Headline, Industry News

CBC presents docs The Beat Goes On and Rise Up

Two remarkable, new, two-part documentaries, THIS BEAT GOES ON and RISE UP, chronicling the explosion of Canadian pop music in the 1970s and 1980s, will have their World Premiere on CBC Television over four consecutive Thursday evenings at 9:00 pm ET/PT, beginning August 27. 

THIS BEAT GOES ON tells the story of Canadian pop music in the 1970s, followed by RISE UP which brings the story through the 1980s. The films are researched and written by acclaimed music writer Nicholas Jennings, directed by Gary McGroarty, narrated by the CBC’s Jian Ghomeshi, and co-produced by Soapbox Productions in Vancouver and Amerimage-Spectra in Montreal. The new films reunite the same creative team who collaborated on the first part of this musical journey, the two-hour special Shakin’ All Over, that told the story of the birth of Canadian pop music in the 1960s, and which CBC aired to critical acclaim in 2006. 

THIS BEAT GOES ON and RISE UP are a treasure trove of Canadian music and music lore, reviving the wealth and variety of our musical heritage as Canadians and the common thread that unites and moves us. Every region of the country contributed its own music to what has become our national jukebox. 

Director/associate producer of THIS BEAT GOES ON and RISE UP is Gary McGroarty; Nicholas Jennings is writer, researcher, interviewer and associate producer; producers are Randolph Eustace-Walden, Nick Orchard, Alain Simard and Pierre L. Touchette; executive producer is Luc Châtelain. The films are narrated by Jian Ghomeshi.

For CBC’s Independent Documentary Unit: Linda Laughlin, Senior Producer; Michael Claydon, Area Executive Producer. Mark Starowicz is Executive Director, Documentary Programming.

THIS BEAT GOES ON and RISE UP are produced by Soapbox Productions Inc. and Amerimage-Spectra Inc. in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Developed with the participation of British Columbia Film and produced with the participation of the Canadian Television Fund created by the Government of Canada and the Canadian cable industry, the Quebec Film and Television Tax Credit administered by SODEC, the Province of British Columbia Production Services Tax Credit, and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit.