Dene singer-songwriter drew from her ancestors to adapt to the pandemic reality

It’s been 20 years since Dene singer-songwriter Leela Gilday has seen all four seasons pass through her homelands. For the past two decades the JUNO Award winner has toured her band extensively across Canada and around the globe. So it was a total shock to her when the COVID-19 pandemic completely shut down the music industry. 

Gilday released her fifth album, North Star Calling, back in September 2019. The recording was produced in Toronto and featured collaborations with an impressive lineup of guests, including singer Tanya Tagaq, cellist Chris Derksen, guitarist Raven Kanatakta, violinist Kinley Dowling, and many others.

For a career musician like Gilday the year following a new release would normally find her deeply invested in touring to promote her new work, so finding herself locked down early into the new year required a massive reality adjustment.

“I definitely did not write songs for the first few months because I felt creatively paralyzed. Which is kind of a natural thing when your livelihood is put in jeopardy,” said Gilday over the phone from her home in Yellowknife.

“I was in a heightened state of anxiety and stress and I find it difficult to write songs in that state. So I was definitely frozen for a while.”

Once she began to adjust to the grim reality of how the pandemic was affecting her career Gilday began to turn her focus toward what kind of positives she could derive from what was obviously becoming a desperate global situation.

She soon found that her inclination was to be grateful. Her community is comprised of a sparse population spread over a large geographical area. Gilday points to this and gives credit to the fast and decisive action of the N.W.T. Department of Health and Social Services for the incredibly low numbers of COVID-19 cases in her area.

“I'm just trying to respect everything that is suggested to keep everybody safe, and on the flip side of that coin, to make sure that I'm supporting my mental health and my family's mental health as well. “ 

Once the initial shock of the situation subsided Gilday evoked inspiration from her Dene heritage to help her adapt to the difficult times.

“As a musician, a self-employed person, and an Indigenous person, one of my key qualities is adaptability and the ability to adjust. I think about it in terms of a historical perspective of how the Dene adapted after contact, and how we would adapt to different challenges that came up from the environment. My people were constantly adapting and thriving and so I felt like I drew on that kind of strength and really tried to adapt my business model to accommodate online performance.”

With touring and live performance completely shut down, producers, promoters, and performers have turned to online video streaming as a way to do their part to bring joy to others suffering the emotional distress of social isolation, and to help them remain connected to their audience.

Rather than resist reality Gilday instead invested in “a whole bunch of sound gear” and dedicated herself to acquiring some new skills so she could learn to produce a “really excellent online performance.” 

Empowered by her new tools and new found skills, this year Gilday has participated in numerous online events, including the Dream Concert to benefit The Native American Scholarship Fund; the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and the Tkaronto Music Festival.

Her eagerness to embrace the technical demands of the online streaming process has also opened up a world of new opportunities for the musician allowing her to start up her own You Tube channel; accept invitations to take part in video interviews; sit on virtual music industry panels; and even participate in workshops like Pivot and Roll, a singer-songwriters circle “teaching the business of making music during a crisis.”

In fact, as we move deeper into the dark days of winter, a time when most touring artists settle down briefly for the holiday season, Gilday isn’t taking a break. Instead she has upcoming streaming performances with both the Connected Music Series, and is the featured performer of a two-week cross Canada livestream reimagining of Handel’s Messiah, called Messiah/Complex. She will be collaborating with 11 other solo artists working with co-director Reneltta Arluk, and backed by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

“It was a time of great learning for me. But also, I have had time to really reflect on why I do music and that really brought it home to me about how important my connection to my land is, and my culture.”

For Gilday, another positive to emerge from the darkness of the current crisis has been her realization of a personal dream to compose a series of songs exclusively in her Na-Dene language, which she herself does not speak.

“The type of song writing I'm doing now is something I have wanted to be doing for 20 years. A language reclamation project. It’s a project that has been extremely exciting and challenging, and I can’t wait to share it with the world.”

To manifest this dream Gilday enlisted the help of four local Dene mentors and it is her goal to take the finished songs into the recording studio by the late spring of 2021.

Gilday’s willingness to step up and adapt to the restrictions of the new isolated reality can surely act as a positive inspiration for other musicians seeking alternate ways to remain connected with their fans. But ultimately she swings back to shine a light on the power of the art and the true purpose of the creative process.

“I can't overstate the importance of music in people's lives. And I feel like it's been a lifeline for many. Myself included.”

Leela Gilday’s Connected Music Series performance can be viewed Dec. 13 on the CMS YouTube Channel.

And the cross Canada stream of Messiah/Complex will be presented by Toronto’s Against The Grain Theatre free of charge, and runs from Dec. 13 until Dec. 26.