HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-10-01, Page 27THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2009. PAGE 27.Entertainment Leisure&
One of Canada’s most influential
songwriters will be making her way
through Blyth on Saturday,
promoting her new album, Running
For The Drum, this year’s Juno
winner for Best Aboriginal Album,
her first in over 15 years.
Buffy Sainte-Marie is in the
middle of yet another world tour and
she’s making her very first trip to
Blyth.
During the course of the tour,
Sainte-Marie says she has been all
over Europe and plans on heading to
Japan soon, all while making
constant trips back to Canada.
Touring is something she has been
doing constantly over the years, but
this is the first time she will be
supporting new material in over a
decade.
However, just because she hasn’t
been making albums, it doesn’t
mean that she hasn’t been busy.
“I’ve been working on my
teaching project for the last 10
years,” she said. “I’ve been really
creative when you haven’t been
hearing about me.”
Sainte-Marie founded the
Cradleboard Teaching Project in
1996 and says that since then her
shows have gone to finance the
project. Often, she says, which was
the case in London, Ontario last
week, a concert one night will be
accompanied by a teaching project
night the next.
She says she’s delighted to be
coming to Blyth. Having been on the
road since the 1960s, Sainte-Marie
says that it’s rare that she visits a
town where she has never been
before.
She is also very excited to perform
at Memorial Hall. After finding out
some information on the theatre, she
said she was excited to be
performing in one of Canada’s great
old theatres.
Originally born in Saskatchewan,
Sainte-Marie is not only an
established musician, but she also
won an Academy Award, writing a
song that took home the prize from
An Office And A Gentleman.
Sainte-Marie will be coming off a
performance in New York City at the
Highline Ballroom, a hall she has
played three times before. She said it
was great to play a room like that
where Paul McCartney has played
and at a hall that was initially opened
by David Bowie.
This current tour, however, has
been something special for Sainte-
Marie.
As an artist who made her name in
the 1960s writing songs that offered
a first-person perspective on the
plight of indigenous peoples, she
says she is extremely happy to be
touring with a band comprised
completely of indigenous musicians.
Her new album, which she says is
better than anything she has ever
done, is comprised of 12 tracks, each
one with its own identity, something
Sainte-Marie is known for.
“My new album is very diverse as
my albums always are,” she said.
“We have just come back from
Europe and the reviews have all been
really positive, both for the album
and the show.”
Sainte-Marie says many of her
new songs are danceable, which
might be why her appeal tends to
extend from fans who would have
known her work in the 1960s to the
high school and college students of
today.
She also says that many of the
themes she explored in her early
music are still very relevant to the
times now.
“Universal Soldier was about
taking care of our world and
individual responsibility. It was
about the social issues of the time,”
she said of the 1964 song. “Now the
same social issues are very similar. I
like to think I’ve expressed these
social issues in an immediate and
accessible way. That way you make
sense to more people.”
Sainte-Marie, who now lives in
Hawaii, says she always enjoys
coming back through Canada. After
spending time in western Canada,
she said that Canada as a whole
has “a very thick and lively culture”
to it.
Tickets to the show are $20 and
are available by calling the Blyth
Festival office at 519-523-9300.
The show will also feature special
guest, acclaimed author Lee
Maracle.
A delegation from the Heritage
Theatre in Wingham attended the
Sept. 21 meeting of North Huron
council to introduce its new director
and re-establish its relationship with
the township.
Judith Glover, who hails from the
Meaford area, is on board as theatre
director and expressed her wish to
continue the “wonderful”
relationship that the organization has
had in the past with council.
Referring to a letter to the editor in
a recent newspaper that inferred the
township was closing the theatre,
Glover apologized for any
misunderstanding and said that steps
have been taken to correct the
situation.
“The board of directors did not
sanction the letters. They were from
private citizens and don’t reflect the
opinion of the board.”
She expressed her hope that the
board and council could open up
dialogue to discuss the long-term
use of the town hall.
Councillor Archie MacGowan
expressed appreciation for
the apology, adding that he
was a little “perplexed” by
some of the comments made in the
letter.
The Heritage Theatre opened its
21st season this past Saturday
night.
Buffy Sainte-Marie makes stop in Blyth
Sponsored by the Blyth Business Association
Advance tickets available at:
Elliott Nixon Insurance, Blyth 519-523-4481
Sharon’s Cars in Miniature, Blyth 519-523-9028
Cinnamon Jim’s, Brussels 519-887-8014
This advertisement sponsored by
Scrimgeour’s Food Market
Happy 5th
Anniversary
October 2nd
Cheryl & Beau Riegling
Love, Mom, Allison, Jack,
Kara, Shawn, Tory Lynn,
Taylor, Rob & Jess!
Forthcoming Marriage
Bob & Theresa Machan
and
Douwe & Jannie Top
are pleased to announce
the marriage of their children
Lisette Top
to Mark Leon Machan
on Saturday, October 3, 2009
at 2:00 pm
at St. Peter’s Church
in Goderich.
On the road
Buffy Sainte-Marie is in Blyth later this week, promoting her new album Running For The Drum,
which just won the Juno for Best Aboriginal Album. Sainte-Marie says the album is very diverse
and full of some of her best material to-date. (Courtesy photo)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Heritage Theatre back on track
By Bonnie Gropp
The Citizen