The Hum Podcast Episode 26: “We Were Meant To Be Assimilated Or Exterminated” [Theme music fades in] Jeremy: Language we think of as simply communication, but really it's worldview, it's how we are in relation with each other. It is truly everything, and so when you abstract that from a people, when you beat it out of a people, we have people without a sense of identity. [Music increases in volume] Speaker: You're listening to The Hum. [Music decreases in volume] Gilad: This episode today is sponsored by Proscenium Services, an agency that helps artists and arts organizations perform at their best. Proscenium is a great solution for small teams, offering admin and fundraising support to help you get back to your creative work. Here's the thing about Proscenium Services. I started working with them this year at JAYU, and it's made a world of difference. They've been professional, dependable, and have helped our charity surpass our fundraising goals. Most importantly, they've alleviated so much of my time so I can focus on other creative projects like this podcast. Proscenium Services, they're amazing. Learn more at prosceniumservices.com. That's P-R-O-S-C-E-N-I- U-M services.com. [Music fades out] Gilad: Jeremy Dutcher is a two-spirit Wolastoqiyik from the Tobique First Nation in Northwest New Brunswick. He's most known for his music as an artist, tenor, composer, performer, and also my favorite maybe, a human rights activist. In 2018, his album won the 2018 Polaris Music Prize, and just this year he won the JUNO for the Indigenous music album category. That was huge. If that's not impressive enough, he's not even 30 years old. Now you can't see obviously, because this is a podcast, but I'm also joined here today by a special guest host. We have Blanche Israel joining us. Blanche, just for some background, works as our grant writer at JAYU, but also lives a double life. Blanche, maybe you can introduce the other side of what you do. Blanche: I was very fortunate to connect with Jeremy last year, and be asked to join his band. I play the cello, and it took a bit of a sideline, but it is front and center in my life again, and I'm just over the moon about that. Gilad: I can't speak enough about when you can see the love for art like literally exploding out of people's eyeballs, and ears, and pores, and it happens with you any time we talk about the arts. Jeremy, it happens with you any time I listen to your music. Thank you both for being here. This is going to be a great interview. So Jeremy, before we jump into things, I was doing some digging, and perhaps the most important thing, I notice you were born on November 8th, which technically makes you a Scorpio. Now full disclosure, I am terrified of Scorpios. I've had some terrible experiences with Scorpios. Are all the things they say about Scorpios true, or what's going on here? Jeremy: It's all a misunderstanding really. You know I think we get a very bad rap, and I didn't really understand it for a long time. Every time I would tell people, "Oh, you're a Scorpio, oh no." Yeah, we're just very intense, and some people aren't able to deal with this. Some people, and some Scorpios, aren't able to balance that intensity with love. Yeah, so I'm sorry about your past negative experiences with our people. Gilad: You're convincing me though. You're convincing me. Jeremy: You know, I'd just rather speak in confidence. Gilad: I'm seeing through it. I'm getting it. I'm a Leo, just full disclosure. Jeremy: Oh, Leos. Gilad: I'm a Leo, and so if there's- Jeremy: I'm a Leo moon, so we're connected in a way, you know. I've got to learn your lessons. Gilad: There you go. If there's one thing Leos love doing, it's reminding the world- Jeremy: Being adored. Gilad: I was going to say reminding the world that they love being Leos. Jeremy: Yeah. Gilad: We get lions tattooed all over ourselves. I think I've got like eight on my body. We're going to jump actually right into it. I was just watching you on the JUNOs. You were awarded the winner and you come up to do your acceptance speech, and I thought it was super awesome that you had the space to speak, but you ran out of time. Then the Arkells come up at the very end of the night, and I thought it was amazing that they actually invited you to come back up and finish your speech. It was super powerful. I have a question though. The first time you came up, it was right around the time, and I was watching it today actually, it's right when you said, "Reconciliation," and then the time was cut off. Jeremy: First of all, isn't that just the perfect metaphor for how the dialogues have gone in this country? You know, right when we're ready to like grapple with it, like really talk about it, the music goes up, you know, and we get distracted. We get pulled off course. There's something that steers us away. I think what was powerful about the Arkells' act ... It was really funny actually, I didn't know them at all. I sort of knew them as entities in the world, but I didn't know them personally. Gilad: You're now in the band, so- Jeremy: Oh yeah. Sixth member, you know, hi. I don't know what I'm going to do. I think they already have a keyboard player, so I don't know. Gilad: We'll have to figure it out. Jeremy: We passed each other in the hallway, and this was after my first speech, sort of in between, and Max, he says, "Hey man, I'm sorry you didn't get to finish your speech." Like really earnestly. I said, "You know Max, it's okay. I don't think they were ready for it anyway." Yeah, and then as they won the award for Best Rock Album of the year, he just comes over to my table, he taps me on the shoulder and he says, "Come finish your speech." You know, and what an act of holding and sharing space. They have such a platform, and they used it. This was what was sort of frustrating to me about the whole evening was that there's so many things that we need to critically be talking about at this moment in time. Not just in this country, but globally, and people were just getting up and thanking their managers, and the industry. I'm like, what? Gilad: Giving more space to people who occupy space. Jeremy: Use a platform. You know. Blanche: Yeah. That's something I admire so much about you, is that you are able to just arrive in the moment, and say exactly what needs to be said. What I was seeing was just a lot of people being so extremely grateful for the platform that they can't even- Jeremy: Use it. Blanche: Use it. Jeremy: Yeah. That's it. Blanche: That's a big problem with Canadian identity, we're just ever grateful, ever sorry, and then we forget to come out with our voice. You're fantastic at just arriving and jumping right in. Jeremy: I think it's just because I don't know that I put too much like stock in it all, in the industry, in celebrity culture. Like it doesn't mean much to me, and so I think I'm able to interrogate it and sort of like poke it, and see it for what it is. Blanche: Exactly. When you start out as an Indigenous artist, already you're in a political space. Jeremy: I mean, inherently our art is political. Blanche: You don't get to be apolitical. I talk to Ian about this all the time. Ian is my partner, for the listeners at home. Sorry. Gilad: Shout out Ian. Blanche: Hello Ian. I think about, I don't know if we've talked about this before, but I think about the Dixie Chicks a lot, and how 15 years or so ago they called out, gently called out President Bush abroad, and they were skewered, and their career was flipped on its head because of basically saying that they weren't proud that the president was from Texas. That is not even much of a statement. Jeremy: What a call out. Blanche: One thing I've noticed now is that art is, the performing arts have become more political than they were maybe 15 years ago. Also, I think about how the Dixie Chicks had all these fake fans that assumed that they thought a certain way, and as soon as they found out that they didn't, they peaced out. You at least know that your fans agree with you, or accept you because you don't hide. As soon as you put yourself out that way, then you don't need to hide. I do definitely want to talk about, because we've talked about it before, what you see as being the responsibility of artists today, as they're starting out, and when should it happen, I suppose, that you start participating? Jeremy: You know the uptick of political-ness of artists lately, and I think this is, it's just responsiveness.