exposéh: Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in central Canada bordered by Alberta, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, Montana, and North Dakota. It was the tenth province to join the Confederation and is home to the cities of Saskatoon and Regina. Its chief economy is agriculture, particularly wheat, but has diversified in recent years and is now the world's largest supplier of uranium and potash.

Saskatchewan's imagery of long, flat terrains of wheat fields has been captured for the world in the writings of W.O. Mitchell and Sinclair Ross and in the music of famous Saskatchewanians like Colin James, Theresa Sokyrka, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Joni Mitchell.



Mitchell, a legendary folk songstress, is perhaps the most well-known of all the musicians to have come from Saskatchewan. Over her forty year career she's written many songs about her home province and, in 2005, personally compiled an album of many of the songs she considered to be the most exemplary of this section of her music. Songs Of A Prairie Girl was released to critical acclaim.

With an entire provincial population of just over one million (less than half that of the population of the city of Toronto), Saskatchewan doesn't have too many other noteable names to its reputation. But the EP below showcases a few of them:


SASKATUNES

1. Joni Mitchell - Clouds
2. Buffy Sainte-Marie – Qu’appelle Valley, Saskatchewan
3. Renee Rosnes - Empress Afternoon
4. Wide Mouth Mason - Companion (Lay Me Down)
5. The Blood Lines - Modern Science

Download: [.zip file]



Links:

-Tour Saskatchewan

-official website of Joni Mitchell

-photos courtesy of flickr users ecstaticist, Jordon, Kevin Steele, and mcgillies





Look for the fifth entry in this series exploring the music of the Great White North, exposéh: Manitoba, coming July 2008.