Empowered Indigenous singers captivate college convocation audience

By Kelly Anne Smith

NORTH BAY—Both women hobbled to the stage and had help stepping up onto the riser to reach the microphone. Both sang in the key of awesome in different styles in front of hundreds of people.

Jodi Taylor of Constance Lake First Nation was first. Her voice was strong and passionate as she belted out O Canada in the hangar at the Canadore College Aviation campus.

Soon after, Tasheena Sarazin of Golden Lake First Nation entranced the audience as she sang traditionally with a hand drum.

Taylor and Sarazin opened the 2018 Canadore College Convocation ceremonies for the Indigenous Studies, Aviation, and Trades and Technology Programs.

This year marks the eighth year that the two singers have been featured in the opening ceremonies.

Sarazin recounted a story with Taylor about the man who said, “Break a leg” to Sarazin right before she left for the podium.

“She couldn’t believe it at first, then she replied, ‘I already did’,” recalled Taylor.

“Because I’m easy going,” quipped Sarazin laughingly as she turned to Taylor who quickly joined her in laughter.

Taylor twisted her ankle on the stairs. Sarazin hurt her leg while dancing.

“It was the way I landed,” Sarazin says.

She is now focusing on healing to be the head dancer at the Alderville Pow Wow. She jokes about painting her leg brace with dream catchers and thunderbirds.

Billed as a drummer at the convocation ceremony, Sarazin is a lead singer that prefers to be called an artist, so as not to be fit into a particular box.

“I grew up singing in ceremony but you didn’t sing those songs outside of ceremony. You learned them there and they stayed there. They weren’t songs you could just sing anywhere.”

“I didn’t start singing pow wow until I was 13”, says Sarazin. “And then it was all self-taught because there weren’t any other girls around. There were CDs and cassette tapes that we collected. Sometimes if we went to a really big pow wow we would record it. That’s how we learned a lot of our songs.”

Sarazin would study proper protocol. She also learned from Robin Deconte who would come to their community periodically.

“I was able to sing with her, eventually, once I got better.”

Sarazin volunteered throughout high school.

“I did it wherever there was a need. I knew that someday I wanted to do this. I wanted to be somebody that people came to. People are actually liking it. It’s a good feeling.”

The singer is also an actress, mentors youth from Nbisiing Secondary School to be back-up singers, and performs with Aanmitaagzi at Big Medicine Studio. Sarazin calls herself a ‘yes, let’s’ person.

“As long as something doesn’t throw me backwards, I do try everything.”

The professional graduation singers treated the special day as an adventure in their 15-year friendship and their performance careers. With lots of laughter, they reminisced. Sarazin points out that she used to dance at the convocation ceremonies too.

“Yes, you used to dance too,” remembers Taylor.

It was suggested to Taylor that her singing style is the blues. She says her style is soulful. Jodi has sung at two of her graduations -Theatre Arts and Marketing Communications, respectively. By day, Taylor is the Event Planner & Fundraising Assistant with Anishinabek Educational Institute. She explains that she grew as a youth in Alaska.

“There was a church I was so intrigued by. There were African-American people and the way they sing gospel was big, loud and so fun, opposed to the churches I went to growing up. This church was like, Hey, hey, hey.”

Taylor sang out in a deep soulful voice.

“They go crazy and wild and I loved it.”

Sarazin is laughing in the background at Taylor animatedly telling and singing her story. Taylor then gets serious.

“I find, with both of us being First Nation females, I feel so empowered when I walk up there, being the two people to go up there. The two of us going up there. We’re both mothers, and both young, active people that try to keep moving forward, and to be able to go up there on stage in front of people, it’s such a good feeling.”

Taylor inspires Indigenous youth.

“I didn’t think my dreams were tangible, until I saw it in front of me, an actual First Nation person that did something outside normal life. And then I was like, oh my god, I can do that? Okay, then, I’m jumping in theatre because I can do that. We are saying to people, ‘yeah, you can do it’, and in a good way.”

Taylor first auditioned for the O Canada singer in 2010. She was told then she had a different sound. It’s been Sarazin and Taylor every year since. Taylor looked down at her wrapped ankle and over to Sarazin’s bound leg and said, “I’m hanging out with Tasheena. We cross paths often.”

The 2018 convocation organizer said thank you to the singers as they readied to exit Canadore’s Aviation Hangar.

She smiled at the women and said, “I’ll be calling you both next year.”