MARIA DUNN
Gathering
Distant Whisper Music
As I noted in my review of her
extraordinary 2012 release, Piece By Piece, “I’ve long admired the superb work of Edmonton-based singer and
songwriter Maria Dunn. She’s well-versed in traditional folk music, and
like such songwriters as Woody Guthrie, Tom Russell, Si Kahn
and Tom Paxton, has a wonderful and all-too-rare ability to write
outside of herself from the perspective of other people with complete
authenticity.”
Maria quotes the late Pete Seeger on the front cover of the lyric booklet to Gathering, her new and equally superb
album: “The key to the future of the world is finding the optimistic stories
and letting them be known.” And, indeed, that is what Maria has done with her
10 original songs on Gathering (there
is also an excellent interpretation of the traditional “Jock Stewart” (also
known as “I’m a Man You Don’t Meet Every Day”).
The set opens with “Malala,” an anthemic
tribute to Malala Yousafazai, the
teenaged Pakistani girl whose brave and inspiring activism on behalf of
education for girls led to an almost-successful attack on her life by the
Taliban and to her becoming the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. With her
core accompanists on the album – siblings Jeremiah
McDade, Solon McDade and
producer Shannon Johnson, all of The McDades – augmented on this track
by singer Karim Gillani and tabla
player Ojas Joshi – there is an
appropriate East Asian flavor to the arrangement.
The character in the next song, “The
Milkman,” is a refugee in a camp – in Africa, I presume – repenting the
horrible actions he was forced to perform as a forced child soldier and hoping
to turn his life around through positive action in a place so much in need of
it.
“When I was Young,” is a poignant piece
sung from the perspective of environmental activist Dorothy McDonald-Hyde, the first elected First Nations chief in
Alberta while “Hans’ Song,” is from the perspective of an old man in Edmonton
remembering his sister and the life he left behind as a young immigrant from
Norway. Then “Little One” captures the general experience of so many First
Nations people who went through the Canadian government’s horrible residential
school system over the course of more than a century into the 1990s.
Each of these songs, and the rest, are beautifully
written, arranged and sung by Maria with great sensitivity to the people they
reflect and to their unique and special stories.
“How I Live” is a topical song detailing some
of the difficult challenges, and the resolute determination, of people living with
disabilities and their caregivers to live with dignity despite inadequate
public support.
A pair of songs, “Flora,” about a specific
grandmother living alone in Canada, and “When the Grandmothers Meet,” about
grandmothers in several locales around the world under severe challenges,
reflect the inspired and inspired impact that grandmothers have on others.
“Bedrock, Bedroll” is also written from the
perspective of an old woman – one who remembers her itinerant life in the Great
Depression as the wife of a miner following the work from place to place but
finding joy in each other and in dancing together when their friends gathered
at the end of the week.
“Music in the Meadow,” Gathering’s finale, is a lovely reminder of the beauty in nature –
a reminder to stop and appreciate the world in which we live.
Maria is one of Canada’s finest and most
perceptive singer-songwriters and the songs on Gathering are important additions to the Canadian folk music canon.
The songs, and Maria’s singing, are exceptionally well served by the members
The McDades who play throughout the album and by the occasional other singers
and musicians who appear on select tracks.
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--Mike
Regenstreif
