Year in Music - 2015

It was another amazing year in Native Music and saw things come around full circle as it was Buffy Sainte Marie who lead the dance. Power in the Blood is another work of art in an unmatched canon of contemporary music. Her songs have been covered thousands of times and she has won an Academy award for the classic Up Where We Belong. There is no artist who has ever been more radical and more mainstream at the same time. Watched by the FBI and viewers of Sesame Street.
Ms. Sainte Marie has made an album for our time and all time picking songs and styles from eras and inspirations. The music is country and blues and folk and rock, a lullaby and of course, electronic which may be in vogue these days, but is something she has been experimenting with for years. The album was selected for the Polaris Prize, the top music prize in Canada. The record kicks off with a new take on It's My Life from her debut album.

I've got my own stakes in my own game

I got my own name and it's my way

I got my own wrong I've got my own right

I've got my own fight and it's my way

When it was released over half a century ago in 1964 the fires of the civil rights movement was growing in the United States and in Canada, First Nations had only received the right to vote four years earlier. It was a time of repression and fear but also of the people beginning to stand up and stand together. It was a time like today and the album speaks to that young generation that ignited the Idle No More Movement.

The title track Power in the Blood is a call to arms but also a call to heart and mind and spirit.

I don't mind dying 

Well I don't mind dying 

I don't mind dying 

But when that call it comes 

I will say no no no to war 

She also has a call to love and lust. Love Charms is a classic pop song, delicious and earthy and maybe too much for the squares. It should be a huge hit for her but will likely become another hit for someone else. Perhaps another "Until it's Time for You to Go" a contemporary standard covered hundreds of times by everyone from Neil Diamond to Elvis to Barbra Streisand. 

This is music for everyone. She sings the love song lullaby Ke sakihetin awasis which means I love you in her warm Cree language. She sings to the future generations.

Singing come back to the Sweetgrass 

come back to the Pipe and the Drum

and be your future.

Ke sakihetin awasis (I love you)

The music of 2015 reiterated, reflected and resounded that spirit that has been Buffy Sainte Marie's call to heart for over 50 years. 

Beatrice Deer Band's electro-Inuit alterna-rock sound is absolutely captivating and her fourth album Fox is one of the best of the year. Beatrice is from Quaqtaq on the northeast coast of Nunavik and describes herself as "a seamstress, a songwriter and an advocate for good health."
Her mix of singing and throat singing with the band's mix of electronic and rock is highly addictive. Relocation is sung in her beautiful language and there is tragedy in the title. The song hits a wonderful groove and one can well imagine that the Beatrice Deer Band must become otherworldly in a live setting. 

The title track Fox (the only one all in English) tells the story of a lonely hunter who comes home to find that a fox has become a woman and has begun to act as his wife. The band is plowing away with their electric grunge and Beatrice is howling like it's 1992.

And there a woman stood looking at the hunter, looking at the hunter

With a fox skin hangin’ on the line, hangin’ on the line...

Kristi Lane Sinclair released her second album Dark Matter which finds the brooding songstress backed by a stellar band that includes Derek Miller on guitar and Cris Derksen on cello who both played on Power in the Blood. The music inside suits the title with some tracks speeding along like the first single Kiki and others that veer into the more gloomy end of alternative with the bare depth of Sinclair's voice and Derksen's cello. This would be a great album to listen to when you have to drive all night long.

Sinclair continued the Red Ride Tour which toured across Canada and included live performances with Miller and Derksen. There must have been absolute electric magic at some of those shows this summer.

Black Bear released Come and Get Your Love, a breakthrough set of powwow songs for this talented cast of drummers and singers. For the first time they recorded live in studio working with the team from A Tribe called Red. The sound is amazing. If Kakakew doesn't get you moving I don't know what I can do for you. The group is clearly having a great time in the studio like they know they are on to something. After they run through the title track one of the singers says "That is going to be a hit." Then they hit it again. And it should be a hit. Some of the songs will be part of future ATCR recordings and they could be monster hits. But dig on the rawness of this beat right here.

Other notable releases in the powwow circle included Young Spirit - Nitehe Ohci, From the Heart, which won the Best Hand Drum CD at the Indigenous Music Awards. The Chippewa Travellers were winners at the annual event in the Traditional PowWow Category, while Northern Cree took home the honours for best Contemporary PowWow.

