- Reflect on how these songs contribute to making the community or natural world a better place and identify how the lyrics actions call others to action and can work to make positive change.
In both of these songs Wreak Beach/ Totem Park and Cariboo Ghost and Untold Stories, they both convey a message to the community to make it a better place. They talk about the past and present issues going on involving the indigenous community. They speak about the unfairness and mistreatment that they had to face and the struggles they went through. The artists of these songs are trying to bring awareness to this issue and ensure others are aware. The lyrics have strong meanings and messages that work to bring positive change in our society.
- How do these songs represent that something is unfair? What is that “something”? Explain.
These songs represent that something is unfair and that would be the rights of the indigenous people how they had everything taken away from them. The indigenous community had their culture, land and children taken away from them. These songs represent that unfairness through the meaning of the lyrics and the hidden messages throughout them as well.
- What emotions do these songs generate for you? Compare your emotions between each song. Which one is more compelling? And why?
These songs generate many emotions for me, and some are indescribable, but I would say anger and devastation. These songs bring out these emotions because of what the indigenous community had to go through, and I feel angry because of what the settlers did to them. They mistreated, manipulated, and tricked them for their own needs. In the song Wreak Beach/Totem Park I feel angry because of how they were treated, for example, “I’ll sit on the beach till they put me in cuffs” This line shows them fitting against the settlers, but it is unfair since this is their land. In the song Caribou Ghost and Untold Stories, I feel devastation because of how tired they are from being treated badly in the line “We don’t have a plan for the win, we always lose anyway”.
- What is important to each of the singers? What is the message they are trying to convey?
The singer The Zolas is trying to showcase the perspective from a “White Man” of how the indigenous people were treated and what they went through. The message they are trying to convey is the fight the indigenous people had against authority and how they stood up for what was right. It shows determination and persistence against authority. Leanne Simpson is showcasing her song from the indigenous people’s perspective and how they felt through this. The song’s message is trying to convey their silent approach against authority and the things that they did hidden to bring awareness.
- Using one of your similarities and differences, discuss in a short paragraph how music can convey different perspectives on the same cause?
Music can convey many messages and powerful ones as well through the lyrics and in both of these songs it is very clearly seen.
The lyrics I will be using are “Pinker than paradise, redder than blood” and “Hyped up on aesthetics and tripped up by real life” these two have similarities and differences. They both talk about how the expectation of life is pinker than paradise and hyped up on aesthetics which is how people want to see life. However, in reality, life is redder than blood and you get tripped up and that is what people have to face every day which isn’t anything compared to the expectation. They both talk about how our imagination of a perfect life is never true because real life is rough, and an uneasy road. The difference between these two lines is that the first song is more visual with a unique way with their words. They use colours to describe the negatives and positives of life. In the second song, the line is harsher and straight to the point about life. This can also be because of the artists and their approach to conveying their message to the world.