Buffy Sainte-Marie

No one could ever accuse Academy-Award winning Buffy Sainte-Marie of taking it easy. Since her ground-breaking debut album It’s My Way in ’64 she has continued to tour and disrupt the status quo, and thanks to Bluesfest Touring she’s playing at Tanks.

Sainte-Marie has spent her whole life creating. Her artistry, humanitarian efforts, and Indigenous leadership have made her a unique force in the music industry.

In 1969, she made one of the world’s first electronic vocal albums; in 1982 she became the only Indigenous person to win an Oscar; she spent five years on Sesame Street where she became the first woman to breastfeed on national television. She’s been blacklisted and silenced. She’s written pop standards sung and recorded by the likes of Janis Joplin, Elvis Presley, Donovan, Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes. She penned Universal Soldier, the definitive anti-war anthem of the 20th century. She is an icon who keeps one foot firmly planted on both sides of the North American border, in the unsurrendered territories that comprise Canada and the USA.

In our current climate of damaging #fakenews and toxic hubris, Buffy Sainte-Marie’s incisive honesty, clarity, and intelligent compassion stand out in sharp relief. There is still work to be done, and Buffy is not taking her foot off the pedal.

SUPPORT ACT: Sister Liberty