Greetings!!

Hello there, OIMA world!

I'm the new guy, Will Lafrance, doing his first ever blog post. For the next nine weeks I'll be acting as the Aboriginal Music Coordinator and also doing general OIMA music collection and support. You can email me directly at will@ncra.ca.

A little about me first; I’m a part-time actor, I went to Algonquin College for two years and graduated from the Theatre Arts program in 2011. I’ve been acting in Ottawa ever since. I’ve been riding the line of professional and semi-professional for about a year now. I’m from a small Mohawk reserve called Akwesasne, born and raised. Represent!

I’ve always been a huge fan of music in general. I tend to stick by the anachronistic punk rock band Against Me! but I try to never be biased about what is on my iPod. If you through my iPod, you’ll find a vast array of some really weird stuff. My favorite genres are London folk, indie, electronic, instrumental, punk, rock, and rap. I also really like listening to movie soundtracks (Inception anyone?)

Now with rap it’s a funny thing, and not haha funny. I’ve always been a big Shakespeare buff, and in his texts, he writes with a style called Iambic Pentameter. It basically means that there are usually 10-12 beats per line with the influx on second beat i.e.; da-DUM da-DUM... That affects the rhyme scheme and overall pace of the play. I feel like that has made me appreciate rap more. Knowing that they are playing with rhyme schemes and beats, and managing to tell a story through it, is kind of impressive. After being in my first Shakespearian show, it really opened my eyes and made me listen for all the cool creative things that they can do. Similarly, if you haven’t heard or seen any Slam Poetry, get on that. Slam poetry is awesome.

I came across the NCRA when I applied with The Aboriginal Pathways to Employment program through St. Lawrence College, which in turn led me to OIMA. I’m really pumped to start working more in depth with both OIMA and the NCRA, and finding some new artists for the archive.

The power of music is such a crazy thing; it can affect your mood more than you might know. For example, think of one of your favorite movie scenes. Now think of the music that was playing in the background, be it classical or some cool contemporary tunes. Now imagine that scene without that backtrack. Pretty boring, right? Nothing sets the atmosphere better than a good backtrack. Be it in the movies, or in life. Music is pretty powerful.

And on that note, I’m signing off. I’m looking forward to blogging more and letting you guys know what I’m up to! Till next time!