By Jim Barber
If music is drugs, because it most assuredly is, then those that follow this drugs are certainly healers. They might not mend damaged bones, however they will soothe damaged hearts. They’ll’t enhance your circulation, however they will improve the stream of positivity, empathy, ardour and perseverance in your spirit. They’ll’t carry out open coronary heart surgical procedure, however they’re consultants at open soul surgical procedure.
That music has the ability to heal is not a discredited and dismissed principle. It’s empirical, evidence-based fact.
For roots/conventional singer-songwriter Mimi O’Bonsawin, as somebody with a deep and abiding respect for her Indigenous heritage and its customs, therapeutic practices and the integral approach dance and music permeate many Indigenous nations, creating music, performing music and absorbing music as an viewers is a profoundly highly effective drugs certainly.
“I don’t assume it’s normal Indigenous instructing, however I’ve spoken to some elders who shared with me the significance of music. I feel it’s common. I don’t really feel music belongs to anyone, however it additionally belongs to all people. It’s not one thing you possibly can actually contact and decide up – you possibly can decide up the medium it’s recorded onto like a CD – however music constructed from a human in entrance of one other human, you possibly can’t seize it, however you possibly can be taught from it, you possibly can take in it, you possibly can carry it in your coronary heart, however it’s not a ‘factor.’ And I don’t actually know different issues which are that highly effective on this world. I feel that is sensible why individuals use it in worship, in therapeutic, in ceremony, in meditation, in remedy. There’s so some ways it helps individuals,” she stated.
“My grandfather was the singer in our household and I feel I get my love for singing from him. He had Alzheimer’s and later in his life all he actually had left was this pleasure for music and performing. He was a really reserved dude however afterward he would simply mild up with music and his outdated songs, and Elvis. Music would convey him again to himself. So, I consider 100 per cent that music is drugs, music is therapeutic. We regularly discuss lately about synthetic music, synthetic intelligence taking music away from individuals like us who make it. I don’t assume you might ever take away the ability of an individual making music in entrance of one other individual. To me, that’s all the pieces.
“Even simply enthusiastic about it, I put that into not simply music in life. I consider meals as drugs. I consider neighborhood as drugs. There are such a lot of issues which are interconnected for me. The concept of music as drugs, the sharing of music – when individuals sing collectively, when individuals come collectively, when individuals dance collectively we’re all actually therapeutic one thing inside us, or on the land, or out within the universe. There’s such a strong power created from that have that’s undeniably therapeutic.”
A toddler of each Abenaki and French-Canadian cultures, O’Bonsawin spent her childhood enmeshed in these communities in northern Ontario, ingesting in a deep, reverent connection for the land and all its inhabitants – natural world alive. It’s the elementary to the way in which she goes about her life and her artistry.
Along with her background and life experiences. she understands at a degree that the majority of us can not, that nature just isn’t a grocery retailer of sources to be exploited, however a fancy, interdependent system of life and power of which people are solely a small half. And this complexity and bounty is one thing for which she says she’s going to at all times be grateful. The land is her trainer, her supplier and her inspiration.
“There’s a whole lot of gratitude in my music and in my life. In my private life, creating a extremely robust reference to the land is one thing that I can’t ignore. It’s simply at all times been in me; it’s been in my household. It’s been handed down for generations that this stuff are actually essential in our universe, in my universe. Being grateful for that journey, being grateful for that connection and that studying and relearning – there’s loads to have gratitude for, and a whole lot of house for extra development. There’s at all times house for studying extra and at all times strengthening that relationship with the land and the world round us.”
O’Bonsawin’s music is mirrored within the very sounds she makes on her devices (together with her exceptionally emotive harp taking part in) and the language she composes to accompany that music. The metaphor of a backyard just isn’t merely a intelligent literary gadget or affectation. It’s a foundational touchstone for her songwriting.
Her songs are infused with shops and imagery of gardens, of planting, nurturing, of seeds, of pruning, the altering seasons, life, demise, rebirth, adaptation, survival and the important co-operative co-existence that’s core to the way in which nature endures and thrives.
“[The Songwriting impulse] generally simply comes from experiencing one thing, and it’s usually out on the land. This drugs of songwriting, this therapeutic of songwriting it simply occurs and then you definately see your self mirrored in that and also you’re like, ‘okay, that’s the lesson I wanted to be taught.’ I feel that solely occurred as soon as I began really not forcing issues, and actually telling my tales from an genuine expertise. It’s actual issues that I’m residing that I’m speaking about and I need my songs to replicate that,” O’Bonsawin stated.
