Sierra Noble [ windspeaker confidential ]

Manitoba's teen fiddling sensation Sierra Noble had a very busy year in 2005, recording her first CD, Spirit of the Strings, performing during the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards and travelling to Belgium and France with the Aboriginal veterans for the Aboriginal Spiritual Journey and Calling Home ceremony. Noble, who will turn 16 on Feb. 20, spends much of her time promoting Metis music, dance and culture, and also volunteers her time to efforts to have the use of landmines banned around the world.

Windspeaker: What one quality do you most value in a friend?

Sierra Noble: I think it would have to be loyalty ... To me, real friends are always there and they are who they are to you when you really know them.

W: What is it that really makes you mad?

S.N.: The effects alcohol can have on a person not only hurts them, but just as much hurts their loved ones and everyone around them. An Elder once told me that with every drink a person takes, their spirit moves further and further away from them and after a while they are not who they truly are, that things like drugs and alcohol only draw in bad energy and spirits into your life ... Unfortunately, all throughout my life I always seemed to be hit in the face with the hurt and tears that alcohol can bring, being one of the loved ones having to watch the spirit of someone I care about disappear with each drink.

W: When are you at your happiest?

S.N.: I think there's a few times, but I think definitely when I've had a really good show, just right after getting off stage. Nobody's said anything to me yet ... I guess when I'm on stage I'm just in a totally different state of mind and it's just like the best thing in the world to me.

W: What one word best describes you when you are at your worst?

S.N.: I guess uncomfortably quiet. Because normally I'm a pretty, I guess, upbeat, open, happy person, but when I'm not in a good mood or sad or something is bothering me, yeah, I'm definitely not that.

W: What one person do you most admire and why?

S.N.: You know, I think it would have to be my mom ... She's been a single mom for, I guess, 15 years, over 15 years. But that's never stopped her from being, like, the best mother in the world. And she's given up a lot for me and my sisters, ever since they were young. So I guess she's always given us the best life that she possibly could and it's the best life ever. We never had much, like we were not a rich family, but we have the love of our mom and she works harder than anyone that I know ... she's always doing research and planning things for me and how to get me farther in my career and stuff. If it wasn't for her, there'd be no way I'd have done half the things I've done so far in my life.

W: What is the most difficult thing you've ever had to do?

S.N.: I actually can't think of anything so far in my life that has been notably difficult ... but I do know one moment that will come someday in my life that will be extremely hard for me when it does decide to come, and that is finally meeting my father. Growing up without a dad and not ever meeting him was very hard at times, and brought on a lot of challenges for me and a lot of pain. To think of how I would react to seeing him face to face is totally in the unknown, and I know whatever happens won't be easy, but I do know that there are people all around me all across Canada and the world that are and always will be there for me. It's like I've gained a whole huge global family and that if all else fails with my dad they've got my back.

W: What is your greatest accomplishment?

S.N.: Being chosen to travel to Belgium and France to participate in the Aboriginal Spiritual Journey. I learned so much about who I am inside, spiritually I suppose. Having the honor of being able to listen to all of the stories and the teachings from the veterans, Elders and spiritual leaders was a truly life-changing experience in my life and awoke things inside of me that I never knew were there.

W: What one goal remains out of reach?

S.N.: I don't know. I guess it's hard to say for me because I guess I'm a bit of a dreamer ... I guess that's kind of what keeps me going is not believing anything is out of reach.

W: If you couldn't do what you're doing today, what would you be doing?

Sierra Noble: I might be a dancer. I don't know. Both of my sisters were dancers and so I might have followed them in that route, I guess, maybe. But I might have followed again in music in a different way, like singing or something.

Windspeaker: What is the best piece of advice you've ever received?

S.N.: One thing that I was told by an amazing friend of mine ... my friend Al Henry, he's a guitarist that I love playing with ... I guess he saw a lot of things happening around me that I didn't quite understand or I wasn't noticing yet. And he pulled me aside one time and he said, 'You'll eventually realize who your true friends are.' And so I always remembered that and it's always something that, I guess, every once in a while I've thought about and thought about the people I know, and it's true. There's a lot of people that, especially being in a business like music, there's a lot of people that are going to say that they're your friends and they're going to help you and whatever that you want to do, make your dreams come true and stuff like that. And you get let down a lot with people like that. But I guess there's those friends that are truly loyal and really honest and are only there to totally back you up in whatever you do, good or bad.

W: Did you take it?

S.N.: Definitely.

W: How do you hope to be remembered?

S.N.: I guess I have to kind of look at the three aspects of my life and there's always been these three kind of sections. Humanitarian work, and I guess that kind of involves me as a role model to youth, and also the cultural side of my life and my music and performance side. With the humanitarian/role model, I just think of all of the youth that I've talked to, all of the kids that I've talked to since I was 10 years old. And just remembering all the hope that was left in their hearts for the world ... when I go talk to youth and they really feel kind of hopeless, but by the end, they tell me that they actually believe that they can make a difference in the world. And that's all I want to accomplish ... All I want to do is leave the message in young people's hearts that they have a voice ... And I guess with the cultural side of my life, my main goal as a Metis musician is just to preserve my culture, every aspect of it. The stories that I hear from the Elders, just the quirky little memories that they have. And of course the really old fiddle tunes that nobody else knows anymore and the jigging steps and the songs. I guess I'd love to be remembered as somebody that had a passion for history, and making sure that it doesn't get lost, that it doesn't remain as history, that it's still alive.