Derek Miller's tribute album Rumble - a Tribute to Native Music Icons was produced in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of the Native American in honour of what he called "the blueprint of American Rock n' Roll." It features Millers covering songs like Come and Get Your Love by Redbone, Rumble by Shawnee guitarist and inventor of the power chord Link Ray, as well as Codine by who else Ms. Buffy Sainte Marie. It is available online from the Smithsonian Institute

Another big year in Hip Hop with stellar releases from City Natives, Enter Tribal and North Stars. Edmonton's Rellik released The Dream in which he continued his fruitful collaborations with Nathan Cunningham and Plex. The Hour (Mama's Song) is Tupac meets Merle Haggard and is deserved member of the great Mama songs of all the time. Another solid track is the title song with dynamo vocalist Leanne Goose singing the hook.

Winnipeg's Drezus also followed the path of collaborative creativity on his beast of a record Indian Summer making music with Hip Hop luminaries Joey Stylez, Inez and Lightning Cloud.

Cody Coyote five track EP Lose Control is anchored by the track We Will See which swings like some old school RnB hip hop soul.

We, we, will see..a better future man
It's for my people man 
For my Native People, man

In addition to her standout work with Buffy Sainte Marie and Kristi Lane Sinclair, Cris Derksen continued her own musical journey with the release of Orchestral Powwow which features the classically trained cellist and powwow groups such as Northern Cree and Black Bear.

Don Amero should be Canada's Ed Sheeran. The guys writes and sings like an angel that is alternatively head over heels in love or completely broken hearted.  Refined is filled with middle of the road sound that Amero proudly occupies with great songs and sincere vocals. The highlight of the album is the duet Broken Hearts with Crystal Shawanda meeting Amero heartbeat to heartbreak.

Armond Duck Chief won Country Album and Songwriter awards at the Indigenous Music Awards with his album The One. Duck Chief was born and raised in the Siksika nation and has a classic country voice and he writes the songs that put it to good use.

Nick Sherman from Sioux Lookout Ontario released his self produced album Knives and Wildrice an album of guitar driven songs about the heartbreak of love and the love of heartbreak. Tears and Time is so good. 

I could never have stayed.

Every debt in this life I've paid

With Time and tears and this heart

and a year too late.

Jason Burnstick partnered with Nadia Gaudet for the trilingual album Dream Big Little Ones an album of lullabies in French, English and Cree.

Let your light shine in the dark Fill the room, the night, with your lion heart

Let your dreams take flight, little one To the moon, to the stars, to the sun

Nikamo is a Cree Lullaby written by Burnstick with Winston Wuttunee and Marlene Poitras. The song is absolutely gorgeous and should be the starting point for anyone who would like to start passing on the Cree language to the next generation.

In a similar vein Burnstick recorded Wrapped in Daisies with Nadine L'Hirondelle an album of songs for children in a daycare or pre-school environment and is filled with delightful tracks like Take Care of Your Body, Your the Best and Bannock in my Belly.

Other notable releases in 2015 included Will Belcourt and the Hollywood Indians who kicked off their album with punk rock hillbilly howl of Burn it Down. Digawolf continued to hammer out their northern grunge on Great Northern Man and Mariame earned the title the Cree Rihanna with her soulful release anchored by the ballad As Long as You are Here.

On December 8, Warrior Poet John Trudell moved on to the spirit world after a battle with cancer that had been deemed terminal earlier in the year. Trudell released 17 albums in his career including his 1986 classic AKA Graffitti Man which began his brief but brilliant partnership with Kiowa guitarist Jesse Ed Davis. Bob Dylan called it the best album of the year.

His story of tragedy and rebirth and the visionary music that came out of it is one that gives hope for all of us. We can survive. We can heal. We can create art in the face of horror. We can be grateful for every day. We can be "A human being trying to make it in a world that is rapidly losing its understanding of being human."

The year ended with the announcement that the compilation Music of Native North America Vol. 1 Aboriginal Folk, Rock and Country 1966-1985 was nominated for a Grammy in the Historical album category. The past is honoured in the present and the circle is complete.

2014 - The Year in Music

2013 was the year Idle No More smashed Canadian complacency like a huge rock landing in the middle of a calm lake. 2014 saw a Tidal Wave of Native Music washing from sea to sea to sea created in that wake up call.

