Spending time in Indigenous communities gave us a new glimpse into culture, history, and stories that we, as citizens living in a settler nation, had never really appreciated or even had the opportunity to engage with. We attended Powwows and community events, we toured historic sites, we spoke with educators, entrepreneurs, artists, and activists living and working in First Nations communities. We learned about the countless violated treaties, suppressive laws, segregational systems: a deliberate cultural genocide. We learned about traditional ways of being and knowing that value familial interconnectedness and respect with nature, living things, and future generations, often in stark contrast with the consumer culture we have been born and raised in. We learned about traditional medicines, philosophy, Wampum agreements, and teachings. We learned of challenges, systemic oppression, and struggles that still persist and are deeply embedded in our province.
Living in a settler nation, one that was built on stolen land, we benefit from settler infrastructure, and we are governed by a settler state. So we think it’s important that we know the history and the stories of the people who were here first, and recognize that reconciliation is more than just buzzwords. We can’t just say we’re sorry and then continue to shut down indigenous voices, impose terrible standards of living, and force assimilation. We have to actually listen. We wanted to write a song about what we learned, but Jun and I are not indigenous — it didn’t feel right to write a song trying to tell the stories that we heard, since those are THEIR stories and THEIR songs, not ours. Instead, we wrote on the issue from our perspective as non-indigenous citizens in a settler state.
It is popular to do a land acknowledgement before starting an event. A land acknowledgement means nothing if it is not accompanied by real listening, by changes in the way we operate. Settler Song serves as a land acknowledgement for this album, saying ‘yes we get to enjoy our life in Ontario, but look at where it came from’. Jun and I started engaging for the first time with real indigenous people, communities, and stories; now we know a little more than what we used to. This song is to recognize that and carry it forward.
lyrics
You know we shut down 10,000 indigenous voices
You know there’s no going back to the way that it once was
We took what we wanted screaming we deserve this
And ever since we’ve forced them to disappear or to join us
You know we trapped them in reserves and broken treaties
You know we outlawed their culture and stole their identities
You know they can’t cultivate the land the way that they once did
You know they can’t fish and hunt the way they once did
You know they can’t care for the land while we build our pipelines
You know they can’t care for the land when there’s nothing left behind
Oh Canada we built our homes on Native Lands
Oh Ontario when you have no legs it’s hard to stand
Haudenosaunee Anishnabe walkers of this Land
Oh Ontario when you have no legs it’s hard to stand
You know there’s a culture and a song and a drum
You know there’s truth and wisdom that lasts for 7 generations
You know there’s artists and walkers, storytellers and medicine
You know there’s so much to learn if we could only sit and listen
But we stand and we take and we take
But we stand and we take and we take
Oh Ontario when you have no legs it’s hard to stand
Haudenosaunee Iroquois Anishinabe walkers of this land
Oh Ontario when you have no legs it’s hard to stand
Oh great lakes of old when you have no legs it’s hard to stand
Water beautiful and cold when you have no legs it’s hard to stand
You know we shut down 1,000,000 indigenous voices
You know there’s no going back to the way that it once was
We took what we wanted screaming we deserve this
And ever since we’ve been trying to get them to disappear or to join us
We are 1st year medical students at McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario. From July-November 2019 we are going on a road
trip across the province to learn more about the places and people who call Ontario home. We seek to express what we learn, see, feel, and hear in our journey as a musical album, that captures some of the essence of life in Ontario.
Page Art by Gunhild Hotte....more
Australian singer-songwriter explores self-examination, loneliness, and post-pandemic malaise through delicate, empathetic folk pop. Bandcamp New & Notable May 5, 2024
The Alabama duo's fifth album exults in dusty Americana, showcasing rich vocal harmonies alongside blissful folk instrumentation. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 31, 2024
More contemplative folk from the Minnesota singer-songwriter, sustained by raw full-band arrangements and philosophical lyrics. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 28, 2024
Irish singer-songwriter Oisin Leech's acoustic folk music is characterized by its muted beauty and intimate, solitary quality. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 16, 2024
