Musician Edzi’u creates soundscapes that explore colonialism and Indigenous resistance

Edziu, who was a music theory and composition student at Vancouver Community College, said she suffered a kind of writer’s hiatus after getting out of what she called an abusive relationship.

Edzi’u had trouble writing lyrics and music and was looking for a solution. A Taltan and Tak River Tlingit musician, the musician drew inspiration from her CD, which was given to him by his grandmother and contained stories and songs from generations of her grandmother.

“I started listening to them and took clips from them and made my first album kimeani Then,” Eddie said north northwestMargaret Gallagher.

In addition to being a musician, Edzi’u also worked as a sound engineer at CBC, where he then integrated sounds he collected from the world around him. Edzi’u found “collecting tapes and audio snippets to be a different way to explore his songwriting”.

That approach inspired their latest work. potlatch in boxa concept album that used a potlatch framework to discuss colonialism and indigenous resistance.

truck warrior song It features clips of relatives from Deedslake, a town in the interior of northern British Columbia.

“So my practice is to interview people and take clips from those interviews and use them in songs that I create,” they said.

Edzi’u says he relies on intuition to decide which interview clip to use.

“You record an interview with someone, listen to it, and just pick what you think is right,” they said. “I do a lot of my creation purely based on what I felt my ancestors in that room were telling me to do.”

another track, 2 spiritswhich investigates the federal ban on potlatch and the identities of two spirits.

According to the Encyclopedia of Canada, the potlatch ban was enacted by the Government of Canada under an 1884 amendment to the Indian Act of 1876, which went into effect in 1885.

The law made it a crime for anyone to participate in a potlatch, a gift-giving feast traditionally used as a way of celebrating life, commemorating various important milestones and events in West Coast tribes and customs. .

“I want people to hear how our ancestors and relatives had to keep quiet behind the door,” Edziu said. “And when people tried to practice their culture in secret during the Potlatch Prohibition for fear of being arrested for fear of their sacred beings being stolen, the RCMP knocked on the door.”

Edziu says the song draws parallels between potlatch bans and “how we’ve really hidden a lot of our knowledge and teachings about gender and sexuality in our culture.”

Music reflects different influences

Edzi’u says their music comes from different genres and eras.

“I think I just jam my grandmothers’ traditional songs, ’80s pop and rock ballads, and country stories into this classic songwriting style,” they said.

Country music also holds a special place in their hearts, they say. Edzieu has an early childhood that entertained his uncles and uncles by singing country songs during long trips between Whitehorse, where he attended school, and Deedslake, one of their traditional territories. I have memories.

potlatch in box It is the sum of their experiences and influences.

“My ancestors traditionally held drums and had voices to express what they saw and felt and what they wanted to teach people,” they said. .

“And that’s what I do, except that I’m doing it on a computer, and I’m doing it with my own voice, with my own influences and my own style. .”