Buffy Sainte Marie

I really like Buffy Sainte Marie ! Although my first love is Rock music, when I am in a mellow mood I listen to all sorts of music and Buffy's lyrics are so powerful that you have to sit and listen. Buffy is a Native American born on a Cree reservation in Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan. She was at the height of her fame in the 60's /70's when she was known as a "protest singer" alongside the likes of Bob Dylan and Joan Baiez. Many of her songs later became famous through other singers such as Barbara Streisand, Elvis Presley, Chet Atkins, Janis Joplin, Roberta Flack, Neil Diamond, Tracy Chapman. She is still a star today !

The following is a short bio from her web site Creative Native and gives you an inkling of who she is today ....

"An educator before she was ever known as a singer, Buffy lectures at colleges and civic venues on a wide variety of topics: film scoring, electronic music, songwriting, Native American studies, the Cradleboard Teaching Project, women's issues, the Native genius for government, and remaining positive amidst tough human realities. She serves as Adjunct Professor in Canada at York University in Toronto and Saskatchewan Indian Federated College in Regina, and in the U.S. was an Evans Chair Scholar at the Evergreen State College in Washington State. She has also taught at the Institute for American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA)."

I love her drive and determination to place the Native American Indian at the top of "the agenda". They have had such a raw deal over almost two centuries and it still goes on today. We all talk about Genocide in the 20th and 21st century as if it is something new but it's not.. the dispossession of the Apache Indian is a case for thought in the mid to late 1800's. Read Rivers Of Blood Rivers Of Gold by Mark Cocker

Buffy released an album in 1991 called "Coincidence And Likely Stories" and on it she sings about corruption in Government, big Corporations influence on our lives and the Environment/Pollution.. real solid stuff. She pulls no punches ! She sings about Burying her heart at Wounded Knee where in 1890 the massacre took place of over 300 Sioux Indians, men women and children by white American soldiers.

Today, the persecution of the Native American still goes on and still they are dying when they protest too much.. Please read the lyrics to "Bury My Heart AT Wounded Knee" and see what I mean.

I like Buffy Sainte Marie and what she stands for !!..... Buffy, I salute you !!