thenkar's recent activity

  1. Comment on Air Canada CEO will retire this year after his English-only crash message was criticized in ~transport

    thenkar
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    I'm not sure where you got the impression that french-speaking Canadians do not speak english as well. Nearly a majority of all québécois people can hold a conversation in english, and I am sure...

    I'm not sure where you got the impression that french-speaking Canadians do not speak english as well. Nearly a majority of all québécois people can hold a conversation in english, and I am sure that the rates are even higher for francophones outside of the province.

    The same can certainly not be said of the english speaking side, considering the bilingualism rate across the country, according to the last census data, is at 18%, and Quebec accounts for 23 % of the total Canadian population.

    There's a longstanding joke in Quebec that describes Canadian bilingualism as "The french speak english, and the english also speak english."!

    8 votes

  2. Comment on Modern Christmas carol renditions that aren't mediocre CCM? in ~music

    thenkar
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    I'm not quite sure how out there you mean when you talk about interesting and modern versions of carols, but one of my go to albums is Bela Fleck and the Flecktones' Jingle All the Way. Bela Fleck...

    I'm not quite sure how out there you mean when you talk about interesting and modern versions of carols, but one of my go to albums is Bela Fleck and the Flecktones' Jingle All the Way. Bela Fleck is a legendary banjo player, and they invited a tuvan throat singing ensemble to join. Needless to say, it's far from traditional, but I love the vibe.

    2 votes

  3. Comment on African Imperial Wizard exposed by Xiu Xiu as a middle-aged white guy in Africa-themed KKK cosplay in ~music

    thenkar
    Link Parent
    You might be thinking about Seeds of Iblis. There's also a new one that popped up recently, called gulyong that claims they are from North Korea, and people are skeptical.

    You might be thinking about Seeds of Iblis.

    There's also a new one that popped up recently, called gulyong that claims they are from North Korea, and people are skeptical.

    4 votes

  4. Comment on What is a misconception you are passionate about and would like to clarify? in ~talk

    thenkar
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    That Yugoslavia was behind the iron curtain. Since I come from North America, European history is generally lacking among my peers, even highly educated ones. If you think about it, it would make...

    That Yugoslavia was behind the iron curtain. Since I come from North America, European history is generally lacking among my peers, even highly educated ones.

    If you think about it, it would make perfect sense, communist country in eastern europe post-WWII and all. It was even how it went for a while, until the Tito-Stalin split around 1948. This led to a country that was a lot more open towards the west, and sought to be independent of either the US, Soviet or China's oppressive influences.

    It turns out they also made really good music while doing it, and that's how I fell into the rabbit hole. They had very good rock (Bijelo Dugme), punk/post-punk/new wave (Paraf), and electronic scenes (Bastion]), among everything else. Plus some of my favourite Eurovision entries ever, mostly in the form of Tajči's Hajde da ludujemo in 1990, right before the whole thing collapsed.

    5 votes

  5. Comment on WAYFARER - To Enter My House Justified (2023) in ~music

    thenkar
    Link Parent
    There is actually a decent small scene coming from all across the Americas. Blackbraid is the most "palatable", I'd say, and definitely my first pick when it comes to showing people, but there are...

    There is actually a decent small scene coming from all across the Americas. Blackbraid is the most "palatable", I'd say, and definitely my first pick when it comes to showing people, but there are others, like Ifernach, Pan-Amerikan Native Front or Nechochwen.

    However, as it's black metal, it's always filigraned by the eternal question of "is it sketch?", and the answer is sometimes yes, even in this case. If you're looking for squeaky clean riffs, being from a native band doesn't actually tell much of anything in that regard.

    I think that how native politics are at play in extreme metal could deserve its own separate discussion (and might also be a tad too niche), but I don't want to hijack too much either, so I'll leave it at that.

    4 votes