Bonne Année and Happy 20!

Today is the 20th anniversary of our first date at Parliament Hill in Ottawa!  Quite a bit has changed in the last two decades, including the advent of our son (who turns seven in a fortnight)!

Below is a pic taken five years ago at Parliament Hill.  Happy New Year, everyone!  Bonne Année and Happy Twenty Years, Miss Grace!  Here's to Auld Lang Syne, Veuve Clicquot, and the next 20 years of fighting the Sassenach!

"Sister Enya, MD and the Trans-Siberian Riverdance"

or "Sometimes the Nun Gets You."

On a visit to the bookstore of the Daughters of St. Paul today, I picked up a Chant CD.  It is called "In Paradisium" by the Daughters of St. Paul.  The cover depicts a beautiful vaulted cloister courtyard along with the title "In Paradisum" in Latin as well as the subtitle "Chant" and "Ever Ancient Ever New."

The clincher was that the CD was 40% off.  I thought it would be nice to hear some Gregorian Chant sung in the female voice register by nuns.  The back cover depicts the choir of nine habited sisters.

And so, I took the bait.

Upon listening in the car, it wasn't quite what I expected.  The music did feature (nearly all) Latin chant by the female choir - but there was more.  The vocals were overlayed with New Age licks reminiscent of Enya.  Don't get me wrong, I like Enya.  I know I'm probably not supposed to, but I don't really care.  I also like pineapple-amaretto daiquiris and little umbrellas in my drinks.  You want my man card? Μολὼν λαβέ, tough guy!  But Enya is not sacred music.  I didn't dig the whole Gregorian Chant thing with massage music going in the background.

Other tracks sounded like the theme from House, MD.  Hugh Laurie is a talented guy, but I don't think he can pull off the whole singing nun thing.

Still other tunes sounded like blatant ripoffs of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  Again, I like the TSO.  I don't care what the trendsetters have to say about it.  But TSO is as compatible with singing nuns as is BTO.  Still other riffs called to mind Riverdance or some of the soundtrack of Braveheart. Again, nothing against Celtic tuneage.  I'm of Celtic heritage myself.  But Celtic dance tunes are just not compatible with the ancient dignity of Gregorian Chant.  Finally, there is the last tune, which goes disturbingly overboard regarding the mother of God - but what's even stranger, it is set to the Lutheran hymn tune "Erhalt Uns Herr" - otherwise known as the "Muderous Pope and Turk" song.

What a trainwreck!

It didn't have to be this way.  There were clues.  I should have paid better attention.  Had I had the Lutheran traditionalist defender of Lutheran traditionalism(tm),  Br. Latif, on speed dial, he could have "talked me down" and saved me ten bucks.

Our conversation would have gone something like this:

Me: "Hey, Brother Latif.  Larry here.  I'm looking at a chant CD."
Latif: "Hi Father Larry.  Okay.  Latin or English?"
Me: "Mostly Latin."
Latif: "Nice.  Who's it by?"
Me: "The Daughters of St. Paul."
Latif: "Ooh.  Uh, habited?"
Me: "Yes."
Latif: "Hmm.  Traditional?"
Me: "Well, I'm not sure..."
Latif: "Are their necks or ears exposed?"
Me: "Um, I see a little bit of lobe on one of them.  Yes, necks are exposed."
Latif: "No whimples?"
Me: "No whimples."
Latif: "I see.  These sound like Vatican 2 habits with modified veils.  Could be trouble.  Color?"
Me: "Navy and white."
Latif: "Okay.  That's enough.  I don't need to hear any more.  Father Larry, put the CD down, take three steps backward, turn, and run to the nearest bar or juke-joint where you can find some Springsteen or Evanescence..."  (Of course, Brother Latif would be referring to the good Evanescence with the deep lyrical themes from the time before the Christian guy left the band, not the inferior-quality post-Christian Evanescence where Amy Lee just whines virtually monosyllabically about her inebriated boyfriend...).

