Kilts Night is a new Vancouver Tradition organized by Terry "Bear" Varga, of Bear Kilts - the official Kilt sponsor of Gung Haggis Fat Choy.

We meet around 7pm on the 1st Saturday of each month, at the Atlantic Trap & Gill, at the corners of Davie and Seymour Streets in Vancouver.  It's lots of fun - good food, good beer.  Live entertainment later in the evening.

January 1st, 2005, also marks the 2nd anniversary of Bear Kilts.  You can bet I will be wearing my new Maple Leaf tartan that I debuted December 7th, 2004, on CBC TV's the National.

Vancouver food critic Mia Stainsby, listed Gung Haggis Fat Choy in her Cover story article for today's Vancouver Sun's "Queue" Arts & Entertainment summary.

In an article titled Best new restaurants 2004: Rising culinary stars showcase Vancouver's unique blend of multicultural cuisines, Mia writes: 

"Food is like edible culture.  Take a look at the best restaurants that opened this year.  They tell us we're no longer a city of immigrants with a disconnect between mainstream and ethnic populations.

"Vancouver restaurants today, like the city itself, are more a melting pot than a mosaic of many cultures.  International cuisines have mixed and merged into a seamless whole, and like the stitching on a baseball, there's no beginning or end to it.  What's been happening is quite amazing and adds cosmopolitan flair to the city.

"Ethnic restaurants are not only chameleons in the mainstream, they're now at the forefront of ideas and trends, blurring the lines forever, particularly Asian ones...  So-called western-style menus are woven through and through with Asian notes and riffs.  Blended cuisines are often referred to as 'fusion,' but it's gone beyond self-conscious borrowings from ethnic cuisines.  It's a cuisine of its own - Vancouver cuisine."

Stainsby goes on to write: "And look at the success of the annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy celebrations, the food-centred fusion of Chinese New Year and Robbie Burns Day.  Haggis wun tun symbolizes this eccentric culinary union.  Only in Vancouver.  The main event will be dinner at Floata restaurant on January 30 and 700 party-goers are expected. (See www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com)"

Stainsby mentions us after introducing Shiru Bay / Chopstick Cafe's natto ice cream (a sticky mix of fermented soy beans and ice cream), and Zakkushi Chacoal Grill's ome bushi sour cocktail (Japanese vodka, soda and crushed sour plum.)

Wow - we are in great company, and we are not even a resturant!  We even got mentioned before Clove restaurant's butter chicken and kafta balls, Zen Fine Chinese Cuisine, Also Lounge and Chambar.

see Mia Stainsby's December 21, 2004 article about Gung Haggis Fat Choy titled Have a taste of 2004.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy will now appear at Library Square, Lower Level, in the combined Peter Kaye and Alma van Dusen rooms.  This room is located in the Library Square Promenade beside the Moat Gallery.  Just take the stairs to the Lower Level and turn left.

This means that we will be indoors instead of outdoors in a heated tent.  Much better for audience and performers.

Our shows will be about 30 to 40 minutes long each and will be at 6pm, 8pm and 10pm.  Get there early to ensure a good seat.

Performing with me will be Qiu Xia He and Andre Thibault from Silk Road Music, Karen Wong and Zhongxi Yu from Dragon River Shadow Puppet Theatre, David McIntosh from Battery Opera and contemporary singer LaLa, who was featured in the CBC "Gung Haggis Fat Choy" musical variety TV special earlier this year.

For tickets check the First Night Vancouver website or pick up advance tickets at Safeway for $10.  Otherwise $15 on site.

My friend Valerie Sing Turner is an actor.  Earlier this year she appeared in the Denise Chong theatrical premier for The Concubine's Daughter.  In 2003, she produced and starred in The Malaysian Hotel.  Valerie is an incredible woman, executive director for Visceral Visions, and board member for Touchstone Theatre, Canadian Actor's Equity and other organizations. 

  Valerie Sing Turner wrote:

...you'll hear yours truly on CBC Radio One! (690AM Vancouver/Victoria and 99.1FM Toronto)

I'm reading a 15-minute short story entitled "Versus", which airs Thursday, December 30 at 2:30pm on The Round-Up, and again that evening at 10:40pm on Between the Covers. It's a lovely little story from the point of view of a 13-year-old Canadian Eurasian girl as she struggles to deal with her divided senses of loyalty and fairness when her father marries a woman from China.

Hope you had/are having a lovely Christmas holiday!

For people interested in find the story "Versus." It is from the anthology Strike the Wok, stories by contemporary Chinese Canadian writers.  It is co-edited by my friend Jim Wong-Chu and Lien Chao.

December 28, 2004

Vancouver BC

The shows take place at 6pm, 8pm and 10pm at the Fun Too! Venue, located inside Library Square on the Lower Level.  We will be in the combined Peter Kaye and Alma Van Dusen rooms.  First Night Vancouver marks the first time the culturally tongue-in-cheek elements of the ever popular Gung Haggis Fat ChoyÔ dinner phenomenon have been especially re-created for a festival event.

Expect a Chinese bagpiper! Expect great cultural fusion music between East and West.

Sing along to "Scotland the Brave," and Burns’ perennial favorite, "Auld Lang Syne." Enjoy Chinese "something-or-other."Expect East and West to collide for "My Bonnie Chow Mein Lies Over the Ocean," and "When Irish Asian Eyes Are Smiling," plus many more suprises!

Expect the Unexpected!

Joining host "Toddish McWong" are Silk Road Music’s Qiu Xia He and Andre Thibault, Dragon River Shadow Puppet Theatre’s Karen Wong and Zhongxi Yu, plus special guests Battery Opera’s David McIntosh, and East-West hip hop singer LaLa.

January 17^th, 2005.

Catch the Gung Haggis Fat ChoyÔ World Poetry Night at the Vancouver Public Library Featuring Governor General’s Award for Poetry winner Fred Wah, and hosted by Todd Wong, Ariadne Sawyer, Alejandro Mujica Olea. This event is free and open to the public.

January 30^th, 2005

Catch the infamous Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish McWong’s Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner. Special guest hosts and performers include Shelagh Rogers, Tom Chin, Brave Waves, Fred Wah and many others. This is the dinner that inspired the Leo Award nominated CBC television special Gung Haggis Fat Choy. Tickets now available at Firehall Arts Centre 604-689-0926. Fundraiser for Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop, Rice Paper Magazine and Gung Haggis dragon boat team.

For more information contact

Todd Wong

Phone: 604-987-7124

Email gunghaggis@yahoo.ca

Here is the 2005 Gung Haggis Fat Choy - final copy.  Designed by Jamie Griffiths.  Jamie is an incredible interactive multi-media artist.  She dances, she paints, she does computer graphic design, she conceptualizes far ahead of the curve.  For more of Jamie's work, check out www.jamiegriffiths.com

Gung Haggis Fat Choy prices are:

Early bird until January 3: $50 adults, $45 students, $35 children 12 and under.  After January 3: $60 adults, $55 students, $45 children 12 and under.

My Great-great-grandfather Rev. Chan Yu Tan was part of "Three Early Chinese Canadian Pioneer Familes" exhibit

My Great-great-grandfather Rev. Chan Yu Tan came to Canada in 1896, following his elder brother Rev. Chan Sing Kai from Hong Kong.  They were graduates of the Wesleyan Mission.  My family has now been in Canada for 7 generations - all in Vancouver BC.  I am part of the 5th generation of the Chan family descendants.

Rev. Yu-Tan Chan and Mrs. Chan seated.  His daughter ,my great great grandmother Kate Lee and her Husband Ernest Lee (standing 2nd from right and 1st right.)

New Westminister, British Columbia, circa 1920Courtesy of the Dora Yip Collection

In 2002, The Chan family was part of a history project for the Chinese Cultural Centre Museum and Archives in Vancouver BC, titled "Three Pioneer Chinese Families."  Here is a link to the original Vancouver Sun article by John Mackie.

Rev Chan Yu Tan and Rev Chan Sing Kai were pioneer missionaries to Canada, arriving in 1896 and 1990. They and their sisters Naomi and Phoebe (also known as Ng Ku or "The Bible Lady") also helped to build the Chinese Methodist Church in Vancouver, that later became the Chinese United Church. These early churches were the first organizations to teach Chinese immigrants language lessons in English.

One of Rev. Chan Yu Tan's sons, Luke Chan, went to Hollywood and acted in films, where he starred in several movies, including The Secrets of Wu Sin, The Mysterious Mr. Wong and Singapore.

Grandsons Victor Wong, and brothers Daniel, Leonard and Howard all served in the Canadian Armed Forces during World War II. Daniel has received awards for Appreciation, Service and Merit, for his work with Pacific Unit 280 veterans.

Great-granddaughter Rhonda Larrabee was the subject of the National Film Board documentary Tribe of One, as she singlehandedly revived the Qayqayt (New Westminster) First Nations Band of her mother's heritage.

Great-great- granddaughter Joni Mar was a Miss Canada runner-up and was one of the first Asian-Canadian television news reporters when she worked for CBC TV.

I just thought I would share this with you, as I ready materials for the 2005 Research Fair, organized by the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of B.C., January 22, 2005, 10:30am to 4:00pm at Vancouver Museum.

Here's another link with a picture of Rev. Yu-Tan Chan on a page titled Coming to Gum San.

Television Premiere: In the Shadow of Gold Mountain

Don't miss this show!

We didn't plan to celebrate Winter Solstice with family - but it happened.  My family met with family friends for a dinner at the Flamingo House Restaurant on Cambie St and 59th Ave. in Vancouver.

Chinese Winter Solstice is according to the guidebooks, supposed to be a time of gathering with family and friends, and relaxing after the long hard harvest of the fall.  For us, it provided a wonderful time of respite between the busy-ness of Christmas shopping, organizing for Gung Haggis Fat Choy, and working at the library.  This was a time of joy for re-connecting with good family friends, some of my parents' best friends and their children that I grew up with, and their children now aged 7 and 9. 

There were 12 of us in total.  3 were now grand parents,  3 were now parents, 3 were single adults, and 3 were children aged 18 months to 9 years old.  My goodness - a lot of "3's."

I introduced my girlfriend to my family friends whom I had grown up with, as we traded stories from our childhood, as well as recent stories of dragon boat exploits.  We all caught up on each other's news and achievements, new job postings and the activities of the children. 

With my Auntie (we called our parent's friends Aunt and Uncle as signs of respect - this also carries over from traditional Chinese culture), I helped order the food.  I selected the set dinner course for 10, which costs $198, and included Peking Duck, lettuce wrap, crab, deep fried tofu, sole, fruit salad with prawns.  It was all so delicious and much more than we all could eat.  And all at great value and price.  Chinese dinners really are the way to go for large parties.  For the quality and quantity of food we had, you would have had to spend about $50 to $60 each per person.  As tasty as the prime rib dinner with tiger prawns that I had at the Keg last week, when my fabulous girlfriend took me out prior to seeing Holly Cole in concert at the Orpheum, I have to say that this was the better choice for a large group, both for value and price. 

Flamingo House restaurant owner/manager Joseph Lee even came over to say hello to me.  Joseph is a very wonderful host.  He always recognizes and remembers me.  Not an easy task if you host hundreds and thousands of people in one of Vancouver's busiest dim sum and up-scale dinner restaurants.  But perhaps it is easier, if said restaurant patron hosts Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinners, called Gung Haggis Fat Choy, in your father's other restaurant called Flamingo Chinese Restaurant on Fraser Street, and he brings said restaurant manager/owner onto the City Cooks television program and asks you to cook specialty Chinese dishes with haggis that you have never before done.  Here's a brief description of our adventure cooking with City Cooks host Simi Sara.  Joseph has a pretty good sense of humour, and he looks good on television despite his nervousness. Check out Joseph's special recipes for haggis wun-tun, haggis spring rolls and haggis stuffed tofu.

But Joseph Lee isn't nervous in his restaurant tonight. Business is good - the restaurant is full.  It is "dong zhi" Chinese Winter Solstice and Western Christmas time - a good time for many families to go out for dinner.  After New Year's the restaurant business will slow down, as it is a traditional time for restaurants to take their holidays or do their renovations.  Then it will get busy for Chinese New Year festivities once again.

Here is the 2005 Gung Haggis Fat Choy poster, draft only... actual poster will be printed and distributed in a day or so.

designed by Jamie Griffiths - an incredible dancer and multi-media artist + all round human being.   www.jamiegriffiths.com

Isn't it fabulous?

