Canada at 144: Are we ready for a national culture that reflects our urban realities?

It's Canada Day, and I'm about to put my feet up and hide the laptop for the next 10 days.

Before I go, I thought I'd celebrate this strange and wonderful country with a wish that, someday soon, our performing arts will become an even better reflection the mix of cultures and influences in our big cities -- which is where most Canadians and Canadians-in-waiting live.

There is a major disconnect between the faces I see on the subway or streetcar and the faces I see at Roy Thomson Hall, the Four Seasons Centre, Koerner Hall, the Jane Mallet Theatre and Walter Hall. Perhaps this is the way it's supposed to be, but, if you believe, like me, that a society's culture is a mirror of itself, then that reflected image tells me that there's a big disconnect going on culturally as well as economically.

Rather than harp on a problem, I've tried to find an example of an artist who I think reflects a positive vision of our cultural future: Haligonian Dinuk Wijeratne.

Born in Sri Lanka, raised in Dubai, educated in England and New York City and, now, transplanted to Halifax, this pianist, composer and conductor is the embodiment of the urban reality I see and feel and hear around me every day -- and his home base is a city nowhere near as diverse as Toronto.

I've chosen three examples to show off different aspects of what Wijeratne does.

The first features Canadian pianist David Jalbert in a recital from the Chapelle Historique du Bon Pasteur in Montreal.

David Jalbert / Wijeratne Colour study in Rupak Taal from Philippe Meunier on Vimeo.

 

The second is the first part of a performance by Wijeratne, frequent collaborator, clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and tabla player Mayookh Bhaumik at the 2008 Atlantic Jazz Festival:

The third is is of Wijeratne explaining and presenting his work as music director of the Nova Scotia Youth Symphony: