Canadian Musician - January / February 2020 | Page 14

SOCAN Foundation Launches
Program for Female Music
Producers
From Jan. 9-11, 2020, the SOCAN Foundation
held the first Equity X Production Mentorship
Program retreat for new female music producers.
The new program was developed as a result
of research by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative,
which found that only 2.1 per cent of producers
on Billboard Top 100 songs from 2012 to 2018
were female, and that for every female producer
there are 47 males filling the same role.
“The Equity X Production Mentorship
Program strives to address the lack of diverse
representation among producers,” Charlie
Wall-Andrews, executive director of the SOCAN
Foundation, said when the program launched.
“As many as 25 women and gender minorities
will be selected to participate in a three-day
retreat where they will gain the capabilities and
talent to start their journey to becoming a confi-
dent and skilled music producer.”
For more information, go to
www.socanfoundation.ca.
Music Canada Streamlines
Charitable & Development
Work with Strategic
Initiatives Portfolio
Music Canada has created a new business
unit known as Strategic Initiatives. This new
division includes a portfolio of initiatives
that it says are designed to better support
the music ecosystem. The move follows a
strategic restructuring of Music Canada’s
organization and, it says, the changes are
part of its commitment to be an agent of
change with respect to business and social
issues impacting the contemporary music
community.
As part of the changes, Music Canada
discontinued operations of its affiliate
non-profit, Music Canada Cares. Its key
initiative was the Three R’s Music Program,
which supplied refurbished and recycled
musical instruments to Ontario’s publicly-
funded schools. Sarah Hashem, the organi-
zation’s former managing director, is now
leading the Strategic Initiatives portfolio.
For more information, go to
www.musiccanada.com.
14 CANADIAN MUSICIAN
A decade-and-a-half ago, Toronto-born
songwriter Paul DeRosa wrote “Shine,” a
deeply personal song in honour of his
cousin and friend, Pat Ferrari, who has
lived paralysed from the waist down
since the age of two as a result of a car
PAUL DEROSA
crash. Now, as Canada’s Paralympians
train for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, that song is bringing inspiration
to Team Canada and their families, friends, and fans around the world as their
official theme song.
It was DeRosa’s friend and high-school classmate Jeff Adams, a Canadian
Paralympian and six-time wheelchair sports world champion, who encouraged
DeRosa to bring the old song to the Canadian Paralympic Committee and see if it
could be used in some capacity. When he did, with the song’s lyrics and rousing
melody, it was obvious to everyone that “Shine” was an ideal fit and had great
potential as a rally cry.
“I grew up watching my cousin’s daily struggles,” DeRosa told the CBC. “I wrote
‘Shine’ about 15 years ago to express how I feel about him and his life, or anyone liv-
ing with a disability for that matter. Up until now, the song has never been released.”
With a few tweaks to the original lyrics to better tailor it to the purposes of a
Paralympic Games theme song, CBC Music enlisted singer and former Canadian
Idol winner Eva Avila, as well as top Canadian session musicians like guitarist Pete
Lesperance, to record “Shine.” The result is a soaring rendition that, when paired
with footage of Canada’s Paralympians, is incredibly empowering and uplifting
and encapsulates what the Paralympic Games are all about.
MARK YOUR
CALENDAR...
PHOTO:
CHANGES
“Shine” Becomes Theme
for Canada’s Paralympic
Athletes
ZAKI IBRAHIM AT POP MONTREAL
Artist Submissions Open for POP Montreal 2020
Artist submissions are now open to play the 19 th edition of the POP Montreal Interna-
tional Music Festival, happening September 23-27, 2020. The deadline to apply is April
30, 2019, and the submission fee is $30.
First launched in 2002, the five-day POP Montreal festival presents more than 400
artists to audiences of over 60,000 across multiple venues in downtown Montreal each
year. The festival includes concerts, symposium discussions, artisan and visual art exhi-
bitions, fashion shows, film screenings, and all-night parties. The festival is designed to
cater to musicians and artists, fans, curators, critics, record labels, and industry.
To apply, go to www.popmontreal.com/en/submissions/pop-montreal.