Ticket prices were deliberately left off - Here they are as follows:

Early Bird Rate until January 2nd $50 for Adult, $45 for Student, $35 for 12 & Under.  After Janary 2nd - Regular rate is $60 for Adult, $55 for Student, $45 for children. 

Book early for best seating... Only fully paid tables of 10 will go into the queue lineup - book an entire table for yourself and friends - or book individual seats and make 9 new best friends!

For tickets: Call Firehall Arts Centre Box Office: 604-689-0926

One of my favorite winter adventures was going to the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Chinese Classical Gardens last year for Winter Solstice.  It was very magical.  The Garden was lit with candles and Christmas lights - otherwise - you never see the garden at night because of its early closings.

One of the real coolest things they do is to create lanterns for the bare trees.  In each lantern are leaves that fell from the trees during autumn... so they are in effect, hanging the leaves back on the trees - with lights!  Very Cool!

There was music at the Gardens... Erhu (Chinese violin) player Ji Rong Huang was playing traditional Chinese and Western tunes in the Water Pavillion of the Gardens.  I bought two cd's by Ji Rong... I have to love this guy!  First of all, his name is Huang (the Mandarin version of Wong), secondly - He played with Harry Connick Jr. one time, when Harry met him by chance at the Horseshoe Bay Ferry terminal and invited Ji Rong to join him onstage at the Orpheum with his band.  Third, he plays Western music, and we agreed to get together sometime to do a duet of Hungarian Dance No. 5.

Anyways back to the Garden... and solstice.  Check out the link to the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens.   This is what you will find:

Tuesday, December 21 from 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Winter Solstice Lantern Festival
An event partnership with the Secret Lantern Society www.secretlantern.org

In China, the winter solstice festival, dong zhi, is a time when friends and family gather together, exchange gifts, and eat, drink, and laugh long into the deep, dark night to mark the rebirth of yang qualities of light and warmth as winter waxes and spring approaches. Enjoy a magical celebration of Dong zhi at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sun Classical Chinese Garden & Public Park as we host the Secret Lantern Society's 11th Annual Winter Solstice Festival for Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside from 6:30 – 10:00pm.

Join a procession from Science World or Strathcona Community Centre at 6:00pm. Then, follow the sea of hand-made lanterns and the compelling rhythms of drummers to our magical Garden come to life at night. Be enchanted by the displays of special hand-made lanterns in the trees and pond; paintings of winter colors by the Oriental Arts Club; music; samples of traditional dong zhi foods such as sweet dumplings and eight treasure soup and demonstrations of traditional folk arts presented by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Vancouver. Free event, but donations appreciated.

Visit the other Winter Solstice venues at Granville Island, the Roundhouse Community Centre, the West End Community Centre, and the Coal Harbour Community Centre.

Yesterday, I met Betty Armstrong of the Vancouver Folk Players, at the St. James Community Square.  They just completed a wonderful Christmas celebration complete with pantomine plays.  Betty was very enthusiastice and told me about how pantomines incorporate archetypal figures.

Betty told me that there are a whole series of English pagan traditions that are perpetuated in Vancouver by the Folk Players.

She told me about the special Dec 21st Winter Solstice celebration on Granville Island that will involved the Vancouver Folk Players and the Vancouver Morris Men.

"I know the Morris Men, " I said... "I saw them at Coal Harbour on Canada Day.  They do folk dances and folk songs... and one of the fellows plays accordion."

Do people celebrate Winter Solstice Eve?

They celebrate Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, All Hallow's Eve aka Halloween.  Personally I like to celebrate Birthday Eve, and with the right person... Valentine's Eve.

Yesterday evening, I went Christmas shopping with my girlfriend.  Alas, she has been late shopping because she was very busy planning the two date concert tour for the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra that she manages.  The self-admitted "stress bunny" was dreading going into the Christmas crowds, so I volunteered to go shopping with her and help her de-stress from both the road trip and shopping.  In return, my fabulous girlfriend decided to take me for dinner at the Cheshire Cheese Inn in the Vancouver neighborhood of  Kerrisdale - a generally very conservative and well-to-do area of Vancouver. While there are a few Chinese restaurants - I haven't seen any Chinese bakeries, butcher shops or supermarkets, yet.

