Star sings for Native rights

Page 6

EDITORIAL

Native rights and issues in Canada are not what you would call a "box office" attraction. But if one Canadian superstar of rock, Bryan Adams, has his way, these issues and more will become internationally known three his recent album "Into the Fire."

Referred to in Maclean's magazine as Canada's brightest male star, Adams is as well known internationally as Wayne Gretzky and Pierre Elliot Trudeau.

"Into the Fire", confirms a new, more serious direction for the singer. On the album Adams tackles such topics as Native rights, war and unemployment.

Native leaders have fought a long hard battle before a luke warm audience in Canada in their struggle to bring Native issues into public view. On an international scale Native rights issues have been overshadowed by other multinational crisis matters like terrorism, Ethiopia's starving masses, the Chernobyl nuclear accident and the Iran-Contra affair involving the shipment of arms by the U.S. to Nicaragua.

With Adams' help, though, the echo of our ancestors' past can be more widely spread. Native issues in Canada can be catapulted before the world through Adams' songs in an effort to gain some insight into the injustices shared by Native people whose rights have been tossed around.

Adams is unyielding in his views on politics in Canada. In the July 6, 1987 issue of Maclean's he was quoted as saying: "I don't like politics being rammed down people's throats, but here is a sensitive way of bringing up issues and making people think." Through songs like "Native Son" and "Remembrance Day," both on his new album, Adams hopes his approach to writing the socially relevent material will help capture the emotional impact of the issues.

Remembrance Day is about how important it was to fight and die for king and country. Native Son deals with the way Native people were driven from their land onto reservations. Written from an Indian Chief's point of view, the lyrics recall the time "before the wagons, before the soldiers' guns/When this land was our's as far as the eagle flies." Adams says the song is "like opening a history book." Adams and Jim Vallance, from Vancouver, both composed the song based in part on speeches by the 19th-century chief of the Northwest American Nez Perces tribe ? one of the last holdouts against the white man.

Writing songs with deep meaning came two years ago when partners, Adams and Vallance sat down and wrote the lyrics in Jim's basement for the now famous Tears Are No Enough. This song served as the Canadian anthem for Ethiopia's starving masses recorded by an all-star Canadian cast. It captured world-wide attention and the public here reacted positively through emotion and responded through their pocket books in a gesture of good will to help the famine-stricken population.

Adams is not alone in singing about Native rights. Native American , sung by New Jersey rocker Little Steven in a duet with Springsteen; and Stolen Land, by Canada's Bruce Cockburn ? who is publicizing the problems of the Haida Indians over land preservation in British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Islands, are songs bearing a message which they contend must be heard . . . and acted upon. Few Native people in Canada are likely aware that such superstars as these are carving a niche in which Native issues are being addressed.

After having experienced a world of fanfare, fame and fortune, perhaps what Adams is looking for in life is Utopia ? an idealistic goal or concept for social and political reform. If so it is a goal that is not unthinkable. After all, isn't this what most of us strive for in life? Certainly Utopia is what we as Natives have dreamt about for years and years.

Bryan Adams should be thanked for bringing these issues forward, particularly those pertaining to Native rights. He deserves a gold star for his efforts through song. The belief and conviction that Adams has about righting the wrongs pertaining to Native issues and other social injustices willnot likely diminish his superstar status. It didn't tarnish Bruce Springsteen's image in America and probably won't hurt Adams in Canada either.

While he is on tour in Canada, take in a Bryan Adams "Coming Home" Show. You won't be disappointed hearing this mature superstar plugging his "political" album . . . and don't forget to listen for Native Son. It's a song about you, a song about me, a song about us.