Canadians鈥� reputation for politeness was not on display Sunday, judging from the reaction to Nelly Furtado鈥檚 rendition of O sa国际传媒 at the NBA All-Star Game in Toronto.
Victoria-born Furtado took some liberties with the national anthem, but it was a deliberate artistic interpretation, not one of those bungled moments when a celebrity performer forgets the words he or she is supposed to be singing, or wanders off into another tune entirely.
Judging from social-media reaction, though, you would think Furtado had committed treason. The criticism was swift and cutting.
鈥淥n behalf of Canadians everywhere, we鈥檇 like to nominate Nelly Furtado鈥檚 version of our great anthem as the worst play of day,鈥� one person posted on Twitter.
鈥淣elly Furtado had 10 years to warm up her vocals 鈥� she has no excuse for that performance,鈥� wrote another.
鈥淎s a Canadian, I am embarrassed by what Nelly Furtado just did. Who signed off on that?鈥� complained another.
The National Anthem Act sets out the lyrics and melody of O sa国际传媒. The tune and the French and English lyrics are in the public domain. The act does not specify how the song should be sung, although etiquette dictates that people stand respectfully for the singing of the anthem. The melody may form the basis of other works, and there are no restrictions on how the tune may be arranged. It鈥檚 a common practice in the musical world to create new arrangements for familiar songs, giving them different feelings and moods.
The Canadian Encyclopedia describes the music to O sa国际传媒 as 鈥渁 formal march in 4/4 time and marked 鈥榤aestoso 猫 risoluto.鈥� 鈥� That Italian musical term means 鈥渕ajestic and bold,鈥� and Furtado was being bold in trying a different approach to the anthem. Rather than singing it as a march, the 1996 Mount Douglas grad sang a slow, melodious arrangement of the anthem.
That the result was not to everyone鈥檚 taste is obvious, but if you ask Furtado to sing, you鈥檒l get a Furtado-flavoured song. What is the point in asking celebrities to sing the national anthem if each one sounds the same?
It can go too far, as experiences on both sides of the 49th parallel have shown. Comedian Roseanne Barr offended many Americans in 1990 when she deliberately sang The Star-Spangled Banner off-key at a baseball game, grabbing her crotch and spitting as she finished. That crossed the line from artistic interpretation well into the territory of rudeness.
Furtado is a Canadian success story, growing up in a working-class family and developing a musical career that has seen her sell 20 million albums and win Juno and Grammy awards. And unlike many Canadian artists who hit the big time, she has chosen to stay in sa国际传媒.
Perhaps the way she sang O sa国际传媒 on Sunday was an expression of her feelings for her country. If it was not to everyone鈥檚 liking, fair enough, but she doesn鈥檛 deserve to be vilified or, as one online commenter suggested, to have her citizenship revoked. sa国际传媒 is a big country, in more ways than one, and there鈥檚 plenty of room for different interpretations of the national anthem.
