Ts'msyen musician set to release album in Sm'algya̱ x after years of studying endangered language
Jeremy Pahl recommitted to learning his ancestral language after moving home to Kxeen, also known as Prince Rupert, B.C. Five years later, he says he catches himself thinking, and dreaming, in Sm'algya̱ x.
The Ts'msyen musician says it's become his first lan‐ guage when he's writing. He's now set to release his first al‐ bum recorded entirely in Sm'algya̱ x this summer, with the first single dropping on May 31.
Pahl, 34, has been telling stories through song since he was a teenager, when he first sung in Sm'algya̱ x in the
Prince George-based death metal band Gyibaaw. He's since switched genre to folk and country, and most re‐ cently has been releasing Eng‐ lish-language music under the name Saltwater Hank.
He calls this album a "fullcircle moment," and a signifi‐ cant milestone for him as a musician and a Sm'algya̱ x lan‐ guage-learner.
Pahl, whose given Ts'msyen name is Wil Uks Batsga G̱ a̱ laaw, says the al‐ bum is a form of resistance "to the further erasure of our people, our culture and our language."
For decades, official gov‐ ernment policies attempted to stamp out Indigenous lan‐ guage, stories and cultural
According to the First Peo‐ ples' Cultural Council (FPCC), about 17,000 people in B.C. are learning their First Na‐ tions language, an increase of about 3,000 since 2018.
Pahl says there are cur‐ rently just 65 speakers consid‐ ered to be fluent in Sm'al‐ gya̱ x. Twenty years ago, he says the community estimat‐ ed there were closer to 400 fluent speakers, mostly of the older generation.
One of Pahl's language mentors, Theresa Lowther, 72, says after 30 years of working to stem the tide of language loss, his new album is cause for hope.
"Years ago, we were really afraid our language was going to die," said Lowther, a fluent Sm'algya̱x speaker whose Ts'msyen name is Huhu uŁk.
"… I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now, and Je‐ remy, I believe, is a leader in doing that."
Bentwood box full of songs
The intention behind the album can be read in its ti‐ tle, G̱ al'üünx wil lu Holtga Lii‐ mi, which translates to "bent‐ wood box full of songs."
"A bentwood box was where things were kept safe," from regalia to dried berries and oolichan grease, Pahl says, adding that singing and songs have always been held sacred by Ts'msyen soci‐ ety.
He says it's taken years to get his Sm'algya̱ x songs right, ensuring grammatical accura‐ cy and pronunciation.
Adziksm Gyipaayk (Kelli Clifton), 34, is learning Sm'al‐ gya̱ x alongside Pahl and also the artist behind the album's cover. The bentwood box de‐ sign features a human figure in the middle, which, she says, represents the song‐ writer, speaker, or language learner.
As soon as Pahl brought the idea to her, she says she knew this album was signifi‐ cant.
"It was one of those con‐ versations that almost felt electric… and I knew this pro‐ ject as a whole was going to be special," she said.
"It's very emotional be‐ cause my father, when he was a young child, grew up speak‐ ing Sm'algya̱ x fluently," she added. "And then he attend‐ ed Indian Day School," where he was forced to speak Eng‐ lish.
Canada Day release
The album will be released in full on July 1, a date Pahl chose intentionally.
While many will be cele‐ brating Canada Day, Pahl says he'll be celebrating the elders and language mentors who helped him make the album, and the deepening ties to his language.
"It's not so much a cele‐ bratory day, especially for In‐ digenous people, whose land has been compromised, whose genocide has oc‐ curred," says Pahl, noting that other nations, like the Heilt‐ suk, are working to reclaim that day for their own cele‐ brations as well.
Lowther says the enthusi‐ asm of the younger genera‐ tion is helping heal the dam‐ age done through colonial practices like residential schools.
"One thing that really makes me happy is the amount of young people… re‐ ally taking the baton and go‐ ing forward with it, making a stand and saying we are going to bring [Sm'algya̱ x] back."