Canada claims no other country can boast such a successful record in nurturing and exporting female singers, songwriters and performers.

Some females rooted in Canada include Alanis Morissette, Céline Dion, Shania Twain, kd lang, Diana Krall, Alannah Myles, Sarah McLachlan, Jane Siberry, Loreena McKennitt, Martha Wainwright, Peaches, Avril Lavigne and Nelly Furtado.

“What Canada does best is meat-and-potatoes rock- and folk-oriented singer-songwriters says Larry LeBlanc.

So where do Canadian artists draw their inspiration in the midst of this technological soul-less society?

Canadian artists have a small beef with US record industry and feel they have to step it up according to BBC Radio 2 DJ Bob Harris.

“Historically, the US record industry has used smash-and-grab tactics – taking artists like Joni, Shania Twain and Avril Lavigne, then marketing them to the world as American artists,” explains the BBC Radio 2 DJ Bob Harris, a long-term supporter of Canadian artists. “There is a certain degree of resentment, in that Canadian musicians can feel swamped by American culture, so they love to show that they can match it.

Canadian artists may approach writing with more integrity because they know know they can’t sell a million records on their home turf. The label infrastructure is also smaller and the approach is grabbing one fan at a time. Also, radio networks and two industry bodies founded Factor (the Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent on Recordings), a not-for-profit organization loaning money to new artists.

Geography may be influence as well. Many parts of Canada gets rain and snow for a half a year.

“Canadians are instinctively modest and humble, sometimes to our detriment, sometimes to our benefit. We spend a lot of time hiding away in winter and associate ourselves tightly with people.”

“Even in this internet, cable-TV, connected world, girls with poetry in their souls will still retire to their bedrooms to write songs and escape their environment”.

(Times Online)