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Rheostatics collaborate with Group of Seven

Broadcast Date: Oct. 24, 1996

It's been 75 years since the Group of Seven first interpreted the Canadian wilderness with their art. Now, other artists are interpreting them. Last year, the National Gallery of Canada commissioned rock group the Rheostatics to write music to complement the Group's paintings. The result was the mostly instrumental album Music Inspired by the Group of Seven. As the Rheostatics rehearse a live performance, CBC arts reporter Laurie Brown draws parallels between the group and the Group.

Rheostatics collaborate with Group of Seven

• The members of the Rheostatics met in high school in suburban Toronto around 1980. By 1999 they'd released 13 albums, including the soundtrack to the film Whale Music and a children's album, The Story of Harmelodia. Their catalogue features such patriotic songs as “The Ballad of Wendel Clark, Parts 1 & 2,” about the former Toronto Maple Leaf, and a cover version of Gordon Lightfoot's “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

• Guitarist and songwriter Dave Bidini said it wasn't hard for the band to find common ground with the Group of Seven. "We related their experiences, going up there in the '20s in a boxcar to paint, to us going across the country for our first tour in our car with our U-Haul."
• Bidini is also author of two books, On a Cold Road and Tropic of Hockey, which was later remade as a CBC-TV special.

• Canada Post celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Group's founding with a series of seven commemorative stamps – one for each original member.
• In 2002, Para Paints worked with the McMichael Canadian Art Collection to introduce the Group of Seven Collection, a series of 30 shades of paint inspired by the artworks of the Group. Tints include “The North Country,” “Agawa Canyon,” and “Passing of the Maple.”

Rheostatics collaborate with Group of Seven

Medium: Television

Program: The National Magazine

Broadcast Date: Oct. 24, 1996

Guest(s): Dave Bidini, Martin Tielli

Reporter: Laurie Brown

Duration: 13:05

Photo: Varley artworks, copyright 2003, Estate of Kathleen G. McKay.

Last updated:
Dec. 7, 2003