Big Hassle Media NY
40 Exchange Pl, Ste. 1900
New York, NY 10005
P 212.619.1360
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3685 Motor Ave Suite 240.
Los Angeles, CA 90034
P 424.603.4655
Jeremy Dutcher isn’t easy to pin down. Performer, composer, activist, musicologist — these roles are all infused into his art and way of life. His music, too, transcends boundaries: unapologetically playful in its incorporation of classical influences, full of reverence for the traditional songs of his home, and teeming with the urgency of modern-day struggles of resistance.
A member of Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, Jeremy was studying music in Halifax when he had an epiphany. “I started to look into the canon of classical music for content that dealt with indigenous issues, or was written by indigenous people,” he recalls, “and there’s not too much…”
“So when you don’t see something out there, you have to make it yourself.”
Jeremy worked in the archives at the Canadian Museum of History, painstakingly transcribing Wolastoq songs from century old wax cylinders. “Many of the songs I’d never heard before, because our musical tradition on the East Coast went underground.” As a measure of the Canadian Government’s Indian Act, all ceremonial songs and dances were banned in public for decades. Jeremy heard ancestral voices singing forgotten songs and stories that had been taken from the Wolastoqiyik generations ago.
“I started to listen to this amazing archive and understood at once that it was my responsibility to bring these back to the people,” he explains, “and think about all the good things these songs could bring into our community if we start to sing them again. Song is just one part of a multifaceted project of reclamation of Wolastoqiyik identity.”
For Jeremy, it was clear early on that this project would be about much more than just recovery. As he listened to each recording, he felt his own musical impulses stirring from deep within. Long days at the archives turned into long nights at the piano, feeling out melodies and phrases, deep in dialogue with the voices of his ancestors.
These “collaborative” compositions, collected together on his debut LP Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, are like nothing you’ve ever heard. Delicate, sublime vocal melodies ring out atop piano lines that cascade through a vibrant range of emotions. The anguish and joy of the past erupt fervently into the present through Jeremy’s bold approach to composition and raw, affective performances.
“I’m doing this work because there’s only about a hundred Wolastoqey speakers left,” he says. “It’s crucial for us to make sure that we’re using our language and passing it on to the next generation. If you lose the language, you’re not just losing words; you’re losing an entire way of seeing and experiencing the world from a distinctly indigenous perspective.”
“We need to be insistent and unapologetic in telling our story on our own terms.”
FIRST NATION COMPOSER JEREMY DUTCHER
WINS POLARIS PRIZE
FOR BEST CANADIAN RECORD OF 2018
USING MUSIC TO SAVE HIS LANGUAGE WITH NEW LP
WOLASTOQIYIK LINTUWAKONAWA (OUR MALISEET SONGS)
ALBUM STREAMING ON BILLBOARD
Also available on Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify, Google Play & Deezer:
https://www.smarturl.it/jeremydutcher
Download available upon request for album reviews
Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawais named as one of Noisey’s
“40 Essential Albums You Probably Missed So Far in 2018“
Watch Jeremy Dutcher perform on
“Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawais an unprecedented piece of cultural archivism, and its revival of a dying tongue is an example of what music can tangibly do for humanity.”
– NOISEY (Phil Witmer)
“It is said that music is the universal language, but Toronto-based First Nations tenor and pianist Jeremy Dutcher has created an accessible album in his native Wolastoq, or Maliseet, a language spoken today in Canada by an estimated 600 people.”
– BILLBOARD (Karen Bliss)
“The future meets the past as Dutcher’s resonant operatic voice is paired with a recording made over 110 years ago of a speech by Wolastoqiyik ancestor Jim Paul, on death and what comes after. Layered with crystalline strings and booming horns, the result sounds grandiose yet intimate.”
– NOISEY (Veronica Zaretski)
# # #
FIRST NATION COMPOSER AND 2018 POLARIS PRIZE WINNER
JEREMY DUTCHER
SHARES CASEY HQ REMIX
FOR “POMOK NAKA POKTOINSKWES”
VIA THE FADER
AWARD WINNING NEW LP
WOLASTOQIYIK LINTUWAKONAWA (OUR MALISEET SONGS)
USES MUSIC TO SAVE HIS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE
“In the new artist’s hands, “Pomok” is transformed from a devastating, piano-driven march into an electronic number more knotty and dancefloor ready but no less urgent.”
