By: Zara Lewis

 

As an exchange student from the University of Leeds in England, the past three weeks have been a crash course in Canadian culture – from learning how to cut a milk bag correctly to realizing that black squirrels exist to discovering what a “smoke show” is and what it means to have “flo.” It’s fair to say that I have felt like somewhat of an alien over here. There are many aspects of being a Canadian student that were not explained to me in the Studying Abroad Handbook.

But of all the new things that have both enlightened and shocked me, nothing was quite as jaw dropping as the dancing that I have witnessed. With seductive hair flicking and dry humping from both the front and behind, it is evident that the Canadians know how to grind.

I’m not trying to claim that British kids are all prudes and dance at an arms length from one another, but over here, the dance floor appears to be a space reserved for pairs of grinding bodies, while the other not so daring onlookers remain hugged to the bar or their drinks.

So, far I have been one of the latter, crossed with a ‘deer in headlights’ expression etched upon my face.

However, the most pivotal moment of my Canadian dancing experience happened on Friday while I was innocently dancing with my friends, and I was repeatedly being pushed in the back. After turning around to see who the offending dancer was, I was presented with a girl with her legs wrapped around her thrusting dance partner’s waist. The pair danced and gyrated against one another, obviously unaware of anyone in the surrounding area.

After a few minutes, the twosome unsurprisingly left the dance floor. Let your mind fill in the rest.

So, after an educational first few weeks here in Canada, it is safe to say that whilst I expected there to be some cultural differences in comparison to England, it appears that the greatest difference is where I least expected there to be one. That is, on the dance floor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Myles Chats With Montreal's Newest Noisemakers: The Breezes

Myles Herod
Entertainment Editor

Montreal’s The Breezes are not only defined by their geography, but by an irreverent dose of humour, unpredictable at any instant.

Consisting of Matt Oppenheimer, Daniel Leznoff, James Benjamin and Adam Feingold, the electro-pop foursome possess tunes and talent of adroit jest, as evident in their viral, sing-a-long anthem “Count to Eleven.”  However, as guitarist Dan Leznoff explains to ANDY, their roots are everything. “Seriously, Montreal made us. We’ve seen every band. Living here, the culture just breathes into you, covers you like a film of dust you don’t notice.”

Questioned further as to what gives Quebecois artist’s their certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ over Western Canadian cotemporaries, he didn’t hesitate to lay it down, proud and precise. ”Montreal is significantly cheaper than Vancouver and Toronto. It attracts artists who want to focus deeply on their craft without having to worry about rent and food. When you are really dedicated to learning about your art you come to Montreal and then you move on hopefully. It nurtures growth more than other cities.”

While the band’s sound derives from a dance floor zeitgeist of neon vibes and skinny ties, The Breezes undoubtedly know how to craft tasty hooks that balance the digital divide between today’s Top 40 and indie-chill. Indeed, adopting inspiration from all facets is integral to their tone – channeling the spirit of everyone from the late Owen Hart and Evel Knievel to Guns N' Roses and Ice-T, “boyhood heroes” as he calls them.

As for songwriting styles, Dan makes no bones about it: it’s about camaraderie and analogies. “A songwriter is just like an athlete, after a while he stops thinking about what he does and just does it. All you can do is live your art, study and listen a lot.  Being in a band is all about building together. Competition is a force that helps the building process but one that can obviously destroy everything. Its all about figuring out how much space to give and how much to take.”

Aided by an escalating profile, the band exudes confidence, rather than evince egotism – something blithely reflected in the strength of their music and the successful manner by which they are managed.

The Internet can be a pitiless pool of blog-o-sphere build-up. For The Breezes, life’s too short to worry – embracing technology, but also swaying to their own sails. “Aint no taint to the paint. The Internet has leveled the playing field and opened the door for people all the way from Xanadu to Atlantis to Shangri La to know about you instantaneously, no matter where you’re from. We download music, shop at record stores, listen to the radio, go to clubs and the library to find music. Digital streaming and blog stuff have changed surprisingly little. A song is still a living, breathing thing that you hear with your ears and feel with your soul. ”

Online, songs can sustain longevity. However, to succeed professionally, a group lives or dies by their ability to perform live. From a recording studio to stage milieu, Dan explained the difference between both in typical Breezes fashion. “Our live show is much more free and loose, like a virgin in Tijuana on Spring Break. The record is like her audio engineer twin sister, who views Spring Break as extra study time to nitpick and dissect sonic mysteries.”

Anticipating label approval, and a subsequent debut LP within months, the band are currently on tour, turning people onto their EP of bedroom psychedelia entitled “Update My High.”

The future looks bright, as Dan concludes, with good times ahead “In two years hopefully we won’t see The Breezes, hopefully people will see us. The party is starting very soon…”

If that’s the case, count me in.

