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My dissertation explores the eclectic singing careers of sisters Eva and Juliette Gauthier. Born in Ottawa, Eva and Juliettte were aided in their musical aspirations by the patronage of Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier and his wife Lady Zoë. They both received classical vocal training in Europe. Eva spent four years in Java. She studied the local music, which later became incorporated into her concert repertoire in North America. She went on to become a leading interpreter of modern art song. Juliette became a performer of Canadian folk music in Canada, the United States and Europe, aiming to reproduce folk music “realistically” in a concert setting. My dissertation is the result of examining archival materials pertaining to their careers, combined with research into the various social and cultural worlds they traversed. Eva and Juliette’s careers are revealing of a period of transition in the arts and in social experience more generally. These transitions are related to the exploitation of non-Western people, uses of the “folk,” and the emergence of a cultural marketplace that was defined by a mixture of highbrow institutions and mass culture industries. My methodology draws from the sociology of art and cultural history, transposing Eva and Juliette Gauthier against the backdrop of the social, cultural and economic conditions that shaped their career trajectories and made them possible.

The powerful concept of orientalism has undergone considerable refinement since Edward Said popularized the term with his eponymous book in 1978. Orientalism typically is presented as a totalizing process that creates polar oppositions between a dominating West and a subordinate East. U.S. orientalisms, however, reflect uniquely North American approaches to identity formation that include assimilating characteristics usually associated with the Other. This article explores the complex relationship among three individuals—U.S. composer Charles T. Griffes, Canadian singer Eva Gauthier, and German-trained Dutch East Indies composer Paul J. Seelig—and how they exploited the same Javanese songs to lend legitimacy to their individual artistic projects. A comparison of Griffes's and Seelig's settings of a West Javanese tune (“Kinanti”) provides an especially clear example of how contrasting approaches manifest different orientalisms. Whereas Griffes accompanied the melody with stock orientalist gestures to express his own fascination with the exotic, Seelig used chromatic harmonies and a chorale-like texture to ground the melody in the familiar, translating rather than representing its Otherness. The tunes that bind Griffes, Gauthier, and Seelig are only the raw materials from which they created their own unique orientalisms, each with its own sense of self and its own Javanese others.

La chanson « Montréal », d'Ariane Moffatt, a remporté un vif succès durant l'été 2006. Ce mémoire examine les causes de cette popularité. Après une revue des diverses méthodes existantes en recherche en musique populaire, trois types d'analyse se succèdent. En premier lieu, l'étude présentée ici décrit la chanson de manière théorique; on y observe le fonctionnement de la voix, de la mélodie, de la métrique, de la basse, des phrases, de la tonalité, des accords et des instruments utilises, images par une transcription précise de l'enregistrement de la chanson. Puis, le présent travail étudie les codes musicaux qui se retrouvent dans «Montréal». Dans cette deuxième section, le message musical du morceau est analysé, en tenant compte du contexte socioculturel de l'été 2006, de l'histoire nationale et musicale qui a précédé la sortie de cette pièce et des paroles de la chanson. Finalement, cette étude investigue la composante identitaire de «Montréal» en examinant les croyances nationalistes des Québécois, la place de la chanson dans l'imaginaire collectif de ce peuple, et la tradition musicale populaire de la province.

A l'instar des ecrivains de la litterature migrante, des chanteurs et des chanteuses venus de divers pays ont fait du Quebec leur port d'attache et le foyer de leur carriere artistique. Ce phenomene assez recent a fait qu'au cours des dix dernieres annees on a vu debarquer au Quebec des artistes d'Hai'ti, du Bresil, du Mexique, du Maroc, du Rwanda, du Tchad, de l'Algerie, et du Venezuela, chacun avec sa musique, sa couleur, et sa sensibilite propre. Dans cette nouvelle branche de la chanson quebecoise on trouve les themes de predilection de la litterature migrante tels que l'exil, la nostalgie, le sentiment de perte, l'adaptation a un nouveau pays, l'integration, le racisme, la xenophobie, et l'hospitalite. La chanson quebecoise s'enrichit de ces differents apports; car ces artistes apportent avec eux non seulement des voix, des sons et des styles musicaux nouveaux, mais aussi des themes inedits et des trames narratives originales qui refletent leur culture d'origine, leur passe, et leurs valeurs de meme que leurs emotions liees a leurs defis actueis et a leurs reves pour l'avenir. (1) Dans cet article, nous examinerons en detail l'ceuvre de deux d'entre eux: Lynda Thalie qui, selon Monique Giroux, l'experte en chanson francophone de Radio-Canada, "est, parmi les artistes neo-quebecois, celle qui a pris le plus de place et est la plus susceptible de conquerir un large public" (cite par Vignaux) et Corneille, celui qui a jusqu'a ce jour remporte le plus grand succes aussi bien commercial que d'estime. II a vendu plus d'un million et demi de ses deux premiers disques, et a lance son premier disque en anglais, "The Birth of Cornelius," au Japon en mai 2007. (2) Lynda Thalie: l'exilee d'Algerie

