By Jim Barber
If music is medication, because it most assuredly is, then those that apply this medication are certainly healers. They might not mend damaged bones, however they will soothe damaged hearts. They will’t enhance your circulation, however they will improve the movement of positivity, empathy, ardour and perseverance in your spirit. They will’t carry out open coronary heart surgical procedure, however they’re specialists at open soul surgical procedure.
That music has the facility to heal is now not a discredited and dismissed concept. 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 manner dance and music permeate many Indigenous nations, creating music, performing music and absorbing music as an viewers is a profoundly highly effective medication certainly.
“I don’t assume it’s customary 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 everyone. It’s not one thing you’ll be able to actually contact and choose up – you’ll be able to choose up the medium it’s recorded onto like a CD – however music constructed from a human in entrance of one other human, you’ll be able to’t seize it, however you’ll be able to study from it, you’ll be able to take in it, you’ll be able to carry it in your coronary heart, however it’s not a ‘factor.’ And I don’t actually know different issues which can be that highly effective on this world. I feel that is sensible why folks use it in worship, in therapeutic, in ceremony, in meditation, in remedy. There’s so some ways it helps folks,” 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 He was a really reserved dude however afterward he would simply gentle up with music and his outdated songs, and Elvis. Music would carry him again to himself. So, I consider 100 per cent that music is medication, music is therapeutic. We frequently speak today about synthetic music, synthetic intelligence taking music away from folks like us who make it. I don’t assume you could possibly ever take away the facility of an individual making music in entrance of one other individual. To me, that’s every little thing.
“Even simply fascinated with it, I put that into not simply music in life. I consider meals as medication. I consider group as medication. There are such a lot of issues which can be interconnected for me. The thought of music as medication, the sharing of music – when folks sing collectively, when folks come collectively, when folks dance collectively we’re all actually therapeutic one thing within us, or on the land, or out within the universe. There’s such a robust 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 – wildlife alive. It’s the elementary to the best way she goes about her life and her artistry.
Together with her background and life experiences. she understands at a stage that almost all of us can not, that nature just isn’t a grocery retailer of assets 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 is going to all the time be grateful. The land is her instructor, her supplier and her inspiration.
“There’s plenty 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 all the time 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 so much to have gratitude for, and plenty of house for extra progress. There’s all the time house for studying extra and all the time 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 machine 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, loss of life, rebirth, adaptation, survival and the important co-operative co-existence that’s core to the best way nature endures and thrives.
“[The Songwriting impulse] typically simply comes from experiencing one thing, and it’s usually out on the land. This medication 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 study.’ 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 mirror 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 unsuitable. 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 every little thing it gives are simply the issues which can be 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 associate/husband and musical accompanist, the good and progressive 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 data 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 be in contact; they’re nonetheless my good buddies. 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 form 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 actually are collaborators, however it’s nonetheless O’Bonsawin’s identify on the marquee and on the quilt of the album.
“It’s all the time 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 be capable to do what I do, the best way I do it, with out Ryan. Everybody who involves our present or who is aware of us can see that Ryan has such an enormous half to play in my songs. However I nonetheless write plenty 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 this complete factor, there’s ranges the place it all the time begins with me on my own after which Ryan is available in, he provides his stuff after which it goes out into the larger world.
“Onstage, he is sort of a safety blanket for me, as a result of prior to now I did tour a bit bit as a solo performer and I used to be a small, younger feminine artist on the highway on my own, I simply don’t assume that I might wish to try this once more. So, we constructed this little unit collectively the place it was like all over the place we go we carry that house, we carry that what I name ‘gnome power.’ It’s my secure house; it’s my consolation zone. And it doesn’t matter what’s occurring, 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 admire 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 manner by the music trade. With progressive rock chops, and a deft, however hard-hitting model, as a percussionist his strategy has turn out to be extra refined and different to match the moods of O’Bonsawin’s songs.
“Not each present is an enormous, open, out of doors competition. So, we really needed to recalibrate and Ryan needed to work actually laborious. And he did work actually laborious, and he completely nailed it when it comes to being extra percussive, particularly in performing arts centres and smaller venues and never leaning into the drums like in laborious 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 massive 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 an entire 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 although it was laborious for him at first, as a result of it’s such an enormous 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 music.”
