{"id":99105,"date":"2023-09-13T12:44:39","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T16:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=99105"},"modified":"2023-09-13T12:44:39","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T16:44:39","slug":"interview-composer-jeremy-dutcher-talks-telling-story-new-docu-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2023\/09\/13\/interview-composer-jeremy-dutcher-talks-telling-story-new-docu-series\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Composer Jeremy Dutcher Talks About Telling Our Story, A New Docu-Series"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_99108\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-99108\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-99108\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/Copy-of-CRITICS-PICKS-8.jpg\" alt=\"Jeremy Dutcher and others in production stills from Telling Our Story (Photos courtesy of CBC Gem)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/Copy-of-CRITICS-PICKS-8.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/Copy-of-CRITICS-PICKS-8-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/Copy-of-CRITICS-PICKS-8-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/Copy-of-CRITICS-PICKS-8-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-99108\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeremy Dutcher and others in production stills from Telling Our Story (Photos courtesy of CBC Gem)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Wolastoqiyik composer Jeremy Dutcher is just back in Canada from Germany. He was in Leipzig, where he visited Bach\u2019s church and Mahler\u2019s house. \u201cIt was really special to be in the cradle of the style of music that I\u2019ve studied my whole life,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s so much beauty there, in that order.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s in Toronto to promote a handful of projects. His second release, including his first single in English, is titled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.secretcityrecords.com\/artists\/jeremy-dutcher\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Motewolonuwok<\/a>, and set to drop on October 6 on Secret City Records.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s also come to town to talk about his involvement in Telling Our Story, a four-part documentary that\u2019s premiering at TIFF23.<\/p>\n<h3>The Series<\/h3>\n<p>The series by Terre Innue showcases the stories and culture of the 11 First Peoples in Quebec, Canada \u2014 Abenaki, Anishnabe, Atikamekw, Cree of Eeyou Istchee, Innu, Inuit, Mi&#8217;gmaq, Kanyen&#8217;keh\u00e0:ka (Mohawk), Naskapi, Wendat, and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet).<\/p>\n<p>Award-winning Abenaki director Kim O&#8217;Bomsawin (Call Me Human, Quiet Killing) and a primarily Indigenous production team travelled to 30 communities across tens of thousands of miles to compile the segments. The voices and stories are woven together into a narrative that conveys their ways of life. The result is infused with music and aims to inform as it entertains and showcases the depth and diversity of Indigenous cultures.<\/p>\n<p>Each of the four episodes revolves around a theme: Territory, Identity, Spirituality, and Rebuilding.<\/p>\n<p>You can catch the first two episodes during TIFF23 on September 15 and 16. Tickets <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/tiff.net\/events\/telling-our-story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The series will air on CBC Gem this fall.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fAqIGdo7e9A?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h3>The Interview<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really special, that documentary series. Kim is awesome.\u201d\u00a0Dutcher became involved by reputation. \u201cI think they had known my work through my work and my first album. Which, you know, had a little bit of success. It won a JUNO Award,\u201d he says. He explains that the recognition came as a surprise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was just like a little project I created for my community,\u201d he explains. The album\u2019s songs are sung in his native language. \u201cOur language is endangered,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was very important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In Telling Our Story, others talk about the impact it had on them emotionally to hear Wolastoqey sung and heard by so many people. Blending Western and Indigenous idioms in music is part of Jeremy\u2019s cultural background.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was studying opera at school, at university, singing all these old songs from dead Europeans, which is great \u2014 there is so much beauty there \u2014 but there\u2019s nothing in the canon that felt like it really spoke well to us as Indigenous people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He thought Indigenous melodies were just as beautiful, and the language itself has its own kind of poetic vision. \u201cI wanted to highlight that. That\u2019s kind of what the series is about, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The alignment of themes made him the perfect subject for the series. He appears in the first two episodes of Telling Our Story. \u201cThe Wolastoqiyik nation, where I come from, is one of the 11 nations of Quebec, which is the framing of the series.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The boundaries of the nations in question spill over into Ontario and the Maritimes, however. Jeremy Dutcher is a Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) member of the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick. His local Indigenous language is Wolastoqey\/Maliseet.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_99109\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-99109\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-99109\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/TOS_E01_litte-dogs.jpg\" alt=\"Production still from Telling Our Story (Photos courtesy of CBC Gem)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/TOS_E01_litte-dogs.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/TOS_E01_litte-dogs-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/TOS_E01_litte-dogs-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/TOS_E01_litte-dogs-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-99109\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Production still from Telling Our Story (Photos courtesy of CBC Gem)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThey asked me to represent our nation and tell my story through that land,\u201d he says. \u201cI invited them to the reserve where my mom is from. We chatted right on the water about the influence of language.\u201d There are ongoing efforts to preserve it. Wolastoqey\/Maliseet is in real danger of dying out. \u201cThere\u2019s less than 100 fluent speakers left.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Language is crucial to cultural identity, in that it is the basis for expressing a way of life. Telling Our Story also underscores the importance of language in the second episode, titled Identity. Through translating simple terms, viewers begin to understand the perspective and worldview of the different Indigenous speakers.<\/p>\n<p>It speaks of a way of life that\u2019s inseparable from the land \u2014 a way of life that seems diametrically opposed to contemporary Western-style capitalism and its digital nomads, its endless appetite for travel&#8230;or is it really? There&#8217;s the Indigenous creation legend about two fish who eventually leave the water for land, grow legs, and begin to walk upright.