Brother Latif would also have picked up on the fine print on the back of the "In Paradisum" CD: "new arrangements."  I mean, what more needs to be said?

Yes, my bad, mea culpa.  I was foolish.  I hoped for traditionalism, and instead got a Vatican II Baby Boomer blend of Latin Chant and New Age, TV Soundtrack, Big Dramatic Drums, and Synthesized Bagpipes.  It happens.  But it doesn't have to.

Next time, I'm calling Brother Latif.

Flower of Scotland and the world since '68

This is a very early performance (1968) of the Corries singing Flower of Scotland, which has since become the (unofficial) National Anthem of Scotland.

And the world has changed considerably since '68.

In the spirit of Flower's theme, there has been a decisive global move toward devolution, home-rule, and self-determination. In 1999, Scotland seated its own national parliament for the first time in centuries. The pro-independence Scottish National Party not only openly holds seats in the government, but at this time, holds the most seats of any party (though lacking a majority)..

The Soviet Union, so mighty in 1968, is but a memory, having been devolved through peaceful secession into smaller republics in 1991. The Iron Curtain (1945-1989) and the Berlin Wall (1961-1989) are no more. Even Czechoslovakia managed to have a peaceful split into two smaller nations in 1992.  It goes without saying that orderly devolution is far more peaceful and less disruptive of hearth and home than violent revolution.

And the momentum has carried the spirit of independence across the Atlantic.  In 1995, Canada did not prevent the people of Québec (whose own parliament was renamed the National Assembly in 1968) to hold a referendum on independence (it failed by less than a single percent). In our own day, secession is being openly discussed in American political discourse, and both Left and Right have rediscovered the great American virtue of nullification.

The spirit of Flower of Scotland transcends the hopes and dreams of the Scots highlanders and lowlanders.  It is the universal spirit of freedom, of the throwing off of the chains of tyranny, of reminding government that it is our servant, not our master, and sending them homeward "tae think again."

Scots Wha Hae

Above is a modern, and yet staid and dignified "unplugged" vocal version of the Robert Burns poem sung by The Corries...

and here is a leather-and-kilt bagpipe punk rock version sung by The Real McKenzies.

The longevity of not only the poem and its resilience in song, but also its memorialization of history, is a tribute to the Scottish character and culture - whether highland or lowland, highbrow or lowbrow, whether the word "tattoo" conjures up notions of military drums or of inked skin.

One thing Scots and descendants of Scots value is independence and to be left alone. And this is essentially the meaning of "liberty."

Below are the lyrics, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Original lyrics in Scots 'Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled, Scots, wham Bruce has aften led, Welcome tae yer gory bed, Or tæ Victory.	English translation 'Scots, who have with Wallace bled, Scots, whom Bruce has often led, Welcome to your gory bed Or to victory.
'Now's the day, and now's the hour: See the front o' battle lour, See approach proud Edward's power - Chains and Slavery.	'Now is the day, and now is the hour: See the front of battle lower (threaten), See approach proud Edward's power - Chains and slavery.
'Wha will be a traitor knave? Wha will fill a coward's grave? Wha sæ base as be a slave? Let him turn and flee.	'Who will be a traitor knave? Who will fill a coward's grave? Who's so base as be a slave? - Let him turn, and flee.
'Wha, for Scotland's king and law, Freedom's sword will strongly draw, Freeman stand, or Freeman fa', Let him follow me.	'Who for Scotland's King and Law Freedom's sword will strongly draw, Freeman stand or freeman fall, Let him follow me.
'By Oppression's woes and pains, By your sons in servile chains! We will drain our dearest veins, But they shall be free.	'By oppression's woes and pains, By your sons in servile chains, We will drain our dearest veins But they shall be free.
'Lay the proud usurpers low, Tyrants fall in every foe, Liberty's in every blow! - Let us do or dee.	'Lay the proud usurpers low, Tyrants fall in every foe, Liberty is in every blow, Let us do or die!'