Kerrisdale still retains it's British roots, especially with shops and restaurants like the Cheshire Cheese Inn.  As soon as you approach this establishment, you can tell there is a "pub" like ambience.  There is patio for the folks who still like to smoke.  Walk through the recessed front doors, and window bays greet you on either side - for an old english pub type feel. (How I now miss my 1980's nights spent down at the Windsor Arms Hotel's "Rose & Crowne Pub" that had actually recreated an English street scene complete with street signs, and windows, and brick paving... but I digress).

I looked about the restaurant, and noticed all the patrons appeared to be of British stock, except the table immediately near the entrance with 3 Chinese people (maybe they had been born in England, or Hong Kong, and missed the English ambience).  I half expected the waitress to speak with an accent reminescent of "Upstairs Downstairs," "Fawty Towers," or any of the British comedies.  But alas, she spoke in a very Canadian accent, and wore very Canadian clothing with low riders and a top that couldn't get tucked into her pants - oh but that's not the style anymore is it?

The first thing my girlfriend asked the waitress was if they had Strongbow on tap.  She is a fan of the English apple cider.  Funny, that she doesn't ask for BC Okanagan cider, since she was raised in the OK valley.  Opening the menu was a veritable culture relevation for me.  Here were traditional English dinners such as "bangers and mash" - no definitions provided - but I have learned it is sausages with mashed potatoes.  Also on the menu were minced pies, Shepherd's Pie (containing absolutely no shepherd in it to my grave disappoinment), and fish and chips (Ah... fish and chips... with vinegar... with Ling Cod... a Vancouver tradition on the disappearing species list).

I chose the dinner special of roast chicken with vegetables and mash, also served with a vegetable barley soup (gee... almost as good as the beef barley soup my mother used to make - why would my 4th generation Chinese Canadian mother make us beef barley soup?  I think she learned all these recipes from her father - who worked in an English restaurant in Vancouver).  My girlfriend ordered a burger with fries, that we dipped in my gravy for my mashed potatoes.

By incredible chance, a young man with tousled blonde hair came over to wish my girlfriend Merry Christmas.  He was one of the percussion players of the VYSO, and he was being treated out to dinner by his grandparents for his birthday.  He raved about the VYSO tour which had played in Victoria and Courtney/Comox.  Courtney had been particularly enthusiastic for the VYSO concert.  Over 400 people filled their small hall compared to the 165 audience members in the BC's Capitol city of Victoria.  The VYSO in Courtney, was THE BIG SHOW in town for everybody.  I did suggest to the VYSO manager, sitting across from me that perhaps the VYSO should build up an annual tradition to hold concerts in Courtney and Nanaimo for the future.

Anyways... this young and talented 17 year old musician commented about how he was able to meet people in the orchestra that he hadn't previously met before.  He spoke about how excited he was to get to blow the ferry's horn during the ferry passage, as well as how much fun it was to spend so many social hours with his orchestrat mates, parents and friends.  He gave Deb a big hug and thanked her for all her hard work for the VYSO.  And so, with my girlfriend happy that all her hard work really helped to make a very fun experience for the kids of the VYSO, she finished her Strongbow, and decompressed some more...

for other adventures in Vancouver's dining environment check out: www.vaneats.com hosted by my friends Roland and Barb

Gung Haggis Fat Choy announced in 2005 First Night Vancouver Program

Gung Haggis Fat Choy appeared in ads this weekend the ads for First Night Vancouver 2005.   First Night returns to Vancouver for 2005 after a two year absence.  It takes place at Library Square, CBC Plaza and Q.E. Plaza.

6pm, 8pm & 10pm at the "Fun Too" venue.  Look for a large heated tent on the Q.E. Plaza.  We are sharing the tent with Construction Ink Theatre Company - creating a comedic look at local history with one of Vancouver's most intriguing tales. 

The program describes Gung Haggis Fat Choy as celebrating "Scottish Hogmanay and Chinese New - all rolled into one!"  Expect a Chinese bagpiper.  Expect a Scottish singer to sing in Chinese.  Expect the familiar to be reinvented cross-culturally.  Expect the unexpected.

This is a family oriented version of the increasingly popular dinner show event.  The program will feature story-telling, sing-a-longs + musical performances.  All will be relevant to the cultural fusion of the event's namesake.

Host is Toddish McWong, with famed performers Qiu Xia He and Andre Thibault from Silk Road Music, who were featured in the CBC television special "Gung Haggis Fat Choy."

