| Ongiara | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 27, 2007 (Canada) May 8, 2007 (U.S.) | |||
| Recorded | Aeolian Hall London, Ontario | |||
| Genre | Folk rock | |||
| Length | 43:21 | |||
| Label | Nettwerk | |||
| Producer | Andy Magoffin | |||
| Great Lake Swimmers chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    |
| Pitchfork Media |    |
| PopMatters | |
Ongiara is the third studio album by Canadian folk rock band Great Lake Swimmers, released on March 27, 2007. The album was released on Nettwerk.
Canadians are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, several of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Canadian.
Folk rock is a hybrid music genre combining elements of folk music and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival and the influence that the Beatles and other British Invasion bands had on members of that movement. Performers such as Bob Dylan and the Byrds—several of whose members had earlier played in folk ensembles—attempted to blend the sounds of rock with their preexisting folk repertoire, adopting the use of electric instrumentation and drums in a way previously discouraged in the U.S. folk community. The term "folk rock" was initially used in the U.S. music press in June 1965 to describe the Byrds' music.
Great Lake Swimmers is a Canadian folk rock band from Wainfleet, Ontario, and currently based in Toronto.
The band recorded most of the album in London, Ontario's historic music venue Aeolian Hall with producer Andy Magoffin.
London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 383,822 according to the 2016 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximately 200 km (120 mi) from both Toronto and Detroit; and about 230 km (140 mi) from Buffalo, New York. The city of London is a separated municipality, politically separate from Middlesex County, though it remains the county seat.
Ontario is one of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada. Located in Central Canada, it is Canada's most populous province, with 38.3 percent of the country's population, and is the second-largest province in total area. Ontario is fourth-largest jurisdiction in total area when the territories of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are included. It is home to the nation's capital city, Ottawa, and the nation's most populous city, Toronto, which is also Ontario's provincial capital.
Aeolian Hall is a historic music venue in London, Ontario. The hall is located in a heritage building at 795 Dundas Street, at the corner of Dundas St. and Rectory St, just to the east of Adelaide St.
The title Ongiara was the name of the boat that ferried the band to Toronto Island, where they recorded the initial demo. [4] "Ongiara" is also the original name for Niagara Falls; although Dekker grew up in Ontario's Niagara Region, he did not know the word's meaning until after selecting the album title based on the name of the boat. [4] The name is said to have originated from the Iroquois word Onguiaahra and the local tribe of Iroquois inhabitants known as the Ongiaras.
Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, between the Canadian province of Ontario and the US state of New York. The largest is Horseshoe Falls, also known as Canadian Falls, which straddles the international border between Canada and the United States. The smaller American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls lie entirely within the United States. Bridal Veil Falls are separated from Horseshoe Falls by Goat Island and from American Falls by Luna Island.
The Regional Municipality of Niagara, also colloquially known as the Niagara Region, is a regional municipality comprising twelve municipalities of Southern Ontario, Canada. The regional seat is in Thorold. It is the southern end of the Golden Horseshoe, the largest megalopolis in Canada.
The Iroquois or Haudenosaunee are a historically powerful northeast Native American confederacy in North America. They were known during the colonial years to the French as the Iroquois League, and later as the Iroquois Confederacy, and to the English as the Five Nations, comprising the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca. After 1722, they accepted the Tuscarora people from the Southeast into their confederacy, as they were also Iroquoian-speaking, and became known as the Six Nations.
Guest musicians appearing on the album include Serena Ryder, Sarah Harmer, Owen Pallett and Bob Egan. [5]
Serena Ryder is a Canadian musician. Born in Toronto, she grew up in Millbrook, Ontario. Ryder first gained national recognition with her ballad "Weak in the Knees" in 2007. An accomplished songwriter and musician, she also possesses a three-octave vocal range and is considered a mezzo-soprano. Her timbre has been described as slightly nasal with a raspy lower register.
Sarah Harmer is a Canadian singer, songwriter and activist.
Michael James Owen Pallett is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist, who performs solo as Owen Pallett or, before 2010, under the name Final Fantasy. As Final Fantasy, he won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album He Poos Clouds.
Ongiara was available for purchase on iTunes during March 2007, before its scheduled release on March 27. The song "Your Rocky Spine" reached #1 on CBC Radio 3's The R3-30 charts the week of June 14, 2007.
iTunes is a media player, media library, Internet radio broadcaster, mobile device management utility, and the client app for iTunes Store. It is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital multimedia, on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating systems. iTunes is developed by Apple Inc. It was announced on January 9, 2001.
CBC Radio 3 is a radio network that consists of two parts devoted to Canadian arts and music: a radio service which is available on Sirius XM Satellite Radio and streaming audio, and several daily and weekly podcasts from the CBC Radio 3 website. The audio stream is available from both CBC Music and from iTunes Radio, but geographical restrictions are in place to prevent access outside of Canada.
The song "Changing Colors" has been covered by American pop singer Josh Groban. Groban used the song as the opening song on his 2011 "Straight To You Tour."
Joshua Winslow Groban is an American singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer, known for his mature dusky baritone voice. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and he was charted in 2007 as the number-one best selling artist in the United States, with over 22.3 million records. As of 2012, he had sold over 25 million records worldwide.
