Digging Roots, Sultans of String collaboration helps lift a heavy weight through the medicine of music

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the eyes of Canadians and the world were opened when Tk’emlups te Secwepemc identified 215 unmarked graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in May 2020.

“The whole announcement of children being found because of residential schools and what was going on, it really hit me and I ended up cutting my hair because of it, out of condolence for those little ancestors that never got to live their full life,” said Raven Kanatakta, one half of the two-time Juno-award winning duo Digging Roots with wife ShoShona Kish.

“I didn't know what to do with this heavy weight and…they just kept announcing and announcing more and more little children and, essentially…I needed to do something about it,” said Kanatakta, who is Anishinabe Algonquin/Onkwehón:we Mohawk.

Ten to 15 years earlier, Chris McKhool, leader of the non-Indigenous band Sultans of String, had spoken to Kanatakta about collaborating when Kanatakta had time.

With concerts and all gatherings shut down as a means of controling the spread of the disease, Kanatakta had time. He reached out to McKhool, who told him about a collaboration he was already undertaking with Indigenous artists.

“When I started working with Chris, I said, ‘This is sort of what I'm thinking. These are the sounds that I'm hearing in my head. What do you think about this?’ And he said, ‘Great’,” said Kanatakta.

The lyrics to “Take Off the Crown” were penned by Kanatakta and Kish and the music was created with Sultans of String.

“Take Off the Crown” is the fourth single to come from the Sultans of Strings album "Walking Through the Fire," a CD and concert of collaborations between the Sultans and First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists. 

The album will be released on Sept. 15.

McKhool calls his band’s ninth album “the most ambitious and important project of our career.”

“We’re making this album in the spirit of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action, and Final Report that asks for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to work together as an opportunity to show a path forward,” McKhool said in an email to Windspeaker.com.

McKhool points out that the band received arts council funding from regular streams and not from Indigenous specific streams. The bed tracks were recorded at Jukasa Studios, an Indigenous-owned studio located in Six Nations of the Grand River.

Sultans (SOS) also paid the Indigenous artists for their performances for the recording and will be paying them mechanical royalties for every pressing.

“For Neighbouring Rights royalties with SiriusXM though SoundExchange, we are giving the entire share of performance royalties to the Indigenous collaborators, rather than keeping any for SOS as would be industry standard,” said McKhool.

He also noted that the project required “a lot of consultation,” which included Elders, musicians, artists, and videographers.

In accordance with the 2019 Statement on Indigenous Musical Sovereignty, McKhool said the Sultans were “very sensitive to ensure that the Indigenous creators we are working with are granted authority and full oversight on how their communities are portrayed.”

“Chris was very respectful on all those fronts,” said Kanatakta.

He adds that McKhool also listened to what he had to say about what Indigenous people face on their land base and the ongoing action taken by Indigenous peoples to protect and regain their lands.

“It's primarily where Digging Roots lives,” said Kanatakta. “We do music that affects us and music that comes from who we are. I don't try to pretend to be anybody else. I just let music come out the way that it's supposed to come out.”

Kanatakta says music is medicine for him and allows him to release the pressure. Music helps him on his healing journey.

“I don't want to walk around on Anishinabe territory being angry, for instance. I want to feel empowered, and I want to feel good about who I am and what I'm standing on,” he said.

Kanatakta reveals two recent incidences in which he was walking on the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway along the Ottawa River and was accosted. In the first incident, a 70-or-so-year-old man biked past him and told him to f-off. In the second incident, someone sitting at an outdoor café threw a rock and hit him in the temple.

“I just felt like it was such a cowardice thing to do. The strange thing about it is that I'm an Anishinabe person, and that's Anishinabe Algonquin territory, and in this day and age I should be, as an Algonquin person walking on traditional Algonquin territory in the middle of the day, I should feel safe,” Kanatakta said.

With the success of Sultans of String—winning six Canadian Folk Music Awards, receiving three Juno nominations, and having two recent albums hit Billboard’s world music charts--McKhool views the musical collaboration as a way to expand the listening audience for Indigenous artists.

He also sees the album as a way to educate, by building “capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy and mutual respect,” as laid out by one of the TRC’s Calls to Action.

“Any way that we're broadening our horizons will ultimately expose new audiences to our music…I see these relationships as a way to get inside of the Canadian narrative,” said Kanatakta.

He applauds McKhool for undertaking the collaboration, which took much time and energy. He also applauds McKhool for coming forward as an ally.

“I also feel that we need to move a step further than that. I was speaking with Chris and saying that allies are not enough at this point. We really need to have co-conspirators. We have to get down into the dirt together and we really need to start finding solutions on taking care of each other and taking care of the planet too,” said Kanatakta.

"Walking Through the Fire" features 15 Indigenous artists, including Northern Cree, Leela Gilday, Dr. Duke Redbird, and Métis Fiddler Quartet.

Pre-sale of the digital album is available at https://sultansofstring.lnk.to/WalkingThroughtheFire and the physical CD pre-order can be made at https://merchmrkt.com/collections/sultans-of-string

Local Journalism Initiative Reporters are supported by a financial contribution made by the Government of Canada.