ALBUM STREAMING ON BILLBOARD
Also available on Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify, Google Play & Deezer:
https://www.smarturl.it/jeremydutcher
Download available upon request for album reviews
Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawais named as one of Noisey’s
“40 Essential Albums You Probably Missed So Far in 2018“
Watch Jeremy Dutcher perform on
“Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawais an unprecedented piece of cultural archivism, and its revival of a dying tongue is an example of what music can tangibly do for humanity.”
– NOISEY (Phil Witmer)
“It is said that music is the universal language, but Toronto-based First Nations tenor and pianist Jeremy Dutcher has created an accessible album in his native Wolastoq, or Maliseet, a language spoken today in Canada by an estimated 600 people.”
– BILLBOARD (Karen Bliss)
“The future meets the past as Dutcher’s resonant operatic voice is paired with a recording made over 110 years ago of a speech by Wolastoqiyik ancestor Jim Paul, on death and what comes after. Layered with crystalline strings and booming horns, the result sounds grandiose yet intimate.”
– NOISEY (Veronica Zaretski)
# # #
JEREMY DUTCHER
WINNER OF THE POLARIS MUSIC PRIZE
FOR BEST CANADIAN RECORD OF 2018
& WINNER OF 2019 JUNO FOR BEST INDIGENOUS ALBUM
SHARES DEBUT MUSIC VIDEO
“MEHCINUT”
VIA THE FADER
CURRENTLY ON NATIONWIDE TOUR
WITH CANADIAN ORCHESTRAS
PERFORMING HIS AWARD WINNING LP:
ALBUM STREAMING ON BILLBOARD
Also available on Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify, Google Play & Deezer:
https://www.smarturl.it/jeremydutcher
+
Jeremy Dutcher’s NPR Tiny Desk Performance:
https://www.npr.org/2019/05/20/725058345/jeremy-dutcher-tiny-desk-concert
Jeremy Dutcher performing at the JUNO Awards:
Jeremy Dutcher wins Indigenous Music Album | Junos Gala Dinner & Awards 2019:
Arkells invite Jeremy Dutcher onto the Junos stage to finish acceptance speech:
Watch Jeremy Dutcher perform on CBC First Play Live:
https://www.cbcmusic.ca/posts/19750/watch-jeremy-dutcher-mesmerizing-performance-debut
“Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawais an unprecedented piece of cultural archivism, and its revival of a dying tongue is an example of what music can tangibly do for humanity.”
– NOISEY (Phil Witmer)
“It is said that music is the universal language, but Toronto-based First Nations tenor and pianist Jeremy Dutcher has created an accessible album in his native Wolastoq, or Maliseet, a language spoken today in Canada by an estimated 600 people.”
– BILLBOARD (Karen Bliss)
“The future meets the past as Dutcher’s resonant operatic voice is paired with a recording made over 110 years ago of a speech by Wolastoqiyik ancestor Jim Paul, on death and what comes after. Layered with crystalline strings and booming horns, the result sounds grandiose yet intimate.”
– NOISEY (Veronica Zaretski)
Jeremy Dutcher is a Toronto-based performer, composer, and classically trained operatic tenor. He is also a member of indigenous community, Tobique First Nation, and released his debut album, Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa (Our Maliseet Songs), on April 6th, 2018. He is now the winner of the Polaris Music Prize for the best Canadian album of 2018 and a 2019 JUNO winner.
Today, he shares his debut music video with the world for “Mehcinut,” which was also the first single he ever shared. The video is co-directed by Jeremy Dutcher, and filmmaker Chandler Levack, and it was filmed at Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, ON.
The FADER, who premiered the video, says, “One of Canada’s most exciting musicians doesn’t hold back for his first-ever music video,” where “Dutcher becomes more prism than performer,” adding that the album as a whole “was a work Canada needed, but could not have expected.”
“Mehcinut” features an iconic dance performance, choreographed by two-spirit indigenous dancer and artist Brian Solomon, featuring an all indigenous dance group, and special guest dance performance by prolific award winning actress Tantoo Cardinal. Tantoo is a Member of the Order of Canada, and she has performed more than 100 film, television and theatre roles in Canada and the US, breaking barriers for onscreen representation of Indigenous peoples and has challenged negative stereotypes of Indigenous communities throughout her career, which has included roles in Dances With Wolves (1990), Black Robe (1991), Wind River (2017) and Through Black Spruce (2019). She has won a Gemini Award, a Canadian Screen Award for lifetime achievement, and a National Aboriginal Achievement Award.
