May 17, 2016 - The University of Toronto Libraries, Friends of the Libraries Lecture Series hosted a panel discussion on "Preserving Popular Music in Canada". The discussion was held at the Innis Town Hall located in Innis College and was followed by a Wine and Cheese reception at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library.
The discussion featured music historian Rob Bowman, writer/editor/producer Marty Melhulsh, Lorraine Segato (Parachute Club), Alex Lifeson (RUSH) and moderated by Denise Donlon (Much Music, SONY Canada).
The discussion was on preserving items relative to the Canadian Music Industry. Items like master tapes, recording session notes, outtakes, lyrics, methods and technology used to record, mix record projects.
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Rob Bowman
Picture By: Paul Beaulieu
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Alex Lifeson
Picture By: Paul Beaulieu
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Analog items like tapes have a limited life span; it is becoming ever more urgent to transfer items from tape to digital format. An example given was the original tapes of the Jackie Gleason show, the tapes have deteriorated pass the point of being saved, they basically have been lost forever!
Other items discussed were notes, and written material, items like set lists from tours, correspondence between artists and their fans. Alex Lifeson mentioned the lyrics that Neil wrote, handwritten and often with drawings, Neil would provide copies to him and Geddy. There was a lot of material that just disappears. Material that is part of Canada's music history, material that fans of the artists would love to see or hear.
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Denise Donlon
Picture By: Paul Beaulieu
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Lorraine Segato
Picture By: Paul Beaulieu
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Music is a big part of Canada's Heritage. How many styles of music are there? Canada is a physically large country, how important is a style of music to a region of Canada, how important is it to document these styles, so they can be passed on to future generations. How important are your favourite bands, artists, wouldn't it be great to be able to see items documenting the history of an artist, material providing insights that you might not know, reminding you of material you do know, material that provokes a memory, music from a prom, a wedding, road trips to see your favourite artist, fan conventions, the list can go on and on, this is part of your history, part of Canada's history, it only makes sense that we try and gather and preserve as much of this material as we can!
There were a lot of Industry people in attendance. Frank Davies, Terry Brown, Pegi Cecconi, Roy Kenner, Cal Dodd, Lisa Dalbello, Frank and Julian Troiano to mention a few. There were many discussions on past projects, the exact stuff that the preservation project is looking for.
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Marty Meluish
Picture By: Paul Beaulieu
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Terry Brown and Alex Lifeson
Picture By: Paul Beaulieu
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