Choose Canadian Tune To Set Record At Luminato

05/07/09 3:18pm

by Craig Clark (CHARTattack)

One of 10 songs will be chosen as "The Great Canadian Tune" and played in an attempt to break the world record for the largest guitar ensemble as part of Luminato Toronto Festival Of Arts + Creativity.

Guitar enthusiasts are invited to go to the Luminato website to vote until May 27 for the song they'd like to play or hear. People can vote once a day, and the totals are updated and shown on the site. A five-minute version of the winning song and its tablature will be posted there at 9 a.m. on May 30.

Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Takin' Care Of Business" currently has a lead of about 150 votes over Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."

Guitarists who learn the song should show up to register at Yonge-Dundas Square on June 6 at 2 p.m. Justin Rutledge, Kim Stockwood and The Heartbroken (a new Toronto-based collective featuring Stuart Cameron, Damhnait Doyle, Blake Manning and Peter Fusco) will lead the performance of the winning song after counting down and playing all the runner-up cuts, beginning at 4 p.m.

Participants will attempt to break the record for the world's largest guitar ensemble currently held by the German town of Leinfelden-Echterdingen, where 1,802 guitarists performed Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water" in 2007.

Luminato is an annual event held over 10 days in June that highlights theatre, dance, classical and contemporary music, film, literature, visual arts and design. This year's event will run from June 5 to 14.

Here are the songs vying to become "The Great Canadian Tune":

Bryan Adams — "Cuts Like A Knife"
Bachman-Turner Overdrive — "Taking Care Of Business"
The Band — "The Weight"
Blue Rodeo — "Hasn't Hit Me Yet"
Leonard Cohen — "Hallelujah"
Feist — "1234"
Tom Cochrane — "Boy Inside The Man"
Sarah Harmer — "Basement Apartment"
The Tragically Hip — "Courage"
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young — "Helpless"