martha wainwright

[ania]

im not much into anglo female musicians, i dont really know why... with the exception of ani di franco and gillian welch i really cant think of any others, except maybe annie lennox, anglo female singers (oh and when greg got me onto joni mitchells blue) that really pull me in and mesmorise me. until i heard a few tracks from marthas album and i was hooked. last night i bought her self titled album and im gone. its gorgeous gutsy beautiful haunting ballsy and spunky and very soothing. good for the soul. but then shes not really anglo so maybe thats why

[tomsakic]

Welcome to the club, ania ... Although, i didn't hear about Martha lately. Her album never appeared in Europe (my copy was ordered from UK), and she somehow drop of my sight, although I listen to the album often. I expected it would be bigger on market, somehow.

[Tchocolatl]

MW is exceptionally gifted - I could only agree with anything you said about her. She is big already and the market will eventually follows.

But she is really anglo. Daddy being Brittish (he is, isn't it?), Mummy being EC. Or was she adopted?

[~greg]

An·glo n., pl. -glos, adj.
-n.
1. a white American of non-Hispanic descent,
as distinguished esp. from an American of Mexican or Spanish descent.

2. (sometimes l.c.)
an English-speaking person in a place where English
is not the language of the majority.

-adj.
3. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Anglos.

Loudon Wainwright III grew up in the town of Bedford in wealthy Westchester County
north of New York City, the son of Loudon S. Wainwright, Jr., a writer and editor
at Life magazine, and a direct descendant of colonial governor Peter Stuyvesant.

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ... kjk5m3b~T1

Peter Stuyvesant
Dutch Petrus Stuyvesant
born c. 1592, Scherpenzeel, Friesland, Neth.
died February 1672, near New York, N.Y. [U.S.]

Dutch colonial governor who tried to resist the English seizure of New York.

http://www.britannica.com/shakespeare/article-9070067

(the governor is an interesting subject.
see also eg:
http://www.newnetherland.org/history.html#PS
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Stuyvesant
)

Wainwright's son Rufus Wainwright and daughter Martha Wainwright
by his onetime marriage to Canadian singer/songwriter Kate McGarrigle,
are both singer/songwriters as well. Rufus was the subject of two of Loudon's
more famous songs, the breastfeeding ode "Rufus Is a Tit Man"
and the retrospective "A Father and a Son",
while Martha entered the world to "Pretty Little Martha",
turned five to the post-divorce child-rearing anthem "Five Years Old"
and entered her teenage years with the brutally clinical "Hitting You".
(Rufus, in turn, has covered Loudon's "One Man Guy"
and wrote "Dinner at Eight" about a dispute, while
Martha has covered Loudon's "Pretty Good Day"
and states that her song "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole" is about her father.)

Loudon also has a daughter, Lucy Roche, by the singer Suzzy Roche.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudon_Wainwright_III

(evidently a well functioning dysfunctional family.)

Kate and Anna are sisters who write and perform together.
They were born of Québécois and Irish parents in Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts,
northwest of Montreal, and educated at a Roman Catholic convent school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_and_Anna_McGarrigle

Suzzy Roche is best known for her work with the female vocal group The Roches.
She is also an active associate member of The Wooster Group
and has appeared in a number of the groups production as well as
composing original music for the group's performances.
She was briefly a member of Four Bitchin' Babes,
appearing on their album Some Assembly Required.

She has a daughter, Lucy Roche, by the singer Loudon Wainwright III.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzzy_Roche

[tomsakic]

She's from Montreal, and she sings in French perfectly (one song on record, and many on bootlegs), so I think she is seen - as Cohen - as daughter (OK, he's *not* daughter:-) or bilingual Canada. I like her songs in French, accompanied by her mother on piano.

[linda_lakeside]

There is another singer, country, no, don't be turned off, by the name of Mary Gauthier. She carries the weight of her life in her voice. It's country, but not 'overly' so. Can't explain it, but she has a lovely Martha 'toughness' in her voice. If you get a chance, check it out. Mercy Now, is the album I'm currently listening to. She's very good.

Thank you, once again, ~greg, for a most interesting post.

Linda.

[Tchocolatl]

Even though somebody is born in Montréal it does not mean the person is French Canadian, there is a minority into this province (said province being itself a minority into the country) - this minority into the minority is anglo. Whatever frenchy or anglo, a person born in Montreal is Montrealer, Quebecer, Canadian (still) but it depends of - oh what the eck. Why I am losing my time doing this exercice? What the eck alos. Anyway this is a colonialist history. It depends of : if you are from this or that European country once upon a time (exactly that time is when the first colonialist expedition took place in America). And most recently, because of the immigration which brings people from everywhere on the planet, to which culture a person prefers to refer to.