“I made a decision at one level that I’m going to inform my tales, so then I by no means have to fret about if I’m proper or fallacious. If I’m speaking about issues that I’m residing and that I’m seeing and that I’m experiencing and touching, then I’m sharing one thing that’s actual and true. I feel these issues we’re speaking about, nature, rising, planting, being grateful for the earth and all the pieces it offers are simply the issues which are essential to me and that’s the lens I see the world by. I’m simply so fortunate that it really comes by within the songs.”
And it’s a listing of songs that has expanded by leaps and bounds even over simply the previous half decade. Elle Danse (EP) got here out in 2020, adopted by the instrumental album Fiddleheads & Ferns in 2022. Spring 2023 noticed the issuance of the masterful 14-song album, Willow, adopted six months later by O’Bonsawin’s first ever French-language album, Boreale. Mimi O’Bonsawin: Dwell in Live performance got here out digitally in 2024, and a brand new studio album is predicted in 2026.
Her’s is a symbiotic, co-operative relationship with nature. It’s shut, intimate, nearly conversational. And it’s mirrored in her relationship along with her life companion/husband and musical accompanist, the good and modern drummer/percussionist, Ryan Schurman. The 2 have been collectively for nearly a decade, and taking part in as a duo for six of these years.
“I had been placing out information and touring earlier than I met Ryan. I had another superb musicians in my band on the time and it wasn’t like I stated goodbye and forgot them. They’re my brothers and I nonetheless communicate; they’re nonetheless my good pals. So, there was a little bit of a transition from that to what Ryan and I do now. When the pandemic occurred we’d been touring as a DIY duo sort of factor and at the moment we determined to make it extra right into a present, so it was a really pure development,” she stated, including that there’s a distinctive dynamic as a result of the couple really are collaborators, however it’s nonetheless O’Bonsawin’s identify on the marquee and on the quilt of the album.
“It’s at all times been a bizarre feeling for me as a result of I don’t wish to be the centre of consideration or something like that. And I additionally know that I wouldn’t have the ability to do what I do, the way in which I do it, with out Ryan. Everybody who involves our present or who is aware of us can see that Ryan has such a giant half to play in my songs. However I nonetheless write a whole lot of songs all on my own in my little room in our cabin. Later I current them to Ryan after which we work on them collectively after I’ve written them, and he places his little twists and activates them. By means of this complete factor, there’s ranges the place it at all times begins with me on my own after which Ryan is available in, he provides his stuff after which it goes out into the better world.
“Onstage, he is sort of a safety blanket for me, as a result of up to now I did tour a bit bit as a solo performer and I used to be a small, younger feminine artist on the street on my own, I simply don’t assume that I’d wish to try this once more. So, we constructed this little unit collectively the place it was like in every single place we go we convey that house, we convey that what I name ‘gnome power.’ It’s my protected house; it’s my consolation zone. And it doesn’t matter what’s happening, whether or not it’s a competition or home live performance, or no matter, I do know that me and Ryan are tight. And I actually, actually respect that. For me I feel that’s what’s helped me discover my confidence, discover my voice, discover my power in my taking part in and my writing, as a result of I’ve that security internet there.”
For Schurman’s half, the previous few years have seen him evolve as a musician as he and O’Bonsawin navigate their approach by the music business. With progressive rock chops, and a deft, however hard-hitting model, as a percussionist his strategy has turn into extra refined and diverse to match the moods of O’Bonsawin’s songs.
“Not each present is a giant, open, out of doors competition. So, we really needed to recalibrate and Ryan needed to work actually exhausting. And he did work actually exhausting, and he completely nailed it by way of being extra percussive, particularly in performing arts centres and smaller venues and never leaning into the drums like in exhausting rock. He’s discovered to adapt to the areas we’re taking part in in and adopting a extra storytelling strategy, and utilizing various things like shakers. I feel for him; the consolation zone was large drums and it was superior and we each went there. However then we realized there’s really energy in taking part in much less busy or much less loud in some moments, after which letting it go in different moments. That’s been a complete completely different lens to see the music by and I feel it’s actually, actually helped us. We encourage each other to discover extra and despite the fact that it was exhausting for him at first, as a result of it’s such a giant change, it rapidly grew to become a little bit of a superpower to the purpose the place he really prefers to play much less in sure locations as a result of that’s what serves the track.”