Canada's Conscience Award - Neil Young took up the challenge to Canada and rock n roll's conscience brought the message home. Young kicked off the year with the Honor the Treaties Tour on Sunday, January 12 at historic Massey Hall in Toronto. Young raised awareness but also money for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation to hold back further Tar Sand developments on their territory. Dianne Krall joined in with Young for some of the tour dates although support from Canada's music and entertainment community was sadly lacking.

Worth the Wait Award - In March, the Juno's recognized George Leach with Aboriginal Album of the Year and it was well deserved. Leach's Surrender came 12 years after his much loved debut album "Young Enough". It showcased a musician and songwriter expressing his art at the height of his talents. He continued to exercise his love of traditional and gutbucket blues while spicing up the disc with straight up rockers and more experimental sounds that veered into the pop polish of Coldplay. It was a great second album. Hey George, don't make us wait so long for the next one.

MTV's Rebel Music - MTV chose Supaman's Prayer Loop Song for it's video of the Week in March of this year and it signaled that the Music broadcaster south of the border was seeing rumblings of a musical revolution. MTV followed up that promise later in the year with the broadcast of Rebel Music which showcased Witko, Inez Jasper, Frank Waln, and Nataani Means.

Breakthrough of the Year Award-  The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Science gets the breakthrough of the year for awarding A Tribe Called Red the Juno for Breakthrough Group of the Year. Perhaps the glass ceiling won't be completely repaired by the time the Juno nominees are decided for 2015. If all the Native Artists are in one category and there is no room for us in the other categories then we will know.

Idle No More Anthems - Tara Williamson's Come My Way makes me want to blockade the railway and fall in love all at the same time.
Nadjiwan released Broken Treaty Blues which brought the message with a bumping guitar riff, war drum beats and angry chants.

Songs for our Missing and Murdered - Pray Sister Pray was the first single released from Crystal Shawanda's The Whole World's Got the Blues and it was no doubt intentional. In this powerhouse song Crystal lays down one of the harshest lines of the year a cold hard slap in the face of Canadian false humility. "They're just glad another is gone." The prayer at the end of the song is for all of us.
In the song Bella from Leela Gilday's fantastic disc Heart of the People, she sings, "They say we're still to blame for the things that happened to us." It was the truth and it was painful and defiant.
Shawnee who released one of the year's best rock EP's Let It Burn also released a single Canadian Cry to speak out against the silence and asking, "How can you sleep at night?"

Heart Tugger of the Year Award - Rellik's Hank Williams meets Tupac Shakur ballad The Hour about his late mother is beautiful and sad in all the right ways. The guitar is simple and soulful, Nathan Cunningham adds the hook and you have a song that deserves the names referenced.

Biggest WTF Moment of the Year - In June, Billy Ray Cyrus is the headliner at Aboriginal Day Live. The organizers must have thought this would bring some much needed mainstream media attention to the event. The only way that would have happened with Billy Ray Cyrus as a headliner is if he twerked his bum against Robin Thicke's crotch during the performance. This is one of the great years for Aboriginal Music and...and...WTF?

B-O-M-B of the Year - A Tribe Called Red dropped a bomb right on American Thanksgiving when they released Burn Your Village to the Ground. The single was trending on Twitter that day and the Huffington Post had it on their front page. The single builds around a speech by Wednesday Addams from the movie Addams Family Values. Wednesday shares that the Native Americans have learned the true intentions of the settlers and will now burn their village down. It is hilarious and menacing and you can dance to it. It may well become a Thanksgiving Classic.

How We Got our Groove Back Award - This was the year in which Native music reclaimed it’s sexuality in a big way. Meet Me at the Pow Wow by Lightning Cloud and Leonard Sumner was filled with cultural references, inside jokes, questionable pickup lines and a singalong chorus for the Men and for the Women. It was the Snagging Anthem of year. Digging Roots goes All Night Long to kickoff their For the Light album. Raven is singing about going deep enough for you baby and he doesn't mean his baritone. I played Crystal Shawanda's Cry Out For More at 2 in the afternoon on my radio show and I was blushing....my, my, Crystal.

It would seem to be some kind of cosmic karma that the original Native American come-on classic would make a comeback forty years later. It was certainly cosmic.

