New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Singer-songwriter
Amanda Rheaume, a Citizen of the Métis Nation, shares new song, "100 Years." Rheaume's song seeks to answer, for herself, complex questions about Métis identity and history. The song interrogates the colonial record and Rheaume's place in the bigger picture. With "100 Years," Rheaume adds her voice to the ongoing work of retelling this story, as it should have been told, over a century ago.
Of the accompanying video, filmed on unceded Algonquin Anishinaabeg territory (Ottawa), Rheaume says, "It was a true pleasure to work with Sean Stiller (director) and Sage Wright (performer). Both Sean and Sage brought this song to life in a way I could never have imagined on my own. I have always had a deep connection and love for the Kitchissippi River. I've often stood at the edge of the water and seen and felt my ancestors traveling down the river towards the great meeting place of the Akikodjiwan Falls. When I told Sean this, there was no question we had to shoot the video in Ottawa. This video speaks to
Spirit calling and finding the courage to answer that call - finding the strength and the courage to break through the heavy weight imposed by the colonial agenda, and second to that, breaking through the layers of the limiting self beliefs caused by colonialism. I believe that artists hold the ability to awaken our spirits and a new path forward."
"
100 Years" is out today, the anniversary of the execution of Louis Riel. The song is the first single from an album due in
Spring 2022 via Ishkōdé Records/Universal Music.
Amanda Rheaume's rootsy, guitar-driven ballads introduce crucial dimensions to the world of
Heartland Rock. In a genre characterized by anthems of underdogs, assumptions and unfair advantages, Rheaume's sound and story crucially and radically expand the boundaries, geographic and cultural, to make space for new perspectives on resistance and resilience. A Citizen of the Métis Nation, and an active and proud member of the LGBTQ2S+ community, Rheaume's music is indeed from the heart, and the land.
First a songwriter, Rheaume comes from a long line of tireless, transformational organizers and activists, and carries this lineage forward in her ever-growing role as a crucial builder of Indigenous music infrastructure and community. From the International Indigenous
Music Summit, to newly-founded Ishkode Records, and the
National Indigenous
Music Office, the goal of raising Indigenous sovereignty in the music industry drives all of Rheaume's work.
Rheaume (she/her) has released 5 full-length albums over a period of 15 years, a self-managed career that has traveled countless tours and milestones. 2013's Keep a Fire was nominated for a JUNO Award and won a Canadian Folk
Music Award for Indigenous Songwriter of the Year. With a new single "100 Years," a driving, surging Copperhead Road-esque journey through a wilfully, woefully misrepresented chapter in a violent colonial timeline, Rheaume makes a powerful statement about history and identity.
Ishkōdé Records is a new Indigenous women-owned label created to foster and amplify Indigenous voices. Ishkōdé Records arrives to advocate for Indigenous artists, songs and stories in the commercial music landscape. Led by artists, organizers and activists Anishinaabekwe ShoShona Kish (Digging Roots) and solo artist
Amanda Rheaume, Citizen of the Metis Nation of Ontario, Ishkōdé approaches the independent label operations through the lens of women and artist entrepreneurship, long-standing industry experience and cultural and ancestral processes. The word Ishkōdé means fire in Anishinaabemowin.
