press releases

THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT
DEC 25, 2003 – JAN 1, 2004

SPIRIT WORLD SURFACES
SANDY SCOFIELD HAS LEARNED TO TRUST HER INTUITION AND TO LISTEN TO HER WHISPERING ANCESTORS

By Alexander Varty

The winner of the best-folk-album prize at the recent Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards gala, held in Toronto on November 28, is hard at work on a degree in electronic music composition at Simon Fraser University. Strange? Not at all. Sandy Scofield, who also shared Best Producer/Engineer honours with Bowen Island’s Shael Wrinch for the work they did on Scofield’s third CD, Ketwam, is steeped in traditional culture: round dances, powwow songs, and Metis fiddling are her birthright. But she’s also a thoroughly modern artist, whose creative path has included rock bands, jazz-piano studies, and musical theatre – and in this diversity she’s not alone.

"There is tons of talent out there in what we call ‘Indian Country’- which is all of the country," she says, interviewed in the Railway Club’s backroom following her appearance at November’s Sacred World Music Festival. "There’s a huge hip-hop scene brewing among the youth, for instance, There’s a lot of similarities between the issues of black rap and hip-hop artists and First Nations youth. There’s some very cool stuff going on, and my prediction has been for quite a while that it’s the Native kids who are going to break in the mainstream, in the dominant industry. And they’ll put the rest of us on the map."

In the interim, Scofield has been doing a fine job of putting herself on the map: her second CD, Riel’s Road, won two National Aboriginal Music Awards in 2000 and was nominated for a Juno in 2002, while Ketwam was proclaimed Best Aboriginal Recording at the recent West Coast Music awards. The day after our interview, the long-time Vancouver resident was scheduled to fly to Montreal to take part in the Canada Council’s Exposed Roots talent showcase, aimed at winning international attention for traditionally based artists, and the night her CAMA victories were announced she was deep in the Australian outback, entertaining Aboriginal communities there as part of a cultural-exchange program organized by Penticton’s Rainbow Productions Society.

But hectic as her life might be, she’s not too busy to work on her next recording; and the indications are that unlike Ketwam, which centres on the glorious harmony singing of Scofield, Lisa Sazama and Shakti Hayes, this one might not fit into the category of ‘folk.’

To begin with, there’s that interest in electronic music.

"I just find all music fascinating, even if it’s Korean drum groups or whatever," Scofield explains. "And my interest has really been piqued by electroacoustic music, like Karlheinz Stockhausen and John Cage. That’s like a whole other world. So I’ve been learning the more physics-oriented side of sound, and how to run recording programs and stuff. It’s really opened up my perspective on sound collage, soundscape, and how that can tie in with other kinds of music."
And, somewhat to Scofield’s surprise, she sees a hip-hop influence creeping into her sound. "If I find something I don’t like, it’s almost like I want to find what’s redeeming about it, and then in forcing it upon myself I learn to like it. Hip-hop’s a good example: when I first heard it, I didn’t care for it, but I was like, ‘What is it about this stuff?’ So I started inundating myself with it, and it’s quite grown on me." Like electronic music, she continues, it’s all about creating different moods and atmospheres by changing the texture of the music rather than its tonality. "So probably the next record, it’s not going to be hip-hop, but it’s going to have those influences."

Scofield hasn’t got a title for her new effort, but she’s already lined up an impressive array of guests. "My friend Art napoleon, who’s Cree, from up Moberly Lake way, will be doing any of the traditional singing that’s on there, but it won’t be like Ketwam," she says. "And then I’ve been doing some co-writing with Kinnie Starr." Also booked to appear are rock singers Lucie Idlout, who was named Best Female Artist at last week’s CAMA show, and Holly McNarland; folk-pop vocalist Mae Moore; blues-rock guitarist Sue Foley; and, South Asian ghazal singer Kiran Ahluwalia.

It’s a diverse cast, but one that will clearly help Scofield take her music to the next level, even if she’s still figuring out what that’s going to sound like.

"I can’t explain my process," she says. "My process is really an intuitive one; I just know what works and what doesn’t. It’s like making a painting: what you envision in the beginning and how it ends up in the end are different; you’re going along and you’re just using your intuition as to what colour to put where. For me, that’s what it’s like, doing these projects: I just trust my intuition, It’s like the ancestors on your shoulder are whispering in your ear, and I’m listening."

From a western psychological perspective, it could be said that the way Scofield works allows her subconscious mind time to process her source material, whether that be past musical experiences, her Metis heritage, electronic music, or the urban anthems of hip-hop.

"Exactly," she says, "That’s the western psychological spin, but from an aboriginal perspective that is listening to the spirit world, and the spirit world is all around us."

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