OHSOTO’KINO: Indigenous Peoples Day at Studio Bell

As part of National Music Centre’s OHSOTO’KINO initiative, join a special event showcasing local Indigenous song, music, and dance. The day’s lineup includes Cree Métis recording artist/songwriter, poet, and filmmaker Sandra Sutter, nêhiyaw singer-songwriter Wyatt C. Louis, and Inuvaluit singer-songwriter Willie Thrasher with his partner Linda Saddleback. Admission to Studio Bell is free for everyone on June 21, National Indigenous Peoples Day, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. The National Music Centre’s newly updated Speak Up! exhibition also launches on June 19, giving the public an opportunity to learn about Indigenous culture and experiences through the lens of music. Featuring storytelling, audio, and artifacts, visitors to Speak Up! can learn how Indigenous artists are fostering dialogue and understanding to radically shift the Canadian paradigm of who First Nation, Métis, and Inuit people are. About Sandra Sutter: Sandra Sutter is an Indigenous artist, tracing her lineage back to the 1800s. Her family of origin is from the Red River area in Manitoba and settled in Île-à-la-Crosse, Big River and Muskeg Lake in Saskatchewan, as well as various points across the Prairies. Raised in a loving non-Indigenous family, Sandra discovered and embraced her ancestral and cultural roots later in life. Like many displaced Indigenous people, honouring her proud heritage is important to a woman whose birth heritage was lost through time and circumstance. Her culture now influences her every step through life and she has grown into an active and passionate advocate for Indigenous culture and rights. Her life journey in both the non-Indigenous and Indigenous worlds has given her a unique perspective and opportunity to bring people together through her songs of reconciliation. In Calgary, Sandra is a well-known singer-songwriter and has performed at many different venues across western Canada. She sings, writes and plays in a variety of styles including folk, country, jazz, blues and rock. Sandra is inspired by her Indigenous heritage and has been active in the arts, particularly music, for many years. This love of culture was initially expressed several years ago in the release of an EP of original songs entitled “Peaceful Nation”. About Wyatt C. Louis: Wyatt C. Louis is a nêhiyaw singer-songwriter based in Moh’kinstsís, Treaty 7 Territory (Calgary, AB). He has made an impact on the eclectic city with songs built from soaring melodies, railroad-like finger picking and quiet, haunting vocals and lyrical phrasing. Dark, rustic tales meld folk and soulful blues to tell tales of love, loss and the journey home. They’re beautiful, subtle creations that juxtapose emotions, striking imagery and experiences that charm and envelop listeners. About Willie Thrasher: Thrasher was born in Aklavik, a hamlet located in the Inuvik region of the Northwest Territories, Canada, in 1948. At five years of age, Thrasher was taken from his family and sent to a residential school where he was forbidden to practice his Inuvialuit culture, a shameful initiative by the Canadian government to assimilate Indigenous people into mainstream society. Music was a way for Thrasher to escape the pain and longing. In the mid-1960s, Thrasher drummed for The Cordells, one of the first Inuit rock bands. One evening, a stranger recommended that the group tap into their Aboriginal roots instead of the charts for inspiration. This prompted Thrasher to take up the guitar and write songs about his life, people, and the environment. Despite losing a portion of his left middle finger in a work accident, Thrasher became a musical vagabond, travelling across Canada and the United States throughout the 1970s and well into the 1980s meeting many other First Nations, Métis, and Inuit musicians. Spirit Child was released by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in 1981 and provided a further opportunity for Thrasher to reconnect with his Native heritage and share this love and understanding with people from other cultures. “Silent Inuit” became a northern hit for Thrasher, but with limited commercial support and little promotion outside of northern communities, the album eventually fell to the wayside. Today, Thrasher lives in the town of Nanaimo, B.C., where he performs as a city sanctioned busker with his partner Linda Saddleback. The global attention garnered by Light In The Attic’s Native North America (Vol. 1): Aboriginal Folk, Rock, and Country 1966-1985 has led to recent performances at the Austin Psych Fest and Levitation Vancouver.