[Professional Blog] Prurient Choice?

CBC Radio 2 has released a list of 65 Canadian singer-songwriters vying for the chance to recognize and celebrate Canadians favourite places in song.

The performers nominated from Newfoundland and Labrador include Amelia Curran, Damhnait Doyle, Hey Rosetta!, Mark Bragg and Ron Hynes.

According to a news releases issued moments ago from CBC, the artist lineup was selected from Radio 2s playlist.

Canadians have until October 24 at 1:30 am to choose their most popular places from each province and territory, the releases says, and the artists theyd like to see create the song for those locations, by visiting www.cbc.ca/radio2. Once voting closes, the final 13 artists have four weeks to compose and record an original song, inspired by the most popular Canadian location from their province or territory.

Canadians will vote from the above list to choose the artist who will sing about a location in their province or territory, as chosen by Canadians through an online voting process at the Song Quest site.

The five songs nominated for this province are Signal Hill, Gros Morne, Dildo, St. Johns and LAnse aux Meadows.

Thats right Dildo is in there. Its the only location on the list with a sexually suggestive name. (The closest is Love, Saskatchewan, which is tame in comparison.)

Of course, Dildo does have a rich history, particularly associated with fishing including North Americas first fish hatchery and whaling. However, I suspect the nomination here has more to do with the sexual connotations of the name, for which the town has attracted a lot of attention over the years.

Im not exactly upset about the nomination. I actually like the towns name, and congratulate residents on sticking with it, rather than changing to something innocuous or even stupid (as the folks in Gayside did, when they renamed their town Baytona). My only concern is that it might turn into a bit of a Newfie joke, in the hands of mainland media.

There is also the question of how nominated artists would feel, writing and singing about Dildo. Would they see it as a challenge, a way to turn the tables on those expecting something prurient, or would they just say, ewwwwwww?

The contest will have 13 winners, one from each province and territory, and presumably its creative output will be released as an album.

This could get interesting