Buffy Sainte-Marie, is an Indigenous Canadian-American singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. While working in these areas, her work has focused on issues facing Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Her singing and writing repertoire also includes subjects of love, war, religion, and mysticism. She has won recognition, awards and honours for her music as well as her work in education and social activism. Among her most popular songs are "Universal Soldier", "Cod'ine", "Until It's Time for You to Go", "Take My Hand for a While", "Now That the Buffalo's Gone", and her versions of Mickey Newbury's "Mister Can't You See" and Joni Mitchell's "The Circle Game". Her songs have been recorded by many artists including Donovan, Joe Cocker, Jennifer Warnes, Janis Joplin, Elvis Presley, and Glen Campbell.
"Universal Soldier" is a song written and composed by Canadian singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. The first released recording was a single by The Highwaymen, released in September 1963. The song was also released on Sainte-Marie's debut album It's My Way!, released in April 1964. "Universal Soldier" was not an immediate popular hit at the time of its release, but it did garner attention within the contemporary folk music community. It became a hit a year later when Donovan covered it, as did Glen Campbell. Sainte-Marie said of the song: "I wrote 'Universal Soldier' in the basement of The Purple Onion coffee house in Toronto in the early sixties. It's about individual responsibility for war and how the old feudal thinking kills us all." The idea was based on that politicians, with power over the military, in democratic states are elected by the people.
Breaking Atoms is the debut album of American/Canadian hip hop group Main Source, released July 23, 1991, on Wild Pitch Records. Production was handled by the group, primarily by member Large Professor, and took place during 1990 to 1991 at Homeboy Studio, Power Play Studios, and Libra Digital in New York City. Recorded during the golden age of hip hop, Breaking Atoms is distinguished stylistically by its incorporation of jazz and soul music samples. The album has been highly regarded by music writers due mostly to its production, whose heavy and original use of sampling influenced hip hop producers for a considerable portion of the 1990s.
"You'll Need Somebody on Your Bond" is a gospel song that is attributed to both tradition and to gospel blues musician Blind Willie Johnson. Johnson first recorded the song in December 1930, although Delta blues musician Charley Patton recorded a similar "You're Gonna Need Somebody When You Die" in October 1929. Over the years, several other musicians have recorded renditions of the song.
Galveston is the twelfth studio album by American country music singer-songwriter Glen Campbell, released in March 1969 by Capitol Records. The album was a major hit for Campbell, reaching number one on the Billboard Country Albums chart, and generated the number one hit single on the Hot Country Singles and Easy Listening charts, "Galveston", written by Jimmy Webb, who also wrote the follow-up single, "Where's the Playground Susie", which peaked at number 28 on the Hot Country Singles chart and number 10 on the Easy Listening chart. The front cover is a photograph of Galveston Beach, Galveston, Texas.
Many a Mile is Buffy Sainte-Marie's second album, released in 1965.
Little Wheel Spin and Spin is the third album by Buffy Sainte-Marie, released in 1966. It was her only album to reach the Top 100 of the Billboard 200. Its most famous song is "My Country 'Tis of Thy People You're Dying," which displayed a native perspective on the colonisation of North America.
I'm Gonna Be a Country Girl Again is the fifth album by Cree singer/songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. As its title suggested, it saw her embrace Nashville country music with the help of session veterans such as the Jordanaires, Grady Martin, Roy M. Huskey, Jr. and Floyd Cramer. The album included re-recordings of "Now That the Buffalo's Gone" and "The Piney Wood Hills" from her first and second albums respectively. "Tall Trees in Georgia", in contrast to most of the material, showed Sainte-Marie performing in a style reminiscent of her earliest work.
Quiet Places is Buffy Sainte-Marie's ninth album and her last for Vanguard Records, with whom she had had a very strained relationship ever since the financial disaster of the experimental Illuminations. In fact, her next album, Buffy, had already been recorded before Quiet Places was actually released and was not to find a label for many months after she had completely broken with Vanguard.
The Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie Vol. 2 is a compilation double album released by Vanguard Records in 1971 covering a large proportion of the material she had released on her first six albums for the label that was not found on the previous year's The Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie.
Native North American Child: An Odyssey is a 1974 compilation album released after Buffy Sainte-Marie's departure from Vanguard Records.
"Until It's Time for You to Go" is a song from the 1965 album Many a Mile by Canadian singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. Sainte-Marie included a French-language reworking of the song, "T'es pas un autre", on her 1967 album Fire & Fleet & Candlelight. French translation was made by Quebecer songwriter Claude Gauthier.
"Cod'ine" is a contemporary folk song by singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. Considered one of the earliest anti-drug songs, Sainte-Marie wrote the piece after becoming addicted to codeine which she had been given for a bronchial infection. She recorded it for her debut album, It's My Way! (1964).
"Now That the Buffalo's Gone" is the first song from the 1964 album It's My Way! by Canadian First Nations singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. The song's title refers to the near-extinction of the American bison and serves as a metaphor for the cultural genocide inflicted by Europeans. A classic folk protest song, "Now That the Buffalo's Gone" has a simple arrangement with guitar and vocals by Sainte-Marie and bass played by Art Davis. The song is a lament that addresses the continuous confiscation of Indian lands. In the song, Sainte-Marie contrasts the treatment of post-war Germany, whose people were allowed to keep their land and their dignity, to that of North American Indians.
The 2015 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 21, 2015 at The Carlu event theatre in Toronto, Ontario. The event was hosted by children's entertainer Fred Penner.
Power in the Blood is the fifteenth studio album by Buffy Sainte-Marie, released May 12, 2015, on True North Records.
William Prince is a Canadian folk and country singer-songwriter based in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Medicine Songs is a studio album by Buffy Sainte-Marie, released November 10, 2017, on True North Records. The album includes both new material and contemporary re-recordings of some of her older songs.
The 2019 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 16, 2019. Haviah Mighty won the $50,000 dollar prize for her debut album 13th Floor, becoming the first Black woman and first hip hop artist to win the prize.
The 2020 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on October 19, 2020. The longlist was announced on June 15, 2020, with the shortlist following on July 15, 2020 and the winner announced on October 19, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the traditional winner's gala did not take place this year, and instead a special cinematic tribute to the shortlist was streamed online by CBC Music and CBC Gem, following which the winner was announced.
