Celebrity Travel: Go away with Adrian Sutherland
For Adrian Sutherland, touring gave him an eye-opening opportunity to experience life outside of his Cree community.
“When I started traveling more for my music, my family still lived in a very old house, which had mold in it at the time,” the musician said. “We've had no clean drinking water flowing into homes in my community for my entire life and I’m 47 years old. I’ve lived without water, my kids have lived without water and now my grandkids, too. In recent years we've been able to better our circumstances. But back then, it was very hard to leave them to go on the road.”
Sutherland resides in Attawapiskat First Nation – a Cree community in Canada’s remote Northern Ontario on the western shore of James Bay. On his new album “Precious Diamonds” – out March 15 – Sutherland wrote two songs in Cree as an homage to his heritage. Fans may stay in touch with him on social media (@attaboyadrian), his website (http://www.adriansutherlandmusic.com ) and Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/artist/6kLy0FIyVxqDVuvivOiuPZ).
Q: Were any of the songs on "Precious Diamonds" written while you were on the road?
A: All of the songs were written at different times. I write songs when I’m on the road and also at home – whenever they come to me.
Q: Why did it take you so long to record some songs in Cree?
A: I didn’t feel comfortable writing in Cree before, but as I’ve become more comfortable with writing songs and making music, now it feels like more of a natural fit. I’m pleased with how the songs turned out. Fans are saying they can feel the emotion in “Notawe (Father)” without even having to understand the lyrics, so that’s been nice to hear. It’s the first time I’m releasing songs [including “Kiyash (Before)”] in my native language, even though I’ve been recording music since 2013.
Q: Do you feel that there are certain phrases or words that resonate more in Cree than in English?
A: Yes, some words in Cree cannot be expressed too easily in English. For example, I recently visited a place where my family hunted many years ago, and was overcome with so many emotions at once. We say pee-ke-skat-den-den, which is a way to describe many emotions all at once – mostly sad emotions. But in English, there is no word I can think of that has the same meaning.
Q: What kind of trips do you anticipate taking this year?
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