By Jim Barber
If music is drugs, because it most assuredly is, then those that follow this drugs are certainly healers. They could not mend damaged bones, however they’ll soothe damaged hearts. They’ll’t enhance your circulation, however they’ll improve the stream of positivity, empathy, ardour and perseverance in your spirit. They’ll’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 principle. 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 method dance and music permeate many Indigenous nations, creating music, performing music and absorbing music as an viewers is a profoundly highly effective drugs certainly.
“I don’t assume it’s normal 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, but it surely additionally belongs to all people. It’s not one thing you possibly can actually contact and choose up – you possibly can choose up the medium it’s recorded onto like a CD – however music made out of a human in entrance of one other human, you possibly can’t seize it, however you possibly can study from it, you possibly can take up it, you possibly can carry it in your coronary heart, but it surely’s not a ‘factor.’ And I don’t actually know different issues which are 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 mentioned.
“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 He was a really reserved dude however in a while he would simply gentle up with music and his outdated songs, and Elvis. Music would convey him again to himself. So, I imagine 100 per cent that music is drugs, music is therapeutic. We frequently speak lately about synthetic music, synthetic intelligence taking music away from folks like us who make it. I don’t assume you possibly can ever take away the facility of an individual making music in entrance of one other particular person. To me, that’s the whole lot.
“Even simply fascinated by it, I put that into not simply music in life. I consider meals as drugs. I consider group as drugs. There are such a lot of issues which are interconnected for me. The concept of music as drugs, 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 strong vitality created from that have that’s undeniably therapeutic.”
A baby of each Abenaki and French-Canadian cultures, O’Bonsawin spent her childhood enmeshed in these communities in northern Ontario, consuming in a deep, reverent connection for the land and all its inhabitants – natural world alive. It’s the basic to the way in which she goes about her life and her artistry.
Along with her background and life experiences. she understands at a stage that the majority of us can not, that nature just isn’t a grocery retailer of assets to be exploited, however a posh, interdependent system of life and vitality of which people are solely a small half. And this complexity and bounty is one thing for which she says she’s going to all the time be grateful. The land is her instructor, her supplier and her inspiration.
“There’s loads of gratitude in my music and in my life. In my private life, creating a very sturdy 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 necessary in our universe, in my universe. Being grateful for that journey, being grateful for that connection and that studying and relearning – there’s lots to have gratitude for, and loads of area for extra development. There’s all the time area 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 system 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 way in which nature endures and thrives.
“[The Songwriting impulse] typically simply comes from experiencing one thing, and it’s typically out on the land. This drugs of songwriting, this therapeutic of songwriting it simply occurs and then you definitely 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 truly not forcing issues, and actually telling my tales from an genuine expertise. It’s actual issues that I’m dwelling that I’m speaking about and I would like my songs to mirror that,” O’Bonsawin mentioned.
“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 improper. If I’m speaking about issues that I’m dwelling 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 the whole lot it gives are simply the issues which are necessary to me and that’s the lens I see the world by means of. I’m simply so fortunate that it truly comes by means of within the songs.”
And it’s a list 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: Stay in Live performance got here out digitally in 2024, and a brand new studio album is anticipated 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 together with her life associate/husband and musical accompanist, the sensible and modern 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 information and touring earlier than I met Ryan. I had another wonderful musicians in my band on the time and it wasn’t like I mentioned goodbye and forgot them. They’re my brothers and I nonetheless keep up a correspondence; 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 mentioned, including that there’s a distinctive dynamic as a result of the couple actually are collaborators, however it’s nonetheless O’Bonsawin’s title 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 need to be the centre of consideration or something like that. And I additionally know that I wouldn’t be capable of do what I do, the way in which 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 loads 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 means of 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 higher world.
“Onstage, he is sort of a safety blanket for me, as a result of up to now I did tour a little 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’d need to do this once more. So, we constructed this little unit collectively the place it was like all over the place we go we convey that dwelling, we convey that what I name ‘gnome vitality.’ It’s my secure area; it’s my consolation zone. And it doesn’t matter what’s occurring, whether or not it’s a pageant 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 method by means of the music trade. With progressive rock chops, and a deft, however hard-hitting type, as a percussionist his method has grow to be extra delicate and diversified to match the moods of O’Bonsawin’s songs.
“Not each present is an enormous, open, outside pageant. So, we truly needed to recalibrate and Ryan needed to work actually exhausting. And he did work actually exhausting, and he completely nailed it by way of being extra percussive, particularly in performing arts centres and smaller venues and never leaning into the drums like in exhausting rock. He’s discovered to adapt to the areas we’re taking part in in and adopting a extra storytelling method, and utilizing various things like shakers. I feel for him; the consolation zone was large drums and it was superior and we each went there. However then we realized there’s truly 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 a complete totally different lens to see the music by means of and I feel it’s actually, actually helped us. We encourage each other to discover extra and although it was exhausting 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 truly prefers to play much less in sure locations as a result of that’s what serves the tune.”