After excursions, the couple retreat again to their beautiful little cabin within the woods; their little Hobbit gap in northeastern Ontario, and revert to their deep sense of interdependence and connection to the land. Having initially moved all the way down to Toronto to embark on her music profession, now this shared homestead offers not solely emotional sustenance and a spot to unwind, to decelerate and revel within the quiet and solitude, but in addition literal sustenance for O’Bonsawin as she maintains gardens, cans preserves and lives off the sweat of her forehead and her information of planting, rising and nurturing. There are these phrases once more!
“I grew up within the bush in northern Ontario. For my complete childhood we at all times lived outdoors of city, so I spent a whole lot of time within the forest on my own and it was like that each one my life, aside from this blip between ages 18 and 26 the place I moved to Toronto. I used to be looking for myself, and that’s a extremely exhausting time in most individuals’s lives. I at all times needed to have this life that was self-sufficient. I at all times dreamt of residing my tradition [she is a member of the Odanak First Nation] and talking my language and feeding myself by music. Nevertheless it was at all times this dream that appeared actually distant,” she stated of her time in Toronto which, as with every large life alternative, had its good factors and it’s not-so-good factors.
“I feel I surrounded myself with individuals who weren’t serving these goals. I had individuals round me telling me what to put on, what to do, how one can play, how one can write. I had some actually exhausting issues to cope with. I used to be advised stuff the place I believed, ‘that is sort of bizarre.’ And searching again you realize it was not proper. However within the second, I simply needed to do music so unhealthy that I used to be prepared to compromise myself a bit bit. Whenever you’re younger, you have a tendency to try this extra. However now I’m 32, so, no, that’s not taking place once more. However, as an artist, you’re actually artistic when the chaos is throughout you, so I wrote some actually good songs that imply loads to me to today throughout that point interval. Anyone in my household, or anybody who is aware of me would say that I undoubtedly blossomed as soon as I met Ryan and he grew to become a part of my life. I feel that was a giant tipping level for me. As an artist, and as an individual who’s really feeding themselves by music, I feel that was a giant second for me.
“I moved to Toronto proper after highschool to maintain engaged on music. And I met a whole lot of actually superb individuals. Popping out of highschool, not going to music faculty or something like that, I simply dove proper into touring and taking part in reveals and surrounding myself with superb session musicians. That, for me, was my schooling. I consider that document I did [her self-titled debut, released in 2014 when she was 21] was very a lot about studying and absorbing as a lot as I may in regards to the business and the prices of being an artist. And I additionally made pals with so many superb feminine artists, who’re really my sisters. I really feel particularly as ladies, it’s essential for us to have that circle the place we are able to discuss to at least one one other. It’s nice to have that community and that outlet, particularly in music. There’s a lot to be taught from them from the artist facet but in addition on the business facet.”
With an adventurous spirit that has seen her and Ryan tour as far afield as France and Australia, in addition to all through Canada, has opened O’Bonsawin’s thoughts and spirit to different lives lived, different cultures, different music. It’s additionally introduced her into contact with different creators, a few of whom have been deeply inspiring. It has led her to hunt out extra musical collaboration in her profession, with the primary such intertwining of types coming within the type of an modern remix of her track ‘Elle Danse’ by the groundbreaking and good Boogat, recognized for his seamless mixing of conventional Latin American music types with trendy hip hop..
“I approached him as a result of I used to be at all times an excellent fan of his music. I noticed him play at a competition in Sherbrooke after which we lastly met after and we’d discuss forwards and backwards. After I noticed him once more finally 12 months’s Summerfolk in Owen Sound [Ontario]. I requested him, ‘I don’t know if that is your factor, however do you wish to possibly reimagine this track?’ And he was completely into it. So, I initiated it and I’m not at all times the primary individual to ask for issues that I need, however I used to be feeling courageous and he was sport for it, and now we’re good buddies,” she stated.
“After we play that track dwell, there’s fairly a bit extra drums in there and it turns into like a dancing second in our present. From the studio model, which we recorded fairly a number of years in the past to now the place it’s turn into this partaking second within the dwell present, it’s picked up a bit extra power. And what I really like about music is that on this case it’s form of people meets electro with that upbeat power, that danceable power. I feel I believed that was a pocket or groove that he [Boogat] would have the ability to work with. I needed it to have the power that the track has now in our reveals, after which his model on prime of it.