The video for Mehcinut also features Jeremy’s ‘Table of Indigenous Excellence’; who are Indigenous cultural leaders, artists, filmmakers, and activists from across Canada, who gather at an adapted installation by multi-disciplinary Montreal artist Emily Jan, called ‘After the Hunt.’
In his own words, and his careful choices of what to make bold, here’s Jeremy Dutcher on the “Mehcinut” video:
“This song calls back and reaches forward across time. Concerning indigenous continuation and what it can mean. For all those who have gone before and all those who are yet to come. ‘ciw nihkanipasihtit naka weckuwapasihtit.
This video arises through collaborative processes, and circulates between death and rebirth. A beautiful assemblage of people committed to telling stories of reclamation and resilience. Make Indigenous excellence visible. To witness it in multitudes, is to know that we’ll be ok. Thrive.To see a full table, is to see a collective speaking of who we are. Indigenous people are not one thing we come from many different backgrounds speak many different languages and ways. Drawing our circles wide we make our gathering places radically inclusive relying on all gifts and abilities to make our presence and positions known. This project is a call to my community let’s show what we’ve done and can do let’s send a dream into the future for where we’ll go Collectively Amplifying diverse indigenous voices past, present and future of inspiring artistic visions”
This video was created thanks to the generous support of the MVP Project, a joint initiative of RBCxMusic and the Prism Prize (administered by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television), and with the support of the Ontario Media Development Corporation, FACTOR (The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings), and the Ontario Arts Council.
The Table of Indigenous Excellence guests include (see this hyperlink for more info):
1) Lido Pimienta: 2017 Winner of the Polaris Music Prize, of Afro-Colombian and Wayuu descent.
2) Alanis Obomsawin: legendary 86 year old filmmaker who has made over 50 documentaries with the National Film Board of Canada that explore the lives and concerns of the First Nations Peoples of Canada. She has also been singing professionally since the 60s and has recorded many records. She is a member of the Abenaki Nation.
3) Leanne Betasamosake Simpson: Leanne is from Alderville First Nation, and is an award winning songwriter, poet, and activist, who has collaborated with A Tribe Called Red, Cris Derksen, and Sean Conway.
4) Tim ‘2oolman’ Hill: & Bear Witness: JUNO and MMVA award winning Indigenous DJ duo – A Tribe Called Red.
5) Asinnajaq Weetaluktuk: Asinnajaq is a multimedia visual artist, filmmaker, and curator whose short-form documentary “3000” was made in partnership with the National Film Board of Canada. She is from Inukjuak, Nunavik.
6) Arielle Twist: Arielle Twist is a Nehiyaw, Two-Spirit, trans woman, and works as a poet and sex educator, and released her first book of poetry, “Disintegrate/Disassociate” in 2019.
7) Chief Lady Bird: Chief Lady Bird is a First Nations (Potawatomi and Chippewa) artist from Rama First Nation. Her Anishinaabe name is Ogimaakwebnes, which means Chief Lady Bird. Through her art practice, she strives to look to the past to navigate her Anishinaabe identity whilst living in an urban space as well as advocate for Indigenous representation as an integral aspect of Canada’s national identity.
8) Emma Hassencahl-Perley: Emma is Wolastoqiyik, and shares the same first nation as Jeremy Dutcher (Tobique First Nation), Emma’s artwork explores themes of legislative identity, the truth about our shared history between Indigenous nations and the Settler state and society of Canada and her own identity as a Wolastoqiyik woman.
Earlier this year, Dutcher performed a Tiny Desk Concert at NPR and Bob Boilen said:
There is no one making music like this 27-year-old, classically trained opera tenor and pianist. He’s not only a member of the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, Canada, but one of fewer than 100 people who still speak — and in his case also sing — in Wolastoq. His Tiny Desk performance illustrates his deep respect for his heritage, even as he sings through vocal processors and looping devices of the very present. It’s a dialog with the past that earned him a Polaris prize for his 2018 album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa (one of NPR Music’s top albums of that year).”