Also appearing will be Dragon River Shadow Puppet Theatre's Karen Wong and Zhongxi Yu, contemporary Mo-Hop singer LaLa, and David McIntosh from award-winning Battery Opera.

Review:  Bob's Lounge.

December 17th, 2004

Secret Location

www.batteryopera.com

I performed and survived at Bob's Lounge.

Christmas music can mean so many things.  One of my favorite Christmas music memories is listening to Hawaiian Christmas songs in Hawaii at Christmas time.  Some are traditional Christmas carols sung with Hawaiian lyrics, others are original songs in English with Hawaiian and English words such as "Mele Kalikimaka."

Many years ago, when my Auntie Rose still lived in the Nuanu Valley, just outside Honolulu, our family would visit her at Christmas time.  It was at one of these Christmas visits that our family was invited to the Lau family Christmas luau on Kaneohe Bay.  In the afternoon the family had put the Kailu pig, smothered in leaves, in the pit to roast with hot rocks, Grandma Lau was cooking squid in a huge pot.  By dinner time, the sky had gone dark, and the Christmas party was outdoors underneath Christmas lights strung up across the back yard.

Uncle Tony was dressed up as Santa Claus, and he laughed with a thick Hawaiian accent.  His daughters and nieces sang Hawaiian Christmas carols and played guitar.  And all through the Christmas season, you could hear the Beamer Brothers or the Brothers Cazimero sing songs on the radio.  After becoming associated with the Hawaiian culture, I used to cringe whenever Bing Crosby would come on the radio singing his popular music sanitized version of "Mele Kalikimaka."

Hawaii is a very multicultural society now.  It's history is very similar to the Vancouver area.  Similarly visited by Captain Cook, and subjugated by British traders and missionaries, the native populations were nearly wiped out by measles and other viruses, quickly becoming the minority, in a white dominated settlements.  I learned all about the Hawaiian independence movment, very similar to the Native Land Claim settlements in BC - sometimes they were peaceful, and sometimes they were occupational protests.

In the late 1970's and early 1980's, Honolulu felt more like home to me because there was a healthy mix of Asians, Caucasians and local Hawaiians, everywhere - all living in relative peace.  On the television news shows there were newscasters of colour... Chinese, Japanese... Filipino... Hawaiian...  Wherever I went, I was accepted as a kamaiaina "local or old-timer."  Nobody ever asked me where I was from, like they did in my native Vancouver, where my family had lived for five generations.  Hawaii was different.  Hawaii was special.  And that was why I fell in love with Hawaiian culture, and continued to occasionally dress Hawaiian even when I came back to Vancouver.  That, and I met a girl there...  with whom we would send each other letters when we were 17 and 18 years old.

In Hawaii, there are so many people who belong to blended families.  Many of my friends were Chinese-Hawaiian, Chinese-Caucasian, Japanese-Caucasian, Chinese-Japanese... and that's just the way it is.  Inter-racial marriage was an evolution of cultures merging, and while it depleted the pure blood lines of the Hawaiian race, it also spread it further, so that more people could claim they were Hawaiian descendents thus, often helping to further expand Hawaiian culture, and further validate it's respect and inclusion in mainstream culture.

I still listen to the old Hawaiian records occasionally, having replaced some onto cd when I last visited in 1991.  On that last visit, I spent Christmas on the big island of Hawaii, on a belated honeymoon that year.  My then newly married wife and I, listened to Hawaiian Christmas carols on the radio, we learned about Hawaiian culture, we hiked the volcanoes, we visited with local friends in Honolulu.  And she fell in love with Hawaiian culture too.  So much that after we split, she moved to Hawaii for a year.  After living in California's Monterey Bay and Vancouver, she again moved to the Big Island, where she and her young children are learning all the nuances of singing Hawaiian Christmas songs, with such words as "Melekalikimaka is the thing to say in the land where palm trees sway..."

Jazz + traditional Christmas songs = Intercultural music

That's why I have always loved Christmas music outside the normal traditional versions of pop standards, and Christmas Standards.

I love Holly Cole's versions of Christmas Blues, Please Come Home for Christmas, and Baby It's Cold Outside.

Vanessa Williams has an exquisite version of "What Child is This" as well as "Go Tell It On the Mountain/Mary Had a Baby."  African-American Gospel music blended with traditional Christmas standards means a swinging Christmas.

