Buffy Sainte-Marie - Singer holds strong beliefs

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She lives in Hawaii, an ocean away. But Buffy Sainte-Marie still holds this nation's Aboriginal rights close to her heart and on Oct. 23 she came to Calgary to testify to that in song.

Sainte-Marie performed before an appreciative audience of both Native and non-Native background. While she sang many of her classic and more popular songs, it was her call for support of the Lubicons that were heard strongest.

"When you go home tonight, write a letter, and then tomorrow write another one," urged Sainte-Marie as she told the audience to address the Lubicon problem to the Prime Minister and premiers of Canada.

While Sainte-Marie holds and American citizenship she was born a Canadian, on the Piapot reserve in Saskatchewan.

Her childhood was spent in Maine and Massachusetts, where her dark hair and eyes and burnished skin made her stand out from the rest of the kids.

Lonely, Sainte-Marie naturally turned to music as a friend, playing from the heart with no music lessons.

While she was disinterested in school she did go on to the University of Massachusetts where she graduated in oriental philosophy and education. "You may remember me as the Indian on Sesame Street," says Sainte-Marie who followed college with a stint teaching and then entered the television world.

"I lived in a garbage can with Oscar the grouch," she tells the audience. "I just thought I'd let you know I had a past."

Her first big hit was Universal Soldier, brought to the charts by Donovan. I'm gonna be a Country Girl Again, Until It's Time for You to Go, and Now that the Buffalo's Gone, followed closely behind.

"I believe in the power of music," says Sainte-Marie. "Music has a magic of its own."

And it is that magic combined with Sainte-Marie's talent that earned her an academy award for writing the theme song for the movie An Officer and a Gentleman ? Up Where We Belong.

Currently Sainte-Marie is working on two new albums, a mixture of pop and traditional Native music.

Following her Calgary performance Sainte-Marie is off to the United States where she will be touring for three weeks sharing her music and her philosophy.

"People should do what they have to do," says Sainte-Marie. "They should not just act as a herd." And with that she commends the Lubicons. "They (the Lubicons) are just people standing in the way of a man going to the bank," she said.

Sainte-Marie who has travelled all over the world and has met with numerous Aboriginal groups said the Lubicons plight is not unique.

"It is happening in Africa, Australia, and the United States," she said.

And that is the main reason she now makes her home in Hawaii.

"There are so many different races there, and so many mixtures," she says. "It is a real harmony."