Barker and Boogey make First Up lineup

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This article was published 14/08/2020 (1882 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two Winnipeg-based Indigenous artists have landed streaming gigs that involve financial and promotional support from a new program to support emerging Canadian musicians.

First Up with RBCxMusic, an eight-week program dedicated to showcasing new artists who have seen their careers hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, has chosen folk singer Ila Barker and DJ and producer Boogey the Beat as part of its sixth week of performances, which take place this weekend.

Boogey the Beat, the stage name for Lesley Boulanger, will perform on his Instagram channel (@boogeythebeat) tonight at 6 p.m. while Barker (@ilabarkermusic) takes the virtual stage Saturday at 7 p.m.

“It was something I’d seen online. It seemed like another opportunity to have a stage when a real stage isn’t possible,” says Barker, who is of mixed Ojibwa and settler heritage. “I was pretty unsure when I applied for it, ‘Ah, I don’t know if I’ll get this one,’ but I have always been the one to say, ‘Apply for everything, you never know.’”

Both Barker and Boogey the Beat have already recorded the performances. Barker says she has played six songs and it has been edited into different clips to fit social-media platforms.

The pandemic arrived at a bad time for Barker, from a career standpoint. She had started teaching music production and songwriting at a high school in northern Quebec but the coronavirus led to the school’s closure two weeks into her term.

She also had plans to shift her music career in to a new gear this summer, but the pandemic has meant virtual gigs instead of the real thing.

“I’ve been pretty steadily busy with opportunities throughout this whole world and experience. It’s just been nice to have this coming along with it,” she says. “I had this whole big grand plan to go work in Mexico actually. They were going to fly in a producer and do it off-the-floor style and it was going to be surreal and moody, but now international travel is not a thing. I had to reset my whole plan.

“I’m at the point now where I have to decide if I want to work with a local producer or if I want to do this online using my home studio setup. I have some big decisions to make.”

As for teaching, it’s also up to COVID-19 whether Barker returns to Quebec.

“The contracts haven’t been signed yet, and who knows what will happen with the second wave, but I’m supposed to go back for six weeks, November and December. And then I’ll have another six weeks later on in the new year, depending how everything goes with the world, really.”

Boulanger, who is Anishinaabe, blends the rhythms of Indigenous music with electronic beats during his recordings and performances. In February, he teamed up with the First Nations electronic music group A Tribe Called Red on the single Land Back and in 2019 Boogey the Beat released another song, The Sage is On Fire, which features the B.C. rap group Snotty Nose Rez Kids.

It reached No. 1 on the National Indigenous Music Countdown, the third of his tracks to reach that plateau.

“His music is electronic powwow step,” says Barker, who has collaborated with Boogey many times onstage and in recording sessions. “He’s pretty cutting edge. He’s one of only a handful of people doing this style of music in the world.”

Boogey the Beat performed in Ottawa as part of the Canada 150 celebrations in 2017 as well as Aboriginal Day Live on APTN. Songs that he performs in Friday’s video are expected to be part of a new EP scheduled to drop in the fall.

Each artist in the First Up program receives $1,000, as well as promotional assistance from the program from the MVP Project, which is part of the RBC Foundation. 

“That’s the groceries for the fridge and paying for my new speakers. At a time like this it’s so helpful because it’s substantial,” Barker says. “A lot of us are told in training sessions and mentoring opportunities that if we’re not putting money into our Facebook and Instagram that we’re just not going to be seen. That’s the way social media platforms have gone.”

alan.small@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter:@AlanDSmall