Diana Krall can swing Christmas with Jingle Bells, Christmas Time Is Here, and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas on her Christmas EP.  She also released a version of "The Man With the Bag" on her US "Target" edition of her "Look of Love" album.

I love the old Motown Christmas songs, especially Stevie Wonder's "One Little Christmas Tree," and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles singing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen."  And the Jacksons singing "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" for me, beats Brenda Lee's version any time.

Jose Feliciano's "Felix Navidad" was always a favorite in our household, as we grew up.  It just doesn't sound right when I hear Celine Dion singing it.  But Celine sounds great singing Christmas songs in French.

And then there are the Cheiftains - grand holders of celtic tradition, and more recently of cultural fusion.  I love their recent albums blending celtic music with Spanish, Brittany, Nashville Country (Another Country and Old Plank Road) and Canadian Maritimers (Fire in the Kitchen).  The Bells of Dublin is a fine Christmas cd with Canadian musical guests Colin James and the McGarrigle Sisters. 

Christmas music: It's themes are universal, no matter what musical language it is performed or sung in.

The National's show on Vancouver's cultural fusion and integrated cultures had far reaching impact.  Many bloggers posted their comments such as: 

Derek Miller writing about his daughter growing up in what he considers post-ethnicity, and comments on the Vancouver urban road show.

X Marks the Scot has a forum about everything kilts.  A topic was started called Haggis Fat Choi (sp?) and the topics included my wearing of a Bear Kilt made by my friend Terry "Bear" Varga, and the cultural fusion topics of www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com

Urban Road Stories: Vancouver

CBC TV's The National explores stories of real people in Vancouver BC, Canada's most culturally integrated city.

Peter Mansbridge with Todd Wong following the live broadcast and taping of The National, for Urban Road Stories.

Being selected for a story on The National was a great surprise and opportunity to share a positive story about race-relations.  Gung Haggis Fat Choyä is an event and a concept that gets picked up as a media story because it is fun and light.  It is a feel-good story about multiculturalism.  But underneath it are all the historical racist underpinnings, without which Gung Haggis Fat Choyä would not have been created for.

While it is "cute" that we can say so many Canadians of Scottish and Chinese descent are getting married and having "beautiful" Chinese-Scottish-Canadian babies (as many of my friends and cousins have), life wasn't always easy between the Scots and Chinese pioneers in Canada. 

We could talk about the Head Tax imposed on Chinese immigrants, the Chinese Exclusion Act, signed by then Prime Minister Mackenzie King, which the United Nations is urging Canada to repay.  A Scottish Nanny Janet Smith is murdered and a Chinese servant Wong Foon Sing is accused.  Racist comments against the Chinese abound throughout BC and Canadian history. 

Early pioneer life in Canada was dominated by Scots.  Indeed a book has even been written titled How the Scots Invented Canada.  Parts of Canada have been named after Scotland including the province of  Nova Scotia and a pionner settlement in BC named New Caledonia.  This did not make it easy for the Chinese who started arriving en masse in 1858, following the California Gold Rush.  Senator Vivian Poy outlines the harsh story of Chinese Canadians in a speech in the Canadian Senate.

But the fact remains that after a generation or two or more... we are all Canadians.  Many immigrants start calling themselves Canadians within a few years... and you know... it's okay with us.  Okay... so the Asian immigrants still stick out, some Scots will never lose their soft burr, and even though I am 5th generation Canadian (and a 5th generation Vancouverite to boot!), I will still occasionally get asked where did I come from, and then "I mean where did your parents come from."  Vancouver, Vancouver, Vancouver!!!

But no matter where we go in the world, we can feel at home meeting other Canadians - no matter what their colour or racial ethnicity.  We can all talk about hockey, the CBC, beavers, maple syrup, Tim Hortons, The Beachcombers, sing O Canada and hum "Hockey Night in Canada."

We as Canadians, need to be more proactive against racism.  When a Filipino Youth are killed on Toronto and Vancouver streets in 2003 and 2004, when Richmond City council needs to examine English Only signs to offset upsetting tourists, when a National Film Board Film, When Hockey Came to Belfast, can help ease religious tensions.

