鈥楩irst lady of Indigenous music鈥�: Buffy Sainte-Marie on her storied career
Buffy Sainte-Marie believes that successful persuasion requires two ingredients: love and patience.聽
When the Indigenous songwriter wrote the 1964 anti-war song 鈥淯niversal Soldier,鈥� she imagined how a college student might write an essay to sway a professor who thought differently. That anthem became a folk-rock standard. But two other songs she wrote that year, 鈥淣ow That the Buffalo鈥檚 Gone鈥� and 鈥淢y Country 鈥橳is of Thy People You鈥檙e Dying,鈥� weren鈥檛 wholly embraced. Many people weren鈥檛 yet receptive to messages about the mistreatment of North America鈥檚 Indigenous people. Despite that experience, the songwriter remains undaunted about how she tackles difficult subjects.
鈥淚 do it with a good heart,鈥� she says during a conversation via Zoom. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not there to scold someone for not knowing.鈥�
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onFor Indigenous musician Buffy Sainte-Marie, the path forward has always been paved with patience, understanding, and a creative intuition that has kept her one step ahead of her peers.
That approach has served Ms. Sainte- Marie well over a storied career that鈥檚 being celebrated in a new documentary on PBS, 鈥淏uffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On,鈥� which airs Tuesday, Nov. 22.
The Cree musician, born on an Indigenous reserve in Saskatchewan, Canada, and raised by adoptive parents in the United States, is a pathfinder. The new film chronicles how she鈥檚 often had to wait for the stragglers to catch up to the trails she鈥檚 forged by composing genre-defying music, trying out cutting-edge musical technology, and advocating on behalf of Indigenous people. To paraphrase the Academy Award-winning song Ms. Sainte-Marie co-wrote for 鈥淎n Officer and a Gentleman,鈥� the documentary lifts her up where she belongs.
鈥淭hey call her the First Lady of Indigenous music,鈥� says Indigenous singer Leela Gilday in a Zoom call. In September, Ms. Gilday performed at 鈥淪tarwalker,鈥� a televised tribute concert to Ms. Sainte-Marie hosted by Canada鈥檚 National Arts Centre. 鈥淢usic [has] been at the forefront of every revolution. It鈥檚 a powerful tool for impacting people鈥檚 hearts and minds and creating social change. And she鈥檚 well aware of that. So she has always used her music to fire those movements.鈥澛�
Ms. Sainte-Marie, a self-taught musician championed by Bob Dylan in the folk music scene of New York鈥檚 Greenwich Village, was crowned best new artist by Billboard magazine in 1964. The following year she wrote 鈥淯ntil It鈥檚 Time for You To Go,鈥� which was subsequently covered by many artists including Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond, and Cher. But upon the release of 鈥淚lluminations,鈥� a 1969 album featuring a primordial synthesizer that manipulated her vocals, she says, 鈥渢he folkies held their noses and ran the other way.鈥� She laughs without bitterness at the memory.聽
The octogenarian鈥檚 most recent albums, 鈥淧ower in the Blood鈥� (2015) and 鈥淢edicine Songs鈥� (2017), utilize electronic sounds to create chiaroscuro contrasts with the organic textures of powwow vocal chants. They include fresh recordings of old songs. She believes listeners are ready to reassess those lyrics in light of the findings of Canada鈥檚 Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Its 2015 report concluded that the country鈥檚 residential schools for Indigenous children enacted a form of 鈥渃ultural genocide.鈥澛�
鈥淚n the early 鈥�60s, I may have been very naive, but what I believed about 鈥楴ow That the Buffalo鈥檚 Gone鈥� is that if only these nice people knew they would want to help,鈥� she says. 鈥淚n many cases they did want to help and they continued to learn, and many did help and showed up. Of course, a lot more didn鈥檛. ... It wasn鈥檛 for another 50 years that Truth and Reconciliation brought forth the necessary background so that other people can understand it.鈥�
When Ms. Sainte-Marie performs live, one stage prop she often uses is a red dress on a hanger. It represents missing and murdered Indigenous women. The songwriter says she doesn鈥檛 carry a grudge and doesn鈥檛 have an ax to grind. Her goal is to educate others about the history and heritage of Indigenous people 鈥� something she did as a regular guest on 鈥淪esame Street鈥� in the 1970s. More than that, Ms. Sainte-Marie is a proactive philanthropist.
鈥淭he nicest thing that鈥檚 ever happened to me hasn鈥檛 been my Academy Award, or even there鈥檚 this wonderful documentary that they made about me,鈥� she reflects. 鈥淚t really was when I found out ... that two of my earliest scholarship recipients went on to become the presidents and founders of tribal colleges. They started the tribal college movement.鈥�
When the songwriter isn鈥檛 tending to the goats and chickens in the Hawaiian home that inspired her 2015 song 鈥淔arm in the Middle of Nowhere,鈥� she鈥檚 stockpiling new songs. 鈥淚 try to understand and interpret in art some of the hard things that just plain exist that we need to make better,鈥� she says, adding that the tone of her work is often 鈥渟oft.鈥澛�
She realizes that progress is a process that sometimes spans generations. 鈥淲hat I learned on five years of 鈥楽esame Street鈥� was that there鈥檚 always a new crop of 5-year-olds,鈥� she muses. 鈥淚f you really understand that, you don鈥檛 give up hope.鈥澛�
