“Land of the Silver Birch”: Travels of a Folksong

11. 04. 22

“Land of the Silver Birch”: Travels of a Folksong

Read the text paying attention to the vocabulary

Listening

Listen to the version of “Land of the Silver Birch” from the textbook “Evevitness: Culture in a Changing World” by Redaelli A. and Invernizzi D.

What is the origin of the song?

Read the text from Wikipedia about the song.

What is the origin of the song according to it?
Follow the performances of the song. Who and when used this song in Canada?

" Land of the Silver Birch" is a traditional Canadian folk song that dates from the 1920s. The lyrics are sometimes erroneously attributed to Pauline Johnson. The song is sometimes sung to keep time while canoeing, and sometimes sung at campfires in a round.

Its subject matter is a romanticized vision of nature and the land from the perspective of an Indigenous person, but it remains popular with the non-indigenous majority in Canada. Bonnie Dobson sang it on her 1972 album. This song appears in the Paul Gross film Men with Brooms (2002). In 2005, the song was partly re-written by Canadian folk singer Dickson Reid and released on his debut album, Sugar in the Snow. It's also a popular song sung in many elementary schools. Since the 1930s, the song has been popular with Scouts and Girl Guides.

It is musically related to a song " My Paddle's Keen and Bright", written by Margaret Embers McGee in 1918, which is used to keep time while paddling. The lyrics of this song can be quite different depending on who you talk to and what region of Canada they are from.

In 1979 the Canadian Cultural Workers' Committee, a musical group associated with the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), released a song titled 'Death to the Traitors' which takes its melody from Land of the Silver Birch but with new communist lyrics about destroying imperialism and capitalism in Canada and uniting the Canadian working class.

In 2017, school administrators at the High Park Alternative Public School in Toronto, Ontario characterized the song as racist. In a letter to parents they said, " While its lyrics are not overtly racist... the historical context of the song is racist. " Other experts disagreed with this assertion and the music teacher who had the song performed at a school concert sued the administration for defamation.