Women & WW1: Part 2
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry: new song and video out now.
Listen to Transmutations EP including “Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry”
“I have met retired Patricias, children of Patricias, and one who plays in the Patricias’ military band.”
Princess Patricia was one of Queen Victoria's grandchildren, and spent much of her young life growing up in Ottawa where her father, Prince Arthur was the Governor General to Canada. She enjoyed a celebrity status during her day, which seems to be why there was and continues to be an infantry regiment in her name. Today they refer to themselves as the ‘Patricias’. Over the last two years of performing this song, I have met retired Patricias, children of Patricias, and one, the husband of my high school best friend, who plays in the Patricias’ military band.
Of course, with the exception of Princess Patricia who was officially their Colonel-in-Chief, there were no women in the Patricias in WW1. In the many films about the world wars, women are depicted as hand-wringing mothers, cute young nurses, self-sacrificing orderlies or devoted fiancées. The reason why Canadian women have the right to vote is because there were women in the Canadian armed forces serving as nurses. This includes Edith Monture (Mohawk) who was both the first Indigenous registered nurse and first Indigenous woman eligible to vote in Canada. Women gained the right to vote as members of the armed forces, not as equal citizens to men. This led the way for Canadian women federally to gain the right to vote in 1918. This is probably Canadian women's greatest legacy from WW1.
But I was curious about the experience of everyday women. We aren’t comfortable with graphic scenes of birth or women’s anger. I’d say most people aren’t comfortable with women’s experience at all. The story of this song is about a woman who nearly dies in childbirth, just to have her son killed in the Battle of the Somme. It is about the anger and futility of war, which she channels into her work at a real historical munitions factory, Toronto Small Arms Ltd., the products of which are still being harvested and de-mined in Flanders today.
I have been surprised at the response to this song. It is by far my most requested song, and that is without it ever being previously released. Of course I’m proud of it and I’m proud to finally share it with you, in all its rawness. It’s just one take, with a couple of microphones in an old steelworks factory in Sheffield. I don’t think it needs anything more than that.
Watch: Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry recorded at Northern Cowboy Studio in Sheffield UK.
Nov 14 Sint-Barbara Kirk, Zwickau DE
Nov 15 Cowhide Concerts, Frankfurt DE
Nov 17 Dranouter Centrum, Dranouter BE
Nov 18 Missy Sippy, Ghent BE
Nov 19 Moules Fripes, Metz FR
Nov 20 De Gudde Wellen, Luxembourg LUX
Nov 21 La Parenthèse, Nyon CH
Nov 22 Bar Am Egge, Zurich CH
Nov 23 Atelier Hinterruti, Horgen CH
Nov 24 Bluegrass i de Müli, Zürchersmühle CH
Dec 7 Ursa, Montréal QC
Dec 8 Cameron House, Toronto ON
Dec 13 Rivercity Stage, Campbell River BC
Dec 14 House Concert, North Vancouver BC
Dec 15 Rogue Folk Club FUNDRAISER for FarmFolk CityFolk, Vancouver BC**
Dec 16 Fort Langley Community Hall, Fort Langley BC w/ Suzie Ungerleider
Dec 18 Dream Café, Penticton BC
Dec 20 Jasper Arts Centre, Maple Creek SK
Dec 21 Foothills Bluegrass Music Society, Calgary AB
** presented by Sarah Jane Scouten, special guests Grant Lawrence, Suzie Ungerleider, Q Brooke Bachand, Mark Killianski