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 right 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 outdoors of city, so I spent loads of time within the forest on my own and it was like that each one my life, apart 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 very exhausting time in most individuals’s lives. I all the time wished to have this life that was self-sufficient. I all the time dreamt of dwelling my tradition [she is a member of the Odanak First Nation] and talking my language and feeding myself by means of music. However it was all the time this dream that appeared actually distant,” she mentioned of her time in Toronto which, as with all large 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 desires. I had folks round me telling me what to put on, what to do, the way to play, the way to write. I had some actually exhausting issues to take care of. I used to be advised stuff the place I assumed, ‘that is form of bizarre.’ And looking out again you understand it was not proper. However within the second, I simply wished to do music so dangerous that I used to be prepared to compromise myself a little bit bit. While 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 inventive when the chaos is throughout you, so I wrote some actually good songs that imply lots to me to today 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 truly feeding themselves by means of 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 loads of actually wonderful 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 wonderful session musicians. That, for me, was my training. I consider that report 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 concerning the trade and the prices of being an artist. And I additionally made buddies with so many wonderful feminine artists, who’re actually my sisters. I really feel particularly as ladies, it’s necessary for us to have that circle the place we are able to speak to at least one 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 facet but in addition on the trade facet.”
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 kinds coming within the type of an modern remix of her tune ‘Elle Danse’ by the groundbreaking and sensible Boogat, identified for his seamless mixing of conventional Latin American music kinds with trendy hip hop..
“I approached him as a result of I used to be all the time a brilliant fan of his music. I noticed him play at a pageant in Sherbrooke after which we lastly met after and we might speak backwards and forwards. Once I noticed him once more eventually 12 months’s Summerfolk in Owen Sound [Ontario]. I requested him, ‘I don’t know if that is your factor, however do you need to possibly reimagine this tune?’ And he was completely into it. So, I initiated it and I’m not all the time the primary particular person to ask for issues that I would like, however I used to be feeling courageous and he was sport for it, and now we’re good buddies,” she mentioned.
“Once we play that tune reside, 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 just a few years in the past to now the place it’s grow to be this partaking second within the reside present, it’s picked up a bit extra vitality. And what I like about music is that on this case it’s type of folks meets electro with that upbeat vitality, that danceable vitality. I feel I believed that was a pocket or groove that he [Boogat] would be capable of work with. I wished it to have the vitality that the tune has now in our exhibits, after which his type on prime of it.
“We first despatched him a reside model of us taking part in the tune to a metronome after which we form of constructed the entire observe round that efficiency. We offered the form of the tune, the skeleton of it and mentioned 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 pondering, ‘oh my God, he nailed it.’ I cherished it. After which I went again and redid the vocals and changed just a few 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 tune.’ “
The outcome 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 beautiful piece of music. The optimistic final result has O’Bonsawin pondering 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, after 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 could possibly be re-imagined or revisited sooner or later. And I’m open to it. That is pageant season proper now, so we’re going to make buddies. We’re going to satisfy another music making friends and see if possibly a tune resonates with somebody they usually need to reimagine it and even collab on one thing unique,” O’Bonsawin mentioned, including that the brand new report is anticipated to be launched on the finish of 2026, with singles beginning to trickle out beginning this fall.
“And for this new report, for the primary time, we invited folks to form of be on it as particular options. Now we have some very particular folks, particular friends on this report. However I’m positively open to making an attempt one thing new. Generally folks come as much as me and say, ‘have you learnt this artist? You must collaborate with them.’ I don’t have a particular plan in thoughts, however I’m open to it.”
The listing of accolades and awards O’Bonsawin has earned over the previous decade or so is spectacular and properly 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 unique for the higher on this world.
“For me, it’s about being accepted right into a group of folks that I actually look as much as. For instance, the Trille Or Awards is for francophone artists dwelling outdoors of Quebec [Mimi was named Solo Artist of the Year for 2025], the primary time I acquired 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 wonderful 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 in all us,’” she mentioned.
“It’s encouraging. It makes me need to proceed to do the work. However for me the actual 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 occasions again within the day. And I’m fairly certain one of many first occasions I performed to 2 or three folks. I made fifty bucks and drove again to Toronto. Now, we’re taking part in this nice pageant after which there was a avenue present after the pageant in downtown Kingston and there was 150 or so who confirmed up for that, and this was after the pageant was over. They have 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 truly being invited again to play, and we now have all these folks popping out eager to share this expertise with us. To me, which means greater than something. So, awards are wonderful, and I feel it’s actually necessary 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 perfect. That’s the continuing award for me.”
On the horizon, O’Bonsawin desires of taking part in even additional afield that she already has, excited to embrace the chance to satisfy new folks and expertise new cultures and methods of dwelling and creating music.
“I’d like to play music in, like Norway or one thing. I’d 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 finished a few small exhibits down in Mexico, so taking part in in South America, or Mexico once more or Central America can be simply superior,” she mentioned.
For extra data, go to Mimi O’Bonsawin on her social media accounts, or
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. Apart from his journalistic endeavors, he works as a communications and advertising and marketing specialist and is an avid volunteer in his group. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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