Episodes

Did you know that more than 17% of British Columbians speak a language other than English or French at home? Or did you ever wonder why there seems to be a Chinese restaurant in every small town in across this province? British Columbia has a history of immigration that has resulted in an incredibly culturally diverse and multilingual region. In Episode 19 we provide some historic context for how particular populations - ie Punjabi, Chinese, Latin American - became established in the Lower Mainland. In addition to briefly discussing some of the challenges faced by the peoples bringing these languages to the province, we will enjoy music from British Columbians in a number of languages other than English.

This Saturday we are revisiting one of our first concept episodes, the “The Languages Episode”, which aired nearly two years ago on January 21st, 2021. While our original episode featured a handful of tracks from bilingual artists that were sung in English, this new two-part iteration is made up entirely of songs that heavily feature at least one language that is not English.

Similar to the original concept episode, before each track I will provide a brief discussion on the history of the language being featured on that track as it pertains to British Columbia.

This two-part episode features the following languages:

French, Punjabi, Nsyilxcən, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Albanian, Spanish, Irish Gaelic, Turkish, Tamang (Nepali), Farsi

For Part 1 of this episode we kick things off with a number of tracks from Spanish speaking artists. While there is not a ton of history written regarding Latin American peoples in BC, there has been a notable increase in the local population of people who identify as Latin American. In fact, that number went up nearly 50 percent in BC from 2016 to 2021, from 44,115 to 65,970. When this was written I even happened to be dating one of the people contributing to that statistic.

In addition to the handful of tracks en espanol, friend of the show Gold Kid will be at the station with me for a live in-studio performance of some of his latest Spanish language tracks.

After checking out what BC has to offer for Spanish language music, we play a track in the most commonly spoken language in BC after English: Punjabi. Karan and Sharn submitted an incredibly catchy track in Punjabi titled “Surrey Aale.” According to a 2011 survey, over 20% of Surrey residents speak Punjabi at home as their first language.

We also play an excellent rock song and a couple of hauntingly beautiful French tracks from two female singer-songwriters, Nanaimo’s Elise Boulanger and Vancouver’s talented Maude. The tracks are accompanied by some fun facts about the history of the French language in BC.

Other languages we will touch on for Part 1 include Irish Gaelic, Turkish, and Tamang (Nepal).

For Part 2:

Alongside Punjabi, together, Mandarin and Cantonese are the most common langu

ages aside from English spoken in the Lower Mainland. Richmond singer and friend of the show Azk recorded her well received song “Stay Awake” in both English and Mandarin. This incredibly well-received track is bookended by a discussion on the history of Chinese immigration to British Columbia.

Finally, a submission from J-pop group Non Sweet provides the opportunity to discuss the treatment of BC’s ethnically Japanese population, with particular attention paid to internment and race riots.

While the remaining languages do not have as significant of a historical tie to British Columbia, there will be no shortage of fun and relevant facts concerning BC’s demographics.

Beats for this episode are provided by DJDudeWheresMyDJ. Originally to be broadcast on February 11th at 4:00pm PST on Vancouver’s Co-op Radio CFRO 100.5FM and streaming on unsignedbc.com / coopradio.org.

TRACK LISTING:

Part 1 (February 11th)

1. Lejos de Casa - Victoria Yoi

2. Humanidad - Gisun ft Amanda Martinez

3. Vamos a Chillear - Quatro ft Zeck

4. Oscuridad - Dani B

5. LIVE In-Studio Set - Gold Kid

6. IDFC - Corvid

7. Solardem - Alizè Tamturk

8. Patagonia Agony - Pah’sung ft Hoodie Brown

9. Surrey Aale - Karan and Sharn (prod. by 40k)

10. Cigarettes et rosé - Elise Boulanger

11. Dommage - Maude

12. Vol de Nuit - Brunny Sacks

Part 2 (TBA)

1. Sneqsilx - Francis Baptiste

2. Stay Awake - Azk

3. Yukata - Non Sweet

4. Pina Colada - Hoonzie ft Oceanfromtheblue

5. Ego2ego - Sahati

6. Blood Sap - Gadfly