Dutcher has also paired up with Spotify to launch the official Indigenous playlist on the platform! Entitled “Indigenous. Music by us, for us”, it is a guest curated playlist showcasing the large variety of indigenous talent from Canada and abroad. Jeremy’s personal choices includes songs by Tanya Tagaq, Elisapie. Nehiyawak and Buffy St-Marie.
Dutcher is currently on a nationwide tour, partnering with orchestras in cities across Canada to present Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa in a special symphony format. Arranged by Lucas Waldin, the performance premiered with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the Carlu Hall in Toronto in April. “This orchestra tour means so much to me,” says Dutcher. “It sews together two musical halves of myself. A tour like this would not have been possible just one generation ago, and I am honoured to bring our sounds into the concert hall and give them the treatment their beauty commands.” Dates and solo performances throughout Europe and North America, can be found below.
JEREMY DUTCHER 2019 TOUR DATES:
With Symphony Orchestra *
10/11: Detroit, MI – Detroit Institute of Arts
10/12: Toronto, ON – The Danforth Music Hall
10/17: Halifax, NS – Rebecca Cohn Auditorium *
10/19: Regina, SK – Conexus Arts Centre *
10/23: Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
10/24: Victoria, BC – Alix Goldeen Performance Hall
10/26: Edmonds, WA – Edmonds Center for the Arts
11/08: Calgary, AB – Jack Singer Concert Hall *
11/09: Saskatoon, SK – TCU Place *
11/14: Fredericton, NB – Fredericton Playhouse Inc. *
11/15: Moncton, NB – Capitol Theatre *
11/16: Saint John, NB – Imperial Theatre *
11/19 Bertrand, NB – Musique Saint-Joachim / Église de Saint-Joachim
11/20: Bristol, NB – Weldon Matthews Theatre
11/22: St. John’s, NL – Arts and Culture Centre
11/23: Corner Brook, NL – Arts & Culture Centre
11/25: Happy Valley-Goose Bay – Lawrence O’Brien Centre
11/27: Georgetown, ON – Kings Playhouse
11/30: Sackville, NB – Mount Allison University
12/04: Chester, NS – Chester Playhouse Theatre
Album Artwork Context
(as told by Jeremy Dutcher):
Ninna-stako was his name.
Her name was Frances.
Mountain Chief of the Blackfoot,
shared songs.
I sit today as object and subject
Of that gaze
Both studier and studied.
All I came to do was time travel
Bringing voices forward
In dances.
We will create our own conversations.
The iconic image of ethnographer Frances Densmore collecting songs from Blackfoot chief Ninna-Stako in 1916 is one that has followed me through the process of working on Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa; maybe haunted me.
I wanted to flip this image on it’s head and reflect on a contemporary musical self-determination, while interrogating the supposed objectivity of the archival project and how it reinforces detachment from communal rematriation. We are reclaiming it.
I approached Cree visual artist Kent Monkman to help me realize this vision and he gave some stellar advice and even allowed the backdrop to be his stunning work “Teaching the Lost” (2012). The photo was taken by Matt Barns and I want to thank his amazing team for bringing this photo to life. I also must thank Wolastoq designer Stephanie Labillois for this beautiful custom jacket. Eci-wolinaqot, nmosissol.
Thus, I humbly submit the album artwork for Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa.
Psi-te npomawsuwinwok, kiluwaw yut.
Koselmoltipa♥
MORE INFO ON JEREMY DUTCHER:
# # #
JEREMY DUTCHER
SHARES BEHIND THE SCENES FOOTAGE
FROM HIS DEBUT MUSIC VIDEO
“MEHCINUT”
VIA EXCLAIM!
DUTCHER IS THE WINNER OF THE POLARIS MUSIC PRIZE
FOR BEST CANADIAN RECORD OF 2018
& WINNER OF 2019 JUNO FOR BEST INDIGENOUS ALBUM
CURRENTLY ON NATIONWIDE TOUR
WITH CANADIAN ORCHESTRAS
PERFORMING HIS AWARD WINNING LP:
ALBUM STREAMING ON BILLBOARD
Also available on Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify, Google Play & Deezer:
https://www.smarturl.it/jeremydutcher
“Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawais an unprecedented piece of cultural archivism, and its revival of a dying tongue is an example of what music can tangibly do for humanity.”