“We first despatched him a dwell model of us taking part in the track to a metronome after which we sort of constructed the entire observe round that efficiency. We offered the form of the track, the skeleton of it and stated to him, ‘do your factor,’ and he despatched one thing again to us. It took some time, as a result of I used to be on tour and was actually busy, however then after I lastly heard it I bear in mind considering, ‘oh my God, he nailed it.’ I cherished it. After which I went again and redid the vocals and changed a number of little issues. However for probably the most half, he did all of it, and it was so thrilling to get it again and see, ‘wow, that is the way you re-imagine a track.’ “
The end result speaks for itself as ‘Elle Danse’ now provides a component of stylish modernity, worldwide aptitude and honest-to-goodness infectiousness to what was already a stunning piece of music. The constructive consequence has O’Bonsawin considering that maybe extra collaborations, extra re-imaginings and even partnering on music from scratch with different distinctive artists may be within the offing.
“We spent final winter, after we got here again from Australia, recording the brand new album. I’ve all these songs fleshed out and I’m excited to get them out into the world. After which we undoubtedly have a few concepts of issues that could possibly be re-imagined or revisited sooner or later. And I’m open to it. That is competition season proper now, so we’re going to make pals. We’re going to fulfill another music making friends and see if possibly a track resonates with somebody and so they wish to reimagine it and even collab on one thing unique,” O’Bonsawin stated, including that the brand new document is predicted to be launched on the finish of 2026, with singles beginning to trickle out beginning this fall.
“And for this new document, for the primary time, we invited individuals to sort of be on it as particular options. We’ve got some very particular individuals, particular visitors on this document. However I’m undoubtedly open to attempting one thing new. Generally individuals come as much as me and say, ‘have you learnt this artist? You must collaborate with them.’ I don’t have a selected plan in thoughts, however I’m open to it.”
The record of accolades and awards O’Bonsawin has earned over the previous decade or so is spectacular and nicely deserved and, frankly, too prolonged to say (try her web site!!) They’re recognition from friends, from followers, from critics, from the business, from cultural establishments and from communities. They’re proof of the reality of how music can affect hearts and minds, transfer spirits and souls, and make a unique for the higher on this world.
“For me, it’s about being accepted right into a neighborhood of those that I actually look as much as. For instance, the Trille Or Awards is for francophone artists residing outdoors of Quebec [Mimi was named Solo Artist of the Year for 2025], the primary time I received nominated for that award I used to be like, ‘oh my gosh, I’m a part of this neighborhood now. I’m a part of the scene. I’m a part of this superb group if artists making cool music.’ And the identical factor with the Indigenous Music Awards. My first nomination for them was in 2017 and I felt the identical. I’m a part of this neighborhood too and possibly I belong right here now. It’s not one thing to only placed on a shelf, for me it’s a welcome. It’s individuals saying, ‘you’re one among us,’” she stated.
“It’s encouraging. It makes me wish to proceed to do the work. However for me the actual feeling comes from successful over individuals, of constructing an viewers. I used to be in Kingston just lately taking part in on the Skeleton Park Arts Pageant. We had performed in Kingston a bunch of occasions again within the day. And I’m fairly certain one of many first occasions I performed to 2 or three individuals. I made fifty bucks and drove again to Toronto. Now, we’re taking part in this nice competition after which there was a road present after the competition in downtown Kingston and there was 150 or so who confirmed up for that, and this was after the competition was over. They have been all singing, dancing and cheering.
“And for me, it was a little bit of an emotional expertise as a result of I believed, all that point spent taking part in reveals with two or three individuals, after which really being invited again to play, and we have now all these individuals popping out desirous to share this expertise with us. To me, meaning greater than something. So, awards are superb, and I feel it’s actually essential to acknowledge individuals for the work they do. However I’m a musician who likes to play, so having individuals come out to your present is the very best. That’s the continuing award for me.”
On the horizon, O’Bonsawin goals of taking part in even additional afield that she already has, excited to embrace the chance to fulfill new individuals and expertise new cultures and methods of residing and creating music.
“I’d like to play music in, like Norway or one thing. I’d additionally actually like to go play music at some cool festivals in like, Senegal or any African nation the place individuals actually like to bounce and really feel good. We’ve achieved a few small reveals down in Mexico, so taking part in in South America, or Mexico once more or Central America could be simply superior,” she stated.
For extra data, go to Mimi O’Bonsawin on her social media accounts, or https://www.mimi.ca.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and writer primarily based in Napanee, Ontario, Canada, who has been writing about music and musicians for greater than 30 years. Apart from his journalistic endeavors, he works as a communications and advertising and marketing specialist and is an avid volunteer in his neighborhood. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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