Jeremy Dutcher holds up a piece of red paper to the camera near the end of my interview with him via Zoom.
The paper reads “Woliwon,” which means thank you in the Wolastoqey language, and we spend a few seconds practicing my pronunciation.
“I just realized you are going to see it backwards cause Zoom mirrors the video,” he quips.
As a reporter, I left the conversation, learning a new word in Wolastoqey. That is precisely what Dutcher aims to do with his music.
Wolastoqey is an endangered language with only less than 100 speakers remaining, most over the age of 65 years.
Dutcher wants more youth to hear Wolastoqey on the radio
Dutcher, who is a Wolastoqiyik singer from Wolastokuk and Neqotkuk (Tobique First Nation) released his first album, “Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa” in 2018, for which we won the Polaris Music Prize and Juno Award for the Indigenous Artist/Group of the Year.
“A big reason why I do music is because I want our young people to go turn on the radio and be able to hear Wolastoqey, with a beat and instrumentation,” says Dutcher, whose first album was completely written and sung in Wolastoqey.
“I knew my first record had to be in Wolastoqey as a statement; the goal was never about how many people come to my shows or how many streams I got on Spotify,” Dutcher says.
“The goal was very much oriented towards having my people listen, feel, dance and sing along to my music…that’s what felt good to me,” he adds.
Dutcher, the youngest of four brothers, grew up in a largely musical household says a huge part of his singing inspiration came from being around Peskotomuhkati elder Maggie Paul, who was his mentor.
“My mother would tell me to go sit with her and learn her songs, so I learnt a lot of the traditional songs through Maggie,” he explains.
Dutcher, who is also trained in Western music and classical piano, tries to incorporate those elements with traditional Wolastoqey songs to create a unique listening experience.
First time using English in his latest album
With his new album “Motewolonuwok,” Dutcher takes a different approach by singing some songs in English for the first time.
“Singing in English was a challenge because mechanically, the way your mouth moves is very different,” he says as he animatedly moves his mouth.
“Sometimes, in songs that are bilingual, I had to change my mouth movements a lot.”
Dutcher takes the example of his second song on the album, “Pomawsuwinuwok Wonakiyawolotuwok,” which translates to “People are rising,” where he sings in both Wolastoqey and English.
“I will always put out music in Wolastoqey as it is important to me, but it is nicer to speak to a wider audience now, which includes non-Wolastoqey and non-Indigenous people,” he explains.
He says people can listen to music for different reasons such as poetry, lyrics, melody or something to help them focus and still be immersed in the musical world. He puts forward the example of his family to explain how music plays a different role for everyone.
“My father, who doesn’t speak Wolastoqey, would just put it on as he works, and it is a casual listening experience, but for my mother, who speaks Wolastoqey, it’s a whole different journey,” he says.
As a language enthusiast, Dutcher is also a polyglot who speaks up to five languages, which includes Wolastoqey, English, French, German and Norwegian- the last of which he learnt for his “sweetheart”. He smiles and says he is learning in order to talk to the in-laws.
Dutcher looks at language and words as something powerful used to connect people together. Naming the album “Motewolonuwok,” which he says means “witches” or “magicians” in Wolastoqey, is intended to reclaim a word that often comes with a negative connotation.
“For us, the word magic and people that were shamans were very important; they weren’t something that we were scared of,” he says.
Album a step towards understanding of queer Indigenous teachings
Dutcher, who identifies as a two-spirit individual, says the naming his record “Motewolonuwok” was a step towards opening people up to the spiritual understandings of queer Indigenous teachings.
Jeremy, currently in Montreal, is gearing up for his performance and nomination at the 2024 Polaris Music Prize. He explains why the Polaris Music Prize is unique to him.
“The winner is determined by a panel of 196 journalists who nominate their favourite record every year, so things like sales, genre and streaming numbers don’t matter,” he says.
“The jury has to really love your music for you to win, so to have an Indigenous record at the forefront is really exciting.”
Jeremy, who was on tour in Europe recently, says his metric of success has broadened, especially after meeting and performing shows with other Indigenous people worldwide.
“Even though I started out super-specific to my community, there are so many amazing people around this world that I can’t wait to meet and make music with.”
