Buffy boosting powwow music to mainstream

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In 1987, Edmund Bull founded the Red Bull singers following a tradition

handed down from his father and grandfather.

Since then, the powwow group has released countless tapes of its music

and is generally recognized as one of the finest powwow groups on the

continent.

Buffy Sainte-Marie, a Cree born on a small reserve near Regina but

raised in Maine, first gained international notoriety during the 1960s

folk boom and has since been an active proponent of Aboriginal music.

Monday at Saskatoon's Right Track Studios in the city's south

industrial area, the internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter was

teamed with the powwow singers from rural Saskatchewan for a recording

session, the first time the Juno Hall of Famer ever recorded in

Saskatchewan.

"It's such a well known song and has such tremendous potential to lead

the pop ear into the powwow sound," Sainte-Marie said in an interview of

the compellingBull composition.

Darling Don't Cry was written by Bull six years ago. As a round dance

song, the eight member powwow group sings both in Cree and English.

When record producer Ted Whitecalf, whose Sweet Grass record label

specialized in powwow recordings, first introduced Sainte-Marie to the

song, she immediately fell in love with it.

What followed was a series of trans-Pacific communications from

Sainte-Marie's Hawaiian home to Bull's home on the Little Pine reserve.

"I wanted to record the song and asked Edmund for permission to rewrite

it," Sainte-Marie said.

The song, to be one of two new ones on a forthcoming release of her

re-recorded hits, is a marriage of the traditional and contemporary.

Her update version will include several chorusees from the original.

"Anyone who attends powwow is aware of the Red Bull," Sainte-Marie

said. "This music has its own integrity; these guys are great artists.

When she spoke of powwow music, she did so with reverence and devotion.

"When I hear powwow music, I go to another place. The drums certainly

are so gentle yet strong, like a heartbeat," she enthuses. "The music

can reach the listener, much like those who like symphony. It's

achingly beautiful."

Whitecalf has been working towards bringing Sainte-Marie back to

Saskatchewan for more than a year. He sees the collaborative effort

under way this week as a big step in bringing the sound of powwow

singers to a mainstream audience.

"Buffy has done a lot for grassroots producers and performers,"

Whitecalf said. "She's been a real lending hand. I think this is a

major breakthrough.

Indeed, Aboriginal music is now recognized by the Canadian music

industry as a vibrant source of original music. Two years ago, powwow

recordings produced at Right Track earned a Juno nomination.

Mainstream audiences are gradually becoming more in tune to different

sounds, Sainte-Marie suggested, but she stressed her writing partnership

with Bull is not an attempt to devalue the traditional sound.

"My idea is not to turn powwow singers into pop stars," she said.

From her vantage point of straddling the contemporary and traditional,

Sainte-Marie said the difference between Native and pop performers is

significant.

"Pop singers are taken out of their community and put in a penthouse;

Native performers remain part of the community," she said.

"I've spent my whole life playing the wonderful stages of Canada in

grassroots communities like the small towns in Saskatchewan and Alberta,

places that Madonna and Michael Jackson would be insulted to be invited

to. They have been my privilege to learn from and , boy, have I heard

some great music."