Come back of the Year - Red Bone's Come and Get Your Love was featured in Guardians of the Galaxy which became the biggest movie of the year and the top selling soundtrack of the year.
RedBone's funky classic kicked off the movie that many people are calling a Star Wars for a new generation. The song written by the late Lolly Vegas was the first song by a Native American group to reach the top of the billboard charts. Ring up a few more number ones to that list after this year.

Debut of the Year - Rikki Linklater's The Last Time sounded like Taylor Swift was making the kind of music that made us fall in love with Taylor Swift in the first place.

Album of the Year – Crystal Shawanda – The Whole World’s Got the Blues. This is the best album in a very, very good year. Not just for Native Music but for Canadian music. It is the Golden Age. The star on this glorious year in music is Crystal. I don't think it was easy to make this record. A continuation in the new country genre would be the critical and commercial safe bet. Crystal broke down all the barriers and released the album that sounds like the record she was born to make...bluesy, ballsy, hot and heartbreaking.
Crystal may have come up in Country but her voice always had a raw edge that was too much for Country to contain.  She's more Janis Joplin and Etta James than Martina McBride and "The Whole World's got the Blues" let's us hear that voice. This isn't computerized. The pain, the anger and the pleasure; it's all right here. The lyrics delve into the deepest darkest regions of the soul of Canada itself. It is the best album of the year in Canada. It may be the best album of 2014.

Collaboration of the Ages Award - Dawn Star Rising is the first truly Canadian contribution to the world of ballet. The story of the two young Native People who find that their lives in the city remain imprisoned in the cycle of violence and rape that began in the Indian Residential Schools. There are many moments of breathtaking beauty and heartbreaking silence in this historic work. There is a moment towards the end of the performance. A women is singing a solo hand drum song and it is filled with hope and is gorgeous at the highest. Then the strings come in. The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra joins in with the drum and it takes all I have not to break down and start crying. Maybe there is hope for us to make something beautiful together after all.

Tanya Tagaq Wins Polaris Prize- It is the most prestigious award in Canadian contemporary music and this year the winner was Tanya Tagaq's Animism. Tagaq's selection continues the tradition of the Polaris where winners are often the most complex and challenging music of the year. I am not going to lie to you. I didn't get Tanya's music. I understood it. I respected what she was doing. But that's not what music is about. That is not what art is about. If you can't feel it, you don't get it. 

I was fortunate to be in the audience when Dawn Star Rising made it's debut. In the beginning of the second act after you have been introduced into the reality of the residential school legacy the second half takes you into the horrors of the past. In the darkness the voice beats and we see Tanya centre stage. She moans and grunts and screams and each breath and gasp and rise and fall and fire and will and life define what words cannot. I got it.

The Tour of The Year - Red Ride 2014 featured Kristi Lane Sinclair and Cris Doerksen two artists who are making some of the most dynamic music around. They performed with special guests including George Leach, Iskwe, Nick Sherman and others on every stop of the tour and we can only hope that the Red Ride continues to roll and grow.

Industry Builder We're Gonna Miss Her Award - Miss Melissa is heading to the Desert and a new gig at a rock n roll station in Phoenix Arizona. She built Streetz FM with her bare hands and the proverbially blood, sweat, and tears. The National Aboriginal Music Countdown is an institution that was built on the credibility of her voice and personality. 

Language in the Music Award - Tall Paul put his Prayers in a Song and showcased the struggle to maintain your identity in this world and threw down a challenge for our own community when he rapped how culture is "More than Frybread and Contest Powwows." Digging Roots brought in the flavour of the language to the title track of their album To The Light.

Drop the Mic on 2014 Award: The year ended with Derek Miller dropping his latest disc Rumble. Miller covers the Link Wray classic Rumble which has the distinction of being the only instrumental to be banned from the airwaves for being dangerous. That's how you end a year.

***

This is just what I heard. Great new music from a number of artists that didn't make the list but deserved to be heard such as Teagan Littlechief, Hugh Poorman, Janet Panic, Donny Paranteau, Gary Farmer and the Trouble Makers, Murray Porter, Kinnie Star and on and on. Here are other lists of artists and music that you might want to check out.

RPM's Best Indigenous Music 2014

RPM'S Best Indigenous Videos 2014