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Arts

DIYET’S MESSIAH – AGAINST THE GRAIN THEATRE

An online Messiah rises to the occasion

Paul Wells: Ten camera crews across the country, a dozen diverse soloists performing in a half dozen languages and one remarkable version of Handel’s Messiah
Allegretto con Bravura, handwritten sheet music by Calixa Lavallée. (Courtesy: Library and Archives Canada e011163931)

The hidden racist history of ’O Canada’

Laila El Mugammar: Every time I stand for the Canadian national anthem, I think about the song’s composer, who founded a blackface minstrel troupe. What does it mean to sing the melody of a man who wore me as a costume?