Preserving indigenous Voices
Opera tenor sees his new symphony tour as a ‘critical turning point’
Jeremy Dutcher will soon be playing some big venues, backed by some big bands, following what’s been a big year for the 28-year-old operatic tenor.
New Brunswick’s Dutcher — who is Wolastoqiyik, one of “the people of the beautiful river” — won the 2018 Polaris Prize and a 2019 Juno Award for his debut album, Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, on which he sings and weaves in the voices of his ancestors. He’ll perform some of those songs during a 20-date tour this fall.
His Indigenous language, Wolastoqey, was in danger of dying, and Dutcher spent five years creating a project to help revive it. He took time to chat with us about his tour — and his plan to ensure his people’s language is carried on for future generations.
Q What can people expect from this tour?
A I think they can come and expect to hear something they’ve never heard before, which is a program of Indigenous music at a symphony hall, with a symphony orchestra, in our languages, which I think is a critical turning point. This program not only includes my music from the album, but also we’ve programmed lots of other Indigenous composers as well (including Cris Derksen and Andrew Balfour) who are out there writing for orchestra. And so I’m just really happy to come and present a program of music that comes from us and is not about us. Because there’s been a lot of symphonies and stuff written about Native people. Things like Dvořák’s New World Symphony and the list goes on and on and on and on. But very few of them actually come from us.
Q A lot of people think of symphonies as this upper crust, classist thing, and it is from an old-world European tradition. So what made you want to pursue opera?
A I didn’t know much about opera music until I was even in my late teens ... Absolutely I think these concert halls and working with these symphonies is a very, it’s a classed thing. And certain classes of people don’t get access to hearing directly from Indigenous people. Because there’s a couple different Canadas. There’s a Canada that exists where people have cottages and boathouses and all this thing.
And then there’s a Canada where people don’t have drinking water. For me, trying to enter these spaces and speak to the people that have the means to make a difference … These are the people that can move us forward if they understand story, if they are invited into empathy with Indigenous stories and Indigenous people. And so I have a lot of hope that this concert can do that for people and can start people thinking about what it actually looks like to be in relationship with Indigenous people, rather than just, you know, going to the symphony and witnessing this show and never thinking about it again. I just think it will hopefully keep conversations going and extend that love that I think we all need right now in this moment.
Q You’ve said that you didn’t make this album for Canadians, you made this for a very small community, which is your community in New Brunswick. How has your community responded to this project?
A It’s been a really, really beautiful response. I think because there is this whole revitalization movement happening right now in the East Coast around our languages. My album is not starting anything new, I don’t think. It’s plugging into work that’s already happening on the ground and has been happening for a long time. So I think what is new is that we’re hearing our songs and our languages on the radio now, which is like, whoa. That’s something that I never had growing up and that I always wanted to hear. Other than maybe like Susan Aglukark or something. But to have it come from home, to have it come from New Brunswick, Wolastoq — that, I think, meant something to them.
Q What are you planning to work on next?
A I think I’ve been trying to leave it as open as possible ... This record took me five years to create and research and compose and all that, and I’m really, really proud of it. I’m sort of writing a couple things here and there. But I’m actually working a lot with our stories right now too, like actually with written word, and doing language work … (to help) take beginner language speakers and put them as intermediate language speakers. So, for me, I want to create those resources for people, because really, in my mind, what I’m here to do is just fill the gaps. I can think of a handful of books that are both in English and Wolastoqey. So I want to change that; I want to write books and I want to make sure that our language survives and gets carried on.