DiggingRoots into the music industry

Page 16

Shoshona Kish and Raven Kanatakta are two young Aboriginal artists who have come together to plant their 'seeds' of empowerment and celebration of life through their spiritual roots, blues, reggae, jazz and First Nations mixed music.

Their debut CD, seeds has been in stores since Jan. 31 and it has already sold out at Sam the Record Man in Toronto.

DiggingRoots first came together in 1997 and they describe their connection as natural. Even though they hadn't played together before, their very first gig won the final slot to perform at the Ottawa Folk Festival.

"They had one spot left so it was just kind of fluky that we went in cold like that and it worked out," said Kish, a Carleton-educated musician. "We just enjoyed it so much right off the top and it was very natural for us to collaborate."

Kanatakta recounts his first performance with Kish to be "very easy to express myself musically."

"Musically where we were coming from I think rooted in the same places," Kanatakta added.

Although she grew up mostly in Toronto, Kish said that her roots are in Batchewana First Nation, located near Sault Ste. Marie. She describes her interest in music as the typical story, where she had always been interested and always involved in musicals and recitals in school. She grew up listening to Billy Holiday and Miles Davis. Her first guitar was given to her by her grandpa Jimmy.

"He was a guitar and harmonica player and my grandma sang on the Tommy Hunter Show, so there was that kind of influence in my house," said Kish. "I never really considered doing anything else except being an artist."

Growing up listening to similar jazz and blues artists, such as Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, Eric Dolphy, and John Coltrane, is one of many reasons that Kanatakta and Kish came together, however Kanatakta describes their connection as being more than just creating music together.

"It's sort of a collaboration of how we're musical beings, really," Kanatakta said. "It's sort of where we come from and where we want to go and it's sort of tied up in the album."

Kanatakta grew up on a reserve in Winneway, Que. While writing jazz compositions for a band, he received a music degree from the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

He describes their CD as a birthing process that has to grow on its own.

"Seeds. The title itself really comes from I guess us having these songs and as a songwriter a lot of times you want to write more songs but you have to give birth to a certain amount of songs before you move on," he said. "That's sort of what this process was like, a birthing process."

Windspeaker asked DiggingRoots if they had any interesting rituals they do before writing a song or performing.

"We were just talking about whether we should start smudging before a writing session and I think maybe the next time around when we write, we'll have some sort of ritual to do," said Kish.

Kanatakta said he sang and performed without shoes to feel more in touch with what he is doing.

"I feel more firmly planted on to the earth without shoes," he added. "You wouldn't go to a powwow and dance in heels. It wouldn't really work so I think it's just one of those things for me."

Certainly, they are thrilled to see their CD on HMV, Chapters and Music World shelves; however, they said they are enjoying the positive reactions from the public and their communities.

"I think one of the really exciting things for myself is just having certain people come up to me and sort of give me compliments about our music that have been related to identity and being proud of being an Indigenous person and that to me has been a really great gift," said Raven Kanatakta. "A few people have said you are raising a voice that hasn't really been heard before."

He recounts one occasion where he and Shoshona Kish travelled to his community to perform songs from their CD. While singing Wake and Rise, he remembers his cousin, who he had not sen for some time, came right up to the front of the stage and sang right along with them.

"It was amazing," said Kish. "The words for us are really of truth, and powerful for us because we're talking about standing up for what we know is right and believing in ourselves and here's this little girl, maybe about nine or 10 and she just knew all the words. It was so beautiful."

Windspeaker asked if they considered themselves to be role models.

"I don't know if we think of ourselves that way but I certainly hope that we are walking our talk," said Kish. "If somebody wants to look at us in that way then we can live up to that because I think we have a responsibility to walk a good road and affect each other in a positive way. I think we're comfortable with the idea of being role models, if we were called on to be that. Certainly in Raven's own community, I think there's young people who really like what he's doing and know the words to his songs and really appreciate that he comes from there and that he's talking about that and that he's proud of being from there and I think that means something."

"We really want the seeds that we just planted in each one of those songs to let them grow naturally," said Kanatakta. "We took care of them, now we are just going to let them grow. Some seeds grow and some don't but the ones that do grow, hopefully, they'll grow in good soil."

This spring, DiggingRoots will be touring. Expect to see them in British Columbia and all over Ontario starting in June.