Revue mixes Indigenous and non-Indigenous performers
Travelling show combines literary arts, music with a rotating roster of artists
Jason Collett has one hard-andfast rule when it comes to the New Constellations tour.
Performers must watch each other perform.
“The artists are not allowed to just hang out backstage,” says the singer-songwriter, in an interview with Postmedia from his home in Toronto. “Typically, whenever we do benefits together, that’s how it goes. Everybody is a snob about their peers and they are just hanging in the green room until it’s their time to be on stage and they are too cool for school. But with this show, a key part of the chemistry is the audience getting to watch not just who is performing but getting to watch artists watching other artists perform. I always think of the show as an extension of a kitchentable, post-dinner party where the guitars come out and stories get shared.”
Artists intermingling is the key thrust of New Constellations, a 13-stop Canadian tour that started Nov. 23 in Saskatoon and stops at L’Astral in Montreal on Friday. Collett is a co-host for all 13 shows.
Specifically, it’s meant to have Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists sharing a stage. It will visit Canadian cities and Indigenous communities in the next couple of weeks, mixing literary arts and music with a rotating roster of artists performing in various cities. That includes Feist at the tourending Toronto show on Dec. 20; Sam Roberts in Montreal on Friday; and A Tribe Called Red playing Ottawa on Saturday.
“We’re really just trying to keep the focus simple in that it’s Indigenous next-wave artists sharing
I’m a big fan of ’60s Motown revues where you’ve gotta go out and you only have three songs and you have to kill it. It makes everybody bring their best game.
space with notable non-Indigenous artists as a way of coming together,” Collett says.
“On one hand, it’s to showcase next-wave Indigenous talent — the next wave beyond the Tribe Called Reds and the Tanya Tagaqs. The flip side of the coin is that it’s an opportunity for artists like Feist and Sam Roberts and Joel Plaskett and July Talk to actually engage with Indigenous artists. It’s not an easy thing to do in our landscape and country. We’re trying to make it easy and accessible.”
New Constellations is an offshoot of variety shows that have been going on in Toronto for the past 10 years. Collett, a veteran singersongwriter and member of Broken Social Scene, co-founded The Basement Revue with poet Damian Rogers. The shows mixed music and literary arts, leading to such compelling pair-ups as Feist and
Michael Ondaatje and Margaret Atwood being backed by the Sadies.
In 2014, the Basement Revue did a benefit show for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women featuring a number of performers who will be playing the New Constellations tour.
“It’s got this momentum to it, just among the artists,” Collett says.
So Basement Revue teamed with About Revolutions Per Minute, a record label and artist collective specializing in Indigenous music, to expand the project.
Armed with federal funds from Canada 150, the two groups turned New Constellations into a multilayered project. Beyond the tour, it also offers workshops in various communities for Indigenous youth and a long-term mentorship program that will have Indigenous artists being mentored by the likes of Cree/Dene musician IsKwe, Polaris Prize-winning ColombianCanadian singer Lido Pimienta and Weaves singer Jasmyn Burke.
Collett says the shows aim to attract both Indigenous and nonIndigenous audiences. The goal is that the crowd will reflect the performers on stage.
“It’s very much like an old-school revue: short sets,” says Collett. “I’m a big fan of ’60s Motown revues where you’ve gotta go out and you only have three songs and you have to kill it. It makes everybody bring their best game.”
Visit newconstellations.ca for more information.
JASON COLLETT