MUSICAL STORIES
Brad Bellegarde, whose stage name is InfoRed, performs at the National Aboriginal Day celebrations held at Victoria Park, telling indigenous stories through music.
When Brad Bellegarde was young, he had a unique motto — I’m not old school, I’m not new school, I’m skip school.
Being a rapper was going to be his life, and he didn’t need school to do it. He spent a decade pursuing his dream, using rap as a way to bring the past into the present.
“I really believe that hip hop, and rap, specifically, is a contemporary form of storytelling, and indigenous culture is deep-rooted in storytelling. So I really try to write stories that are relevant to indigenous history,” said Bellegarde, who goes by the performance name InfoRed.
Bellegarde was asked to perform at a National Aboriginal Day event hosted by the City of Regina in Victoria Park on Wednesday. He said while every day should be treated the same way National Aboriginal Day is, the events were a great way to bring unity to the community.
“Coming out together like this — this is walking the reconciliation walk and being able to communicate and share culture and just have fun,” said Bellegarde.
While he attended the event as a performer, Bellegarde also works as a journalist, where he tries to do good by bringing his indigenous knowledge to his work. He was inspired to become a journalist during a trip to Vancouver, where he performed at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
“I got interviewed by a journalist who just did not know too much about indigenous culture. Stereotypical questions about me being a First Nations person from Saskatchewan, being in Vancouver like First Nations from Saskatchewan don’t go there or something.”
He said the reporter’s questions revolved around the fact he was indigenous, instead of who he was as an artist. He vowed to do it differently. Going against his younger “skip school” ways, he applied to journalism school when he got home.
No matter which capacity he’s working in, Bellegarde shares stories through words — sometimes to a beat and sometimes on a page. Wednesday was no exception. He performed a handful of songs, including an impromptu spoken word piece while a sound issue was being sorted out.
Also attending the festivities was Daisy Nippi. As a First Nations woman, she said it was a great opportunity to get together with her people and celebrate. She hopes non-indigenous people can see how rich their culture is.
“We have very high values and morals, and really come from a place of culture and tradition,” said Nippi.
Americans Kevin and Kathy Martin are travelling across Canada and happened to be in town Wednesday during the event. They have been to similar festivals in the United States, but never in Canada.
“There’s so much we can learn from them — what they’ve done over time, the way they respected nature, which we’ve kind of gotten a little bit away from, and a lot of tradition that they have, which is nice to hear,” said Kevin about the importance of a day like National Aboriginal Day.
Coming out together like this — this is walking the reconciliation walk and being able to communicate and share culture and just have fun.