– NOISEY (Phil Witmer)
“It is said that music is the universal language, but Toronto-based First Nations tenor and pianist Jeremy Dutcher has created an accessible album in his native Wolastoq, or Maliseet, a language spoken today in Canada by an estimated 600 people.”
– BILLBOARD (Karen Bliss)
“The future meets the past as Dutcher’s resonant operatic voice is paired with a recording made over 110 years ago of a speech by Wolastoqiyik ancestor Jim Paul, on death and what comes after. Layered with crystalline strings and booming horns, the result sounds grandiose yet intimate.”
– NOISEY (Veronica Zaretski)
Jeremy Dutcher, outside the Aga Khan Museum
Photo Credit : Peter Hadfield
Jeremy Dutcher is a Toronto-based performer, composer, and classically trained operatic tenor. He is also a member of indigenous community, Tobique First Nation, and released his debut album, Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa (Our Maliseet Songs), on April 6th, 2018. He is now the winner of the Polaris Music Prize for the best Canadian album of 2018 and a 2019 JUNO winner.
He now shares a mini-documentary that artfully depicts the behind-the-scenes footage from his first-ever music video, “Mehcinut,” which was also the first single he ever shared. The video for “Mehcunit” is co-directed by Jeremy Dutcher, and filmmaker Chandler Levack, and it was filmed at Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, ON.
Exclaim!, who premiered the behind-the-scenes video gives a look into the “elaborately choreographed and diversely-cast shoot,” says:
Dutcher appears alongside director Chandler Levack, choreographer Brian Solomon, set designer Emily Jan, and producers Joshua Howe and Julie Baldassi to talk about making the video. Each collaborator details their contributions to the video shot at Toronto’s Aga Khan Museum.
Speaking about the mini-documentary, Jeremy Dutcher says:
Music videos are such an important and lasting visual representation for the sounds they accompany. They help to deepen our understandings of the world in which a given music springs from. I’m so unendingly grateful for the team which made this video as impactful as i knew it could it be. Your tireless work humbles me.
The ‘Table of Indigenous Excellence’ was my opportunity to highlight some bright lights within indigenous artistic communities from coast to coast-to-coast — artists who are making an impact and dreaming us into a resplendent, new future. Diverse representations of who we are as indigenous peoples are critically important in this moment. Thank you all for your time and care in realizing this vision. Canada, know these artists and their brilliant works!
Lastly, thank you for those who offered financial support to aid in its creation — things like MVP Project are crucial infrastructure for creating large scale projects like this. Woliwon.
Chandler Levack, the co-directeor of the video, says:
Co-directing this video with Jeremy Dutcher was a highly transformative experience for me as a filmmaker. I was so honoured to be asked to help support his staggeringly beautiful vision for his first-ever music video and to be able to work with this incredible team of collaborators across so many disciplines, from sculpture to installation art to fashion design to dance. Working on this project challenged me and helped me grow immensely as an artist and a collaborator; I am forever changed from being a part of it. The funding provided by the MVP Project was invaluable to realizing Jeremy’s unique vision and the level of consideration and detail he brings to everything that he creates. It was very important to all of us to represent his community with a feeling of Indigenous joy in the images we created. Music videos hold great potential to dramatically shift modes of storytelling and representation in society. Jeremy is my favourite musician and storyteller, and we are so grateful to our team of collaborators and all the incredible artists behind this project who put so much of themselves into this work, and to the Aga Khan Museum and MVP Project for their involvement.
The MVP Project is currently taking applications for new projects on their website.
Watch the Behind the Scenes video of “Mehcinut”
The FADER, who debuted the music video, says, “One of Canada’s most exciting musicians doesn’t hold back for his first-ever music video,” where “Dutcher becomes more prism than performer,” adding that the album as a whole “was a work Canada needed, but could not have expected.”
“Mehcinut” features an iconic dance performance, choreographed by two-spirit indigenous dancer and artist Brian Solomon, featuring an all indigenous dance group, and special guest dance performance by prolific award winning actress Tantoo Cardinal. Tantoo is a Member of the Order of Canada, and she has performed more than 100 film, television and theatre roles in Canada and the US, breaking barriers for onscreen representation of Indigenous peoples and has challenged negative stereotypes of Indigenous communities throughout her career, which has included roles in Dances With Wolves (1990), Black Robe (1991), Wind River (2017), and Through Black Spruce (2019). She has won a Gemini Award, a Canadian Screen Award for lifetime achievement, and a National Aboriginal Achievement Award.
