Artistic liberty or cultural dissonance?

by Tiffy Leeson

Walk off The Earth performed ‘O Canada’ at The World Cup of Hockey Finals in Toronto last Thursday. The internet sensation indie group from Burlington, Ontario, integrated their signature island upbeat vibe to the Country’s Anthem – causing (apparently) some viewers to feel quite uncomfortable.

WOTE is known for having their own off-the-wall, interpretive style leaving some viewers with a less than enthusiastic impression their rendition.

Thankfully, Pete Blackburn from Fox News decided that it was important to comment from an American’s standpoint on the situation:

WOTE also caused grief with their choice of using the new all inclusive gender neutral version of the phrase “in all of us command” from “in all thy sons command” – a change made this June 2016, in Bill C-210.

And then we had Bruce Arthur, sports columnist at the Toronto Star, who thought it would be appropriate to align his protest with Colin Kaepernick’s ‘taking a knee’ against racial profiling and inequality.

Well Bruce, not saying that you’re absurd, but we are considering it.
 

Aside from these keyboard warriors, what is your take on the rendition?