The object of this dissertation is the meeting of Middle-Eastern and Western music. The dissertation includes an essay and seven original compositions (scores and recordings). The text begins with the exposition of the basics of Middle-Eastern music required to understand my artistic approach. The 'taqasim', a major musical form in the Middle-East and a source of inspiration for my work is presented in more detail. The second chapter deals with the philosophy of aesthetics involved in the intermixing of musical cultures. Concerns about the coherence of commingled languages are exposed. The concepts of intermixing, cultural identity and coherence of a work are submitted for discussion. For a given work, does the notion of coherence retain its essence from one person to the next according to culture and social context? This questioning is directly linked to the creation and generation of the processes of development for the musical material in my compositions. Throughout the chapter, I position my approach in relation to the thinking of authors such as Adorno, but also relative to personal experiences. In chapter 3 I describe the writing processes I have developped in order to create a sound fabric wherein Middle-Eastern music meets that of the West. My work defines processes for treating parameters in order to draw together elements of both Eastern and Western musical expressions into a distinctive language <math> <f> <fr><nu>.</nu><de>7</de></fr></f> </math> the key to this is grasping how one musical element influences another. Using analysis as a starting point for the comparison of musical parameters in each of the languages, I have elaborated new commingling (intermixing) techniques. This chapter is therefore devoted to the cross-relational writing techniques that have been evolved to adequately support my artistic approach. The final chapters of this dissertation feature the detailed analyses of three of my compositions: 'Jet Stream, Algorythme and PLB'. Each piece's form, sections and sub-sections are presented followed by the analysis of its basic musical material and development.

The music of Canadian composer Claude Vivier (1948-1983) was used as a fractalized material for the creation of the composition Chambres de ténèbres/tombeau de Claude Vivier (2005) by Marko Nikodijević. Vivier’s opus and his marginal queer acting were the pillars of Nikodijević’s meticulous reading/deconstructing of Vivier’s world through his own artistic dilemmas.

Un article de la revue Jeu, diffusée par la plateforme Érudit.

This article explores issues raised in interviews with traditional and contemporary Native American musicians and recording artists of the 1990s. It exemplifies how they view their roles vis à vis traditional gender structures and community obligations, how they draw upon different media to communicate their messages, and how they use their work as a form of social action. Their narratives reveal a wide variety of strategies by which they negotiate the double consciousness and multiple relationships of their lives, balancing historically rooted values and traditions with modern ones. I attempt to develop a feminist interpretation that is respectful of the cultural values these women expressed in their conversations with me.

The national unity crisis in Canada deepened during the 1990s; it became increasingly likely that the French-speaking province of Quebec might separate from the rest of the country. This article examines how press coverage of Céline Dion, the popular francophone singer from Quebec, has intersected with the national unity debate. After providing some background on the debate and Dion, the article explores the linkages between them in Canada's English-language press. The analysis suggests the existence of a pro-unity frame in coverage of Dion. It also identifies how news stories about Dion have been shaped by binary oppositions, quoting practices and other journalistic techniques. The article concludes by noting some similarities and differences between coverage of political events in the national unity debate (such as referendums or constitutional accords) and coverage of Dion which is associated with the debate.

Dans cet article, l'auteure se penche sur le « phénomène Céline Dion » au Québec sous l'angle de la renommée. Au moyen de quelques fragments du discours qui a alimenté ce phénomène à la fin de la dernière décennie, l'auteure esquisse les contours de deux des figures concurrentes de la renommée que ce phénomène met en évidence : le « héros national » et l'« entrepreneur heureux ». Son analyse illustre comment ces figures de la renommée et les mises en mémoire auxquelles elles prêtent visibilité et valeur, lorsqu'elles sont en action dans la conjoncture québécoise contemporaine, opèrent une fusion, sinon une collusion entre la réussite individuelle et collective, entre l'intérêt personnel et national, et, par le fait même, rattachent différents ordres de matériel culturel au présent « passé » de certaines expériences privées, ressources locales et trajectoires publiques.