The video for Mehcinut also features Jeremy’s ‘Table of Indigenous Excellence’; who are Indigenous cultural leaders, artists, filmmakers, and activists from across Canada, who gather at an adapted installation by multi-disciplinary Montreal artist Emily Jan, called ‘After the Hunt’.
In his own words, and his careful choices of what to make bold, here’s Jeremy Dutcher on the “Mehcinut” video:
“This song calls back
and reaches forward across time.
Concerning indigenous continuation
and what it can mean.
For all those who have gone before
and all those who are yet to come.
‘ciw nihkanipasihtit naka weckuwapasihtit.
This video arises through collaborative processes,
and circulates
between death and rebirth.
A beautiful assemblage of people
committed to telling
stories of reclamation and resilience.
Make Indigenous excellence visible.
To witness it in multitudes, is to know that we’ll be ok. Thrive.
To see a full table, is to see a collective
speaking of who we are.
Indigenous people are not one thing
we come from many different backgrounds
speak many different languages and ways.
Drawing our circles wide
we make our gathering places
radically inclusive
relying on all gifts and abilities
to make our presence and positions known.
This project is a call to my community
let’s show what we’ve done and can do
let’s send a dream into the future
for where we’ll go
Collectively
Amplifying diverse indigenous voices
past, present and future
of inspiring artistic visions”
This video was created thanks to the generous support of the MVP Project, a joint initiative of RBCxMusic and the Prism Prize (administered by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television), and with the support of the Ontario Media Development Corporation, FACTOR (The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings), and the Ontario Arts Council.
Tantoo Cardinal, joins the dance troupe
Photo Credit : Peter Hadfield
The Table of Indigenous Excellence guests include (see this hyperlink for more info):
1) Lido Pimienta: 2017 Winner of the Polaris Music Prize, of Afro-Colombian and Wayuu descent.
2) Alanis Obomsawin: legendary 86 year old filmmaker who has made over 50 documentaries with the National Film Board of Canada that explore the lives and concerns of the First Nations Peoples of Canada. She has also been singing professionally since the 60s and has recorded many records. She is a member of the Abenaki Nation.
3) Leanne Betasamosake Simpson: Leanne is from Alderville First Nation, and is an award winning songwriter, poet, and activist, who has collaborated with A Tribe Called Red, Cris Derksen, and Sean Conway.
4) Tim ‘2oolman’ Hill: & Bear Witness: JUNO and MMVA award winning Indigenous DJ duo – A Tribe Called Red.
5) Asinnajaq Weetaluktuk: Asinnajaq is a multimedia visual artist, filmmaker, and curator whose short-form documentary “3000” was made in partnership with the National Film Board of Canada. She is from Inukjuak, Nunavik.
6) Arielle Twist: Arielle Twist is a Nehiyaw, Two-Spirit, trans woman, and works as a poet and sex educator, and released her first book of poetry, “Disintegrate/Disassociate” in 2019.
7) Chief Lady Bird: Chief Lady Bird is a First Nations (Potawatomi and Chippewa) artist from Rama First Nation. Her Anishinaabe name is Ogimaakwebnes, which means Chief Lady Bird. Through her art practice, she strives to look to the past to navigate her Anishinaabe identity whilst living in an urban space as well as advocate for Indigenous representation as an integral aspect of Canada’s national identity.
8) Emma Hassencahl-Perley: Emma is Wolastoqiyik, and shares the same first nation as Jeremy Dutcher (Tobique First Nation), Emma’s artwork explores themes of legislative identity, the truth about our shared history between Indigenous nations and the Settler state and society of Canada and her own identity as a Wolastoqiyik woman.
Dutcher’s Table of Indigenous Excellence
Photo Credit : Peter Hadfield
Earlier this year, Dutcher performed a Tiny Desk Concert at NPR and Bob Boilen said:
There is no one making music like this 27-year-old, classically trained opera tenor and pianist. He’s not only a member of the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, Canada, but one of fewer than 100 people who still speak — and in his case also sing — in Wolastoq. His Tiny Desk performance illustrates his deep respect for his heritage, even as he sings through vocal processors and looping devices of the very present. It’s a dialog with the past that earned him a Polaris prize for his 2018 album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa (one of NPR Music’s top albums of that year).”
Dutcher has also paired up with Spotify to launch the official Indigenous playlist on the platform! Entitled “Indigenous. Music by us, for us”, it is a guest curated playlist showcasing the large variety of indigenous talent from Canada and abroad. Jeremy’s personal choices includes songs by Tanya Tagaq, Elisapie. Nehiyawak and Buffy St-Marie.
Dutcher is currently on a nationwide tour, partnering with orchestras in cities across Canada to present Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa in a special symphony format. Arranged by Lucas Waldin, the performance premiered with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the Carlu Hall in Toronto in April. “This orchestra tour means so much to me,” says Dutcher. “It sews together two musical halves of myself. A tour like this would not have been possible just one generation ago, and I am honoured to bring our sounds into the concert hall and give them the treatment their beauty commands.” Dates and solo performances throughout Europe and North America, can be found below.
Photo Credit: Peter Hadfield
JEREMY DUTCHER 2019 TOUR DATES:
With Symphony Orchestra *
11/08: Calgary, AB – Jack Singer Concert Hall *
11/09: Saskatoon, SK – TCU Place *
11/14: Fredericton, NB – Fredericton Playhouse Inc. *
11/15: Moncton, NB – Capitol Theatre *
11/16: Saint John, NB – Imperial Theatre *
11/19 Bertrand, NB – Musique Saint-Joachim / Église de Saint-Joachim
11/20: Bristol, NB – Weldon Matthews Theatre
11/22: St. John’s, NL – Arts and Culture Centre
11/23: Corner Brook, NL – Arts & Culture Centre
11/25: Happy Valley-Goose Bay – Lawrence O’Brien Centre
11/27: Georgetown, ON – Kings Playhouse
11/30: Sackville, NB – Mount Allison University
12/04: Chester, NS – Chester Playhouse Theatre
Jeremy Dutcher’s NPR Tiny Desk Performance:
https://www.npr.org/2019/05/20/725058345/jeremy-dutcher-tiny-desk-concert
Jeremy Dutcher performing at the JUNO Awards:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ4VCYu2j54
Jeremy Dutcher wins Indigenous Music Album | Junos Gala Dinner & Awards 2019:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mJ3LBOhGQ
Arkells invite Jeremy Dutcher onto the Junos stage to finish acceptance speech:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=oIQkuFcPhew
Watch Jeremy Dutcher perform on CBC First Play Live:
https://www.cbcmusic.ca/posts/19750/watch-jeremy-dutcher-mesmerizing-performance-debut
Artwork credit: Matt Barnes Photography
Album Artwork Context
(as told by Jeremy Dutcher):
Ninna-stako was his name.
Her name was Frances.
Mountain Chief of the Blackfoot,
shared songs.
I sit today as object and subject
Of that gaze
Both studier and studied.
All I came to do was time travel
Bringing voices forward
In dances.
We will create our own conversations.
The iconic image of ethnographer Frances Densmore collecting songs from Blackfoot chief Ninna-Stako in 1916 is one that has followed me through the process of working on Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa; maybe haunted me.
I wanted to flip this image on it’s head and reflect on a contemporary musical self-determination, while interrogating the supposed objectivity of the archival project and how it reinforces detachment from communal rematriation. We are reclaiming it.
I approached Cree visual artist Kent Monkman to help me realize this vision and he gave some stellar advice and even allowed the backdrop to be his stunning work “Teaching the Lost” (2012). The photo was taken by Matt Barns and I want to thank his amazing team for bringing this photo to life. I also must thank Wolastoq designer Stephanie Labillois for this beautiful custom jacket. Eci-wolinaqot, nmosissol.
Thus, I humbly submit the album artwork for Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa.
Psi-te npomawsuwinwok, kiluwaw yut.
Koselmoltipa♥
MORE INFO ON JEREMY DUTCHER:
# # #
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Pomok Naka Poktoinskwes
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Matt Barnes Photography
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Aura
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Matt Barnes Photography