We know that as Canadians, we can help make this world a safer place to live in.  We, as Canadians, really know the true meaning of a kinder gentler nation (not declaring war on other nations - covert or otherwise).  We are a peace loving people, who believe in inclusivity, peace, order and good government, and hopefully setting a postive example that other nations can aspire to.  Isn't that why people come to Canada, to become Canadians?  And I hope that we can do something as simple as inviting a person from another culture, another colour, home for dinner.

This is what Gung Haggis Fat Choyä  is simply about.  The joy and cameraderie of a Robbie Burns Supper.  To sing songs, recite poetry, and have a good story and joke with friends old and new.  Does it matter if the bagpiper is Chinese, or the drummer is South Asian?  Does it matter if the poet is 1/4 Chinese, 1/4 Scots, 1/4 Irish and 1/4 Swedish?  Does it matter if there is haggis in the won ton, or sweet and sour sauce, laced with Drambuie to dip it in? 

If there truly was a Scots and a Chinese person in every family, could we then say that Head Tax redress affects every Canadian equally?  If Peter Mansbridge marries my sister, then would he be part of the many families across Canada affected by the unconstitutional and discriminatory law that the United Nations is asking Canada to make reparations for."  This is hypothetical, I don't have a sister - but it demonstrates that head tax and racial discrimination is not restricted to the affected ethnic or cultural groups.  As filmaker Karen Cho, director of the NFB film, "In the Shadow of Gold Mountain," found out in her own British-Chinese -Canadian Family - the Brits side has been more outraged out the lack of redress for the headtax.  It is a Canadian issue that all Canadians must share to end.  I close below with quotes from men of Scots descent: MacInnes, Sir John A. MacDonald in on the subject of Chinese occupation in BC and Canad and to end with the imortal wisdom of Robert Burns.

Thanks for having me on the show Peter.  Congratulations on the Gemini Award for Best Newscaster!

Todd

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"The Chinese are foreigners. If they come to this country, after three years' residence, they may, if they choose, be naturalized. But still we know that when the Chinaman comes here he intends to return to his own country; he does not bring his family with him; he is a stranger, a sojourner in a strange land, for his own purposes for a while; he has no common interest with us, and while he gives us his labor and is paid for it, and is valuable, the same as a threshing machine or any other agricultural implement which we may borrow from the United States on hire and return it to the owner on the south side of the line; a Chinaman gives us his labor and gets money, but that money does not fructify in Canada; and if he cannot, his executors or his friends send his body back to the flowery land. But he has no British instincts or British feelings or aspirations, and therefore ought not to have a vote."- John A. Macdonald, 1885.

"It may be very right indeed to separate a man by law from his wife and family if he belongs to a race whose increase in the country would be disastrous to those already in occupation of it; especially if such intruding race be very prolific and very difficult to assimilate; and by reason of a more meagre standard of living capable of undoing the masses of those to whom such a country belongs. But aside from all that, the Chinese cannot rightly be said to be separated by any Canadian law from their wives and children in China. They are free to go back to their wives and children any time, and God speed them!" MacInnes, Oriental occupation of British Columbia, p.12,13

A Man's A Man For A' That

Is there for honest poverty
That hangs his head, an' a' that
The coward slave, we pass him by
We dare be poor for a' that
For a' that, an' a' that
Our toil's obscure and a' that
The rank is but the guinea's stamp
The man's the gowd for a' that

What though on hamely fare we dine
Wear hoddin grey, an' a' that
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine
A man's a man, for a' that
For a' that, an' a' that
Their tinsel show an' a' that
The honest man, though e'er sae poor
Is king o' men for a' that

Ye see yon birkie ca'd a lord
Wha struts an' stares an' a' that
Tho' hundreds worship at his word
He's but a coof for a' that
For a' that, an' a' that
His ribband, star and a' that
The man o' independent mind
He looks an' laughs at a' that

A prince can mak' a belted knight
A marquise, duke, an' a' that
But an honest man's aboon his might
Gude faith, he maunna fa' that
For a' that an' a' that
Their dignities an' a' that
The pith o' sense an' pride o' worth
Are higher rank that a' that

Then let us pray that come it may
(as come it will for a' that)
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth
Shall bear the gree an' a' that
For a' that an' a' that
It's coming yet for a' that
That man to man, the world o'er
Shall brithers be for a' that

- Robbie Burns 1759