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s something maybe untranslatable or unspeakable between us that is beautiful and hard to express in any given language,\u201d he says of the colonizer\/Indigenous cultural divide. Growing up in a bicultural household, it\u2019s something he learned to put into context from day one.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just had to figure it out,\u201d he says. Balancing and sharing both was the only option. \u201cI think that\u2019s kind of what Canada has kind of been putting our head in the sand and not doing for about 500 years \u2014 is not figuring it out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was through the love of his parents, and the reverence he had for both cultures, that he grew up with the feeling that coming together was somehow possible. That came despite the fact that, as he points out, he also grew up during the time of the Oka Crisis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were burning effigies of native people in the streets,\u201d he recalls. There is a simmering current of anti-Indigenous sentiment that too often rears its ugly head in Canadian society.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do we meet that with grace?\u201d he wonders. \u201cI\u2019ve been thinking about that my whole life. We\u2019ve all been miseducated,\u201d he adds. \u201cHow do we meet that [&#8230;] ignorance [&#8230;] not really seeing each other as people, how do we meet that with love, and try to interrupt that? The headlines tell one thing. On the ground is a whole other thing. Between there is a possibility of getting together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Art, music and culture in general are the best way of reaching out, and that\u2019s what Telling Our Story focuses on. Each episode weaves together the voices, stories, and cultural expression of multiple nations into a kind of stream that offers viewers a glimpse into their lives and homes. That approach also reflects the Indigenous way of life, where the 11 nations shared land and resources without the concept of land ownership.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xGZgeM__Rf0?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h3>Jeremy Dutcher \u2013 The Music<\/h3>\n<p>The series gave him the opportunity not only to talk about his home and culture, but to perform.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have such reverence for the form of film making,\u201d he says. Some of his tracks have been used in various film and TV projects. In the series, he plays a grand piano that was brought to the reserve in the woods.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was really special to record that,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can hear the leaves falling.\u201d Jeremy often performs and records with the voices of his ancestors, as captured on vintage vinyl records.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s my form of resistance, my form of activism I guess, is through song and through language.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It meshes with the series\u2019 mandate of showcasing the beauty of Indigenous cultures, and building them up. His compositions synthesize Western classical and Wolastoqiyik elements. Harmonically and melodically, it sounds somewhat familiar to those trained in the Western traditions, but also different, drawing on the rhythms of his language, and traditional melodies. The result is a compelling conversation between worlds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s just what it is \u2014 a conversation. A dialogue,\u201d he says. \u201cAs someone who\u2019s trained in that Western art music tradition, there\u2019s beauty there as well, and you\u2019ve got to weave it together. That\u2019s where the conversation lies, in the middle ground.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As he points out, there were many composers in the American tradition who\u2019ve used Indigenous melodies and other elements in their own music, but it never felt like an authentic representation of Indigenous identity. It\u2019s the first time in history that the conversation has been one of equals.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also about looking at the notion of what \u201cclassical\u201d means when it comes to music. Certainly, there is a vast body of Indian classical music, and Chinese, South American, African.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does Indigenous classical music sound like? I don\u2019t feel like we\u2019ve had that. So, it\u2019s like, if you don\u2019t see it in the world, then just make it,\u201d he explains. \u201cFor me, that was the philosophy of why I wanted to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He says he was inspired by the words of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.everythingzoomer.com\/arts-entertainment\/2022\/09\/14\/buffy-sainte-marie-talks-aging-activism-and-the-new-tiff-documentary-about-her-life\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Buffy Sainte-Marie, who famously said<\/a>, \u201cSome will tell you what you really want ain&#8217;t on the menu. Don&#8217;t believe them. Cook it up yourself and then prepare to serve them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As he puts it, \u201cYou go and create, and then you offer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With such diverging values, can Indigenous ways of life and European style capitalism ever live together peacefully?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would interrupt the question and say, is this what we live in?\u201d he begins. Certainly, we\u2019ve inherited a way of life in North America, but it\u2019s one that is in a current state of flux. \u201cThere\u2019s other ways of existing. And those ways of existing have been around a lot, lot longer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The series comes at a unique time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my understanding, Canada doesn\u2019t even know us,\u201d he says. However, we\u2019re in a moment right now where sharing from an Indigenous perspective is finally possible. \u201cThere\u2019s an equity to the conversation that hasn\u2019t been there before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do ourselves, as humanity, a disservice when we\u2019re not listening to everyone, and not everybody, and every perspective, is at the table.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><em><b>#LUDWIGVAN<\/b><\/em><\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\"><em>Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><em>Sign up for the Ludwig van Daily \u2014 classical music and opera in five minutes or less <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/ludwig-van.us9.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=4f785cb3f9058f2393ccad035&amp;id=57cdb68eac\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>HERE<\/em><\/a>.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jeremy Dutcher has come to Toronto to talk about his involvement in Telling Our Story, a four-part documentary that\u2019s premiering at TIFF23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":99108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[40430,18,4967,23,29,63],"tags":[678,1061,40765,9445,30394],"yst_prominent_words":[6715,22659,22583,10167,6616,8854],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/Copy-of-CRITICS-PICKS-8.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-pMt","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99105"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99105"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99110,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99105\/revisions\/99110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99105"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=99105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}