tion. So, I was living this sort of weird life where I am getting two
histories and living those two histories and one of them I think is
a little more honest about what has actually happened here. But I
would have this really deep understanding, getting told the stories
and hearing the language, and then I would go to school and we’re
learning about a very different reality and a very different story
about Canada… So, there were two different history books. Now, if
we’re not on the same page, at least we’re in the same book. We’re
at least trying to get there and there is some motion happening to
bring those two histories aligned, or at least put them in dialogue
with each other – to at least try to complicate the narrative that
Canada has been telling itself for a very long time and just see
what’s there. Press those two histories up against each other and
see what’s in the middle, because that’s actually our story…
CM: Young Indigenous artists like yourself or A Tribe Called
Red or Tanya Tagaq and others are creating music by and
for your communities, seemingly without concern for how it
might be received or understood outside of that community
while at the same time keeping the door open for everyone
to enjoy it…
Jeremy Dutcher: It’s definitely a shifting of perspective or who
we’re doing it for. But of course, you have to keep in mind that we’re
only able to make that shift because people like Buffy [Sainte-Marie]
had to sit in that room and be the only one for generations. She
was talking about genocide in the ‘60s when no one was talking
about it! She was the one who actually went ahead and had these
conversations. But she would’ve been laughed out of the room if
she went and shared what I share on stage because we weren’t
there; our culture was not there. They were not ready to receive us
in that way and that was different. And so, this is what we’re expe-
riencing right now; it’s that shift that is only possible through those
ones who went before.
We have this beautiful word in our language – Nihkanapasih-
tit – that means, “the ones that have led the way.” That is exactly it.
I play this work, and the beauty that I get to experience – going
around and doing these award shows and wearing silly things and
doing lots of cool stuff – because those people shared what they
could. They shared what was safe – actually, I shouldn’t say “safe”
because [Buffy] did not stay safe. She was blacklisted for a very long
time for her stances on Vietnam and what she was doing. But she
was there; she was holding space and keeping the door open for
the rest of us to walk through.
I’ve had the chance to meet her a few times and, with her, it’s
like she’s the queen among us. There’s no other way to talk about
it. She moves with such a grace and such an openness to it all that
I feel like it’s impossible to sit with that woman and be down about
where we are right now, or to be sad, because she moves in joy. I
think that is the gift that she brings.
Today, we’re so polarized that a lot of activism is about doing
the finger wag. I did that for a long time and I was engaged with
that and was involved with protest movements and all this stuff.
But what I’ve learned through this project and through music is
that people are only moved through beauty. That’s just it. You don’t
change someone’s heart by wagging your finger in their face, but
you sing them a song and tell them a story, they will never think in
the same way. Good or bad, it changes them. That’s been a beauti-
ful realization with this project and something that I want to carry
forward in my next work is to remember that music can only be
made in beauty. Even if it’s a rough beauty that we don’t really
understand, it’s always made in beauty. It’s about letting that be a
part of my creative process and leaving room and space for that to
come into the project.
[Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa] took five years to create. It was
a very long lifecycle. So, right now is a point of reinvestment and
trying to dig down into what’s going on and what needs to be said
next. This, for me, is a big question mark. I keep telling my manager,
and much to his dismay, I say, “I don’t work on those schedules. I
don’t work on a pop music schedule and this is just something I
am not interested in.” I think the whole business of, “What’s your
next single? We put out a record this year, so what’s next year?” It’s
like, “No, no, no – slow it down.” If you want to say something artful,
take the time to build it from the start and create a solid founda-
tion things can spring from. But if you’re putting it out to keep
your name recognition or sell a couple more records, it’s like, what
are you doing? Sit with yourself and ask, “Who do you do it for?”
I always come back to this question and I wish young artists and
people who are really hoping to make a statement or a splash –
you only do that by sitting with your art and considering where
you want to go.
CANADIAN MUSICIAN 11