A sold-out-for-weeks and buzzing-with-anticipation-crowd could not contain their excitement when one of the most well known aboriginal icons in the world finally took her place on the Kings Playhouse stage last Sunday evening.
After an introduction by P.E.I. Native Council president and chief, Jamie Gallant, Buffy Sainte-Marie entranced as she gave a beaming smile with her arms raised to the audience who leapt to their feet in a standing ovation even before the singer sang one note.
But, with a 50-year long musical career that's spanned the genres of folk, country, rock and pop, amidst her tireless ongoing work for indigenous rights and education, (not to mention her work in film and television, visual art and philanthropy of all kinds and a life so fruitful, impassioned, influential, and inspiring) it's hard to imagine her welcome to a reception any less exuberant.
From my position up in the lighting booth - the only spot I could squeeze into - I could sum up everything I perceived in this nutshell: "At 68, Buffy rocks. And is rocking harder than ever." And we could tell it right from her first song out of the gates. After that standing ovation, she turned back to the drummer of her three-piece backing ensemble to count him in and they kicked it off with a bang.
There were chunky guitar chords, a driving hard rock beat, intense backing vocals (complete with a massive chorus of aboriginal chanting which all four members on stage added their voices to) all combined to make the opening number a tremendously powerful one. Surely every heart in the house was kicked up a notch in the beats-per-minute department.
Read More »
A featured cut from her 18th new CD, Running for the Drum, had the crowd going wild - both during, and after the song. To calm us down, Sainte-Marie then played a slow solo number on her own, with just the acoustic guitar - one of her earliest country hits from 1970.
"In the piney wood hills, I'm on my way home," she sang, in her now signature, quavering vibrato voice.
Introducing us to her all-native band (Darryl Menow, Cree, on bass and vocals, Jesse Green, Ojibwe, guitar and vocals, and Mike Bruyere, Ojibwe, on drums and vocals, they rocked us once again with a song about going to the sun dance, called Generation, as Sainte-Marie played keyboards, sang and fired up the crowd once again.
The preliminary list I've done up of overall highlights of this show is daunting, but I can at least provide some outlines of illustration by rhyming off some pinnacle tunes from the 19-song performance. They include her 1965 hit, Until It's Time for You to Go, Universal Soldier and I'm Gonna Be a Country Girl Again.
There was also Up Where We Belong, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Star Walker.
The list goes on.
But my favourite point of the night was when she sang the song by Floyd Westerman, the Lakota man, who also played the chief in Dances With Wolves, Relocation Blues. Tapping the mike to mimic a bass drum, Sainte-Marie sang a cappella and took us to the hinterland and back again, all within the expanse of one very short gem of a two-minute long song.
Her new single No, No Keshagesh, and her inspirited performance of Wendigo (both igniting and invigorating environmental cry-outs) were two other supreme highlights - as Wendigo even received an immediate well-deserved standing ovation. In her two encores, Sainte-Marie belted it out with such oomph that it sounded as though there were five of her, as she chanted at the top of her lungs, backed by the voices of the three men that flanked her, to hammer home a formidable finish. Unbelievable. Buffy Sainte-marie at the age of 68. Check out bsm.creative-native.com to hear how hard she's still rocking it.
And if you haven't yet, you've got to make it out east to see the newly re-vamped Kings Playhouse. It's really something to see. Lorne Elliot will be there on July 10. You can visit their website at www.kingsplayhouse.com.
Next week: In perfect Canada Day weekend style, the Canadian icons continue: Randy Bachman tomorrow night at Summerfest! See you there!
