg

March 23, 2012, By Davina Choy

Canada Post stamps commemorating the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

With Air Canada staff staging a wildcat strike today (including a horrific incident involving a man spitting into a baggage handler’s face) the CBC reviews the ailing airline’s history of labour strife. [CBC]

In a major legal decision, the Supreme Court of Canada decided that judges who do not consider lenient or creative sentences for aboriginal offenders are violating the law. The decision has been so polarizing (and energizing) that the Globe & Mail article, posted today, has received over 900 comments, some insightful, others deeply offensive. The crux of the matter seems to be this: how far does historic disadvantage (including institutionalized racism and oppression) extend?

Read More »

Leave a comment Tags: , , , , ,

Education, Inside TCE

Remembering Patricia Wardrop (1931- 2012)

March 20, 2012, By Maria Calderisi
The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada

The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada

I did not meet Pat until she began coming regularly to the Music Division at the then National Library of Canada (now Library and Archives Canada) in the late 1970s. After the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada (EMC) had been put to bed, work on the second edition began almost immediately and Pat’s efficiency and enthusiasm, not to mention her “eagle eye” for typos or inconsistencies, were great assets to the existing team.

Read More »

Leave a comment Tags: ,

Au Fil Des Mots, Français

“We are lucky to speak French” -Abdou Diouf

March 18, 2012, Par Myriam Fontaine

journee francophone
On March 20, the International Day of La Francophonie wishes to highlight the vitality of the French language, not only in francophone countries, but wherever we find ardent admiration for the French language and culture. To this end, the official celebrations will take place in London, the host city for the next Olympic Games. Trafalgar Square will be decked out in its very best French attire and vibrate with the sounds of French music from around the world.

Read More »

3 Comments Tags: , ,