 

The Breezes will be performing in Toronto on March. 24 at Wrongbar  

 

Andrew Terefenko

Opinions Editor

 

O Canada, our home and native land. By thy sons command, I am expected to exhibit true patriot love, but who exactly are thy sons, Canada?

It has recently become clear that our nation has a distinct lack of well-known folk heroes. We have real people who have made great strides in freedom and have flipped off flippant reporters, but where are our heroes of fiction and lore?

I’m talking about an equivalent to the American immortals Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan and Al Gore, people who may or may not have existed but inform the very core of moral values that guide citizens’ everyday lives.

Maybe this is why the Canadian moral compass is so misguided. Our four modes of thought are comprised of kindness in the North, and apathy thrice everywhere else. Perhaps I am obsessing over what seems to be an incredibly minor lack in an otherwise peaceful and frigidly awesome country, but at heart I just really care about the children.

Children, who are going to grow up without Canadian folk icons to idolize as they make the early decisions that will distinguish the dainty from the dubious. Instead, they will look up to questionable characters such as the Insane Clown Posse or Jean Chrétien, and that can only lead to a life full of half-hearted patriotism and spirited “eh’s.”

Without these heroes, our neighbours to the south depict us as frightened primitives. Take for example the depiction of Canadians in the popular American sitcom How I Met Your Mother, in which a Canadian-born main character is afraid of the dark, gun-crazy (which seems a bit ironic given American culture) and completely apathetic to human emotion. Does this sound like anyone you know?

To the rest of the world, we are frostbitten nomads living igloo to igloo, enjoying brief hours of summer every year. While that may ring true to the northern one per cent of our fair nation, it is a far cry from the majority of us, whose only experience with igloos began and ended in our childhood snowball wars.

Maybe we were too late to the oral culture party and people grew more skeptical of their elders’ tales by the time our country began to form, but it is a shame nonetheless. Why are there no tales of Mounties who single-handedly fought back the snow beast rebellion, thereby protecting us from an eternity of slavery to our frozen masters? Now our kids will grow up not knowing real, fictional fear.

It is time for us to create folk heroes for our successors. Go grab a pack of exotic fruit seeds and start spreading them across the country. When our kids ask, we can always regale them with the story of how it rained fruits across the country because little Jimmy didn’t wash his hands after using the bathroom. That’ll learn ‘em good.

Mohammad Zubairi

The Silhouette

 

I’m not sure how, but about two months ago, I received a letter from a Canadian lobby group that will remain unnamed, which started off as follows: “British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have all declared multiculturalism to be a failure.”

Part of their argument was around the rise of religious extremists in the past 10 years, and how such extremists are negatively impacting the progress of Western states. The organization was soliciting monetary contribution for ongoing research and policy work. As one of my friends would go on to say: “I was shocked & offended.”

I’ve always seen Canada’s multicultural fabric as its strength, as an opportunity to exercise tolerance and learn about people and their practices, and benefit from their strengths. Inevitably, however, there is the reality that different cultural groups will look to ‘their own’ as they make significant transitions (i.e. migration), or hold onto traditions that are important to their identity. But that shouldn’t be a limiting factor in defining what Canada is or represents, and suggesting that multiculturalism as a policy has failed is simply not fair.

Back in October 2011, I spent two weeks in Guyana, a country situated in north of South America, bordered by Venezuela, Brazil and Suriname. It’s the only English-speaking country in South America as a former British colony. The name Guyana derives from a root word meaning ‘the land of many waters’ as three major, and many hundreds of other smaller, rivers traverse the country.

In Guyana, there is a mix of people of East Indian, African and Aboriginal origin. There is a mix of Christian, Hindu and Muslim religious practices and celebration. The food reflects these diverse traditions. Different cultural and religious groups have united through marriage or business, yet when it’s election time (as when I was there), there is a strong polarization between those who are Afro-Guyanese and those who are Indo-Guyanese.

In some ways, Guyana is multicultural. But the multiculturalism there is not the same as the multiculturalism here in Canada. Here, there are Canadians of Guyanese origin, and Canadians with origins in countries representing the world from Mexico to Nigeria to Poland to Pakistan to China. The list can go on. Canada is thus also like a ‘land of many waters.’ There are the Great Lakes, of course, but it is the diversity in people that makes us so unique.

Differences are not meant to divide, as the media might promote, but rather to recognize varied expressions of the human experience. This diversity strengthens our advancement as country by providing perspective on a range of issues, whether they are political, economical or social. If we don’t optimize on this expression, then yes there is a chance that our elections will become polarized. Yet, there are just so many different groups that such polarization will not come so easily. In a speech given in the 1960s,

Malcolm X said: ‘Unity is the right religion.’

Differences aside, multiculturalism can help with such unity, and in the expression of these varying cultures through film, music, art, comedy or poetry there is undoubtedly a lesson for people to learn about people.