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Cousins" keeping their language through music
[...], at twenty-seven years old, Dutcher released his first full-length album, sung entirely in Wolastoqey. Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa was released this April under an independent label so that Dutcher could keep creative control over his work. The eleven tracks feature Dutcher's voice alongside the voices of his ancestors, using Mechling's now digitized recordings. The album is an art project rooted in Dutcher's life and work, but it is also a tool for keeping his nation's language alive, helping it to thrive. Dutcher hasn't made an English translation of the album available yet, though he eventually will, along with a video showing Wolastoqey pronunciations. "This is me having a conversation with my community," he says. His priority is not "to translate [for other people] what I want to say and be concerned about that gaze."
Wolastoq Honour song (The refrain is so much like the Mi'kmaq version!)
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