After excursions, the couple retreat again to their pretty 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 gives 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 all the time lived exterior of city, so I spent plenty 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 laborious time in most individuals’s lives. I all the time needed to have this life that was self-sufficient. I all the time dreamt of residing my tradition [she is a member of the Odanak First Nation] and talking my language and feeding myself by music. However it was all the time this dream that appeared actually far-off,” she stated of her time in Toronto which, as with all massive life selection, 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 folks round me telling me what to put on, what to do, tips on how to play, tips on how to write. I had some actually laborious issues to cope with. I used to be instructed stuff the place I assumed, ‘that is form of bizarre.’ And searching again you already know it was not proper. However within the second, I simply needed to do music so unhealthy that I used to be keen to compromise myself a bit bit. Once you’re younger, you have a tendency to do this extra. However now I’m 32, so, no, that’s not occurring 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 so much to me to at the present time throughout that point interval. Anyone in my household, or anybody who is aware of me would say that I positively blossomed as soon as I met Ryan and he grew to become a part of my life. I feel that was an enormous tipping level for me. As an artist, and as an individual who’s really feeding themselves by music, I feel that was an enormous second for me.
“I moved to Toronto proper after highschool to maintain engaged on music. And I met plenty of actually superb folks. Popping out of highschool, not going to music faculty or something like that, I simply dove proper into touring and taking part in exhibits and surrounding myself with superb session musicians. That, for me, was my training. 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 trade and the prices of being an artist. And I additionally made buddies with so many superb feminine artists, who’re actually my sisters. I really feel particularly as ladies, it’s essential for us to have that circle the place we are able to speak to 1 one other. It’s nice to have that community and that outlet, particularly in music. There’s a lot to study from them from the artist aspect but in addition on the trade aspect.”
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 progressive remix of her music ‘Elle Danse’ by the groundbreaking and good Boogat, identified for his seamless mixing of conventional Latin American music types with fashionable hip hop..
“I approached him as a result of I used to be all the time an excellent fan of his music. I noticed him play at a competition in Sherbrooke after which we lastly met after and we might speak forwards and backwards. After I noticed him once more finally yr’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 music?’ And he was completely into it. So, I initiated it and I’m not all the time 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.
“Once we play that music 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 couple of years in the past to now the place it’s turn out to be 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 type 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 be capable to work with. I needed it to have the power that the music has now in our exhibits, after which his model on prime of it.
“We first despatched him a dwell model of us taking part in the music to a metronome after which we form of constructed the entire observe round that efficiency. We supplied the form of the music, 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 keep in mind considering, ‘oh my God, he nailed it.’ I beloved it. After which I went again and redid the vocals and changed a couple 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 music.’ “
The consequence 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 optimistic consequence has O’Bonsawin considering that maybe extra collaborations, extra re-imaginings and even partnering on music from scratch with different distinctive artists is likely to be within the offing.
“We spent final winter, once 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 positively have a few concepts of issues that may very well 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 buddies. We’re going to fulfill another music making friends and see if possibly a music resonates with somebody they usually wish to reimagine it and even collab on one thing authentic,” 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 folks to form of be on it as particular options. We’ve got some very particular folks, particular company on this document. However I’m positively open to attempting one thing new. Generally folks come as much as me and say, ‘are you aware this artist? It’s best to collaborate with them.’ I don’t have a particular 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 effectively deserved and, frankly, too prolonged to say (try her web site!!) They’re recognition from friends, from followers, from critics, from the trade, 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 special for the higher on this world.
“For me, it’s about being accepted right into a group of those that I actually look as much as. For instance, the Trille Or Awards is for francophone artists residing exterior of Quebec [Mimi was named Solo Artist of the Year for 2025], the primary time I obtained nominated for that award I used to be like, ‘oh my gosh, I’m a part of this group 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 group too and possibly I belong right here now. It’s not one thing to simply placed on a shelf, for me it’s a welcome. It’s folks 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 true feeling comes from successful over folks, of constructing an viewers. I used to be in Kingston not too long ago taking part in on the Skeleton Park Arts Competition. We had performed in Kingston a bunch of instances again within the day. And I’m fairly certain one of many first instances I performed to 2 or three folks. I made fifty bucks and drove again to Toronto. Now, we’re taking part in this nice competition after which there was a avenue 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 had been all singing, dancing and cheering.
“And for me, it was a little bit of an emotional expertise as a result of I assumed, all that point spent taking part in exhibits with two or three folks, after which really being invited again to play, and we’ve got all these folks popping out eager 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 folks for the work they do. However I’m a musician who likes to play, so having folks come out to your present is the most effective. 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 folks and expertise new cultures and methods of residing and creating music.
“I might like to play music in, like Norway or one thing. I might additionally actually like to go play music at some cool festivals in like, Senegal or any African nation the place folks actually like to bounce and really feel good. We’ve performed a few small exhibits 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 creator based mostly in Napanee, Ontario, Canada, who has been writing about music and musicians for greater than 30 years. In addition to his journalistic endeavors, he works as a communications and advertising specialist and is an avid volunteer in his group. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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