See below Montréal's flag.



Each flower represents an European Entity that colonized the Island of Montreal : Fleur de Lys, French, the three others, anglo (British, Scotish, Irish). So. People on the island are bilingual but are usually more fluent in one or other official language. Martha sings wonderfully in French, speaks French rather well, but she is an anglo. As a cat is cat and a rose is a rose.

[Tchocolatl]

Is everybody up and silent in front of the flag? Or what? (I know the 4th on is not a flower - I was in a hurry).

Finally, Ania is right if we change "really" by "totally" as granny is FC. Those grand-parents, they count.

Greg, nice quotes and clarifications.

Wikipedia wrote:

Kate and Anna are sisters who write and perform together.
They were born of Québécois and Irish parents in Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts,
northwest of Montreal, and educated at a Roman Catholic convent school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_and_Anna_McGarrigle


Permet me to ad this, from the same article, it will further explain why she is anglo. I put the sentence in bold.

"Their songs have also been covered by a variety of other artists, including Maria Muldaur, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Billy Bragg, Chloé Sainte-Marie and Anne Sofie von Otter. As members of Quebec's anglophone community, the McGarrigles have also recorded and performed many songs in French. Two of their albums, Entre Lajeunesse et la sagesse (also known as French Record) and La vache qui pleure, are entirely in French, but many of their other records include one or two French songs as well. Most of their French songs have been co-written by Philippe Tatartcheff, with occasional input from Kate McGarrigle's son, Canadian-American solo artist Rufus Wainwright."

Complicated? Oh yes. It is. But easy things are boring. Oh yes. They are.

[linda_lakeside]

But easy things are boring. Oh yes. They are.

Indeed, they are. That's why I've been silent so long. I've been standing at attention, trying to remember the French verses to 'O Canada'. Wonderful, colourful flag. Oddly, or not oddly at all, the only Provincial flag I'm familiar with is BC's. We should trade, I think.

Yes, the McGarrigle sisters were quite active for a time, at least until one of them married Loudon. Lovely harmonies those ladies had. Still do, I guess.

A hello to you, and a see you later,

Regards,
Linda.

[tomsakic]

I suppose she's an Anglo, but my democratic idea is that someone from Montreal, and open minded, I mean someone who was raised in such multicultural city and in society like Quebec, will be very multicultural. Leonard is like that, and all Wainwrights are. Leonard sung "Un Canadien Errant" in French etc, we all know that, and political levels of BL... Anyhow, I didn't say Martha is French Canadian. I said she's daughter of bilingual Montreal, as Leonard is. I can bet she feels French culture as part of her own identity nothing less than Anglo, as Leonard's French (Quebecois) part of identity was nothing less important than Anglosaxon or Jewish. (As you wrote once, Tchoco, the minority /Jews/ inside the minority /English speaking in Montreal/ inside the majority /French Quebec/ which is itself minority inside the great majority /English Canada/...) ...

[linda_lakeside]

Hi Tom,

Maybe Tchoco could verify this, as I'm Anglo, and my ear isn't 'tuned' to the French, but my feeling on Un Canadien Errant, was that Leonard's accent was not good. His French may have been accurate, but it sounded, to me, as though it was somehow 'off'?? Tchoco? What do you think? I'm sure you've had discussions on this before, but they were discussions I missed.

Thanks and Adieu,
Linda.

[tomsakic]

Well Linda, I don't know French at all, but many years ago, some friends of mine who have very superficial knowledge of French, commented how Leonard's accent is pretty awfull on that particular song. Anyhow, he quoted Quebecois poet at Hall of Fame Gala - not only he sounded OK to me (although raw), but also he was the only one to bring in the French part of Canada to the CBC event. It was great to see how he suddenly makes the audience aware it's bilingual country.

[Anne]

I listened to the event on the radio and in the long version there was a lot of french. So, when people were actually THERE, I assume they felt they were living in a bilingual country.
I was kind of depressed to see it edited out completely for the tv version, but not too surprised, because they had taken most out for the shorter radio version, too.

[tomsakic]

Thanks, Anne, that does explain a lot. I have DVD of TV edited event (to 40 mins). It's sad to know that CBC cut all in French. I hope that's otherwise not common practice in Canada nowadays. But at least Leonard surprised them with bilingual speech:-)

[linda_lakeside]

Unfortunately, I think it is a common practice in Canada these days (to cut out the French for broadcast), as most of the population is not fluent in French. But, you're right, I think to have Leonard use it while making a speech does leave people with a good impression. About Canada, and about Leonard. Esp. for those that were there. Even though the on-air broadcasters are usually bilingual at the CBC, west of Quebec and out of the context of politics, French is seldom used.