It may have taken five years of self-examination, self-affirmation and self-care, but Leela Gilday is set to issue forth a majestic musical statement with her Sept. 6 release of North Star Calling.
It is a deeply spiritual album, her fifth since debuting with Spirit World, Solid Wood in 2002, invoking the experiences, the imagery, the faith and the powerful connection to the natural environment so imbued in her Dene heritage and culture. Gilday’s amazing ability to meld these integral components of her life and upbringing with elements of pop, rock and blues music makes the album an expansive, inclusive and truly remarkable and endlessly accessible listening experience.
“It’s not just about Leela Gilday making music. It’s about me having something to say that is critical and timely in this world as well. There are a lot of stories to be shared from not only indigenous people, but especially indigenous women and people from the north. And then there is my unique perspective because I have travelled all over this world and the songs I have brought forward on this record I feel deeply resonate with so many people,” Gilday said from her home in Yellowknife, North West Territories.
“The mission of this record is about facing your deepest inner fears and healing through being grounded in where you come from, where you are, the connection to the land. One of the songs that I have is called K’eintah Natse Ju, and in my language that means we’re healing together. A lot of focus has been put on the dialogue between indigenous and non-indigenous people for this process of reconciliation. But a lot of what gets lost is that we need to heal within our own communities and address the broken family structures that were broken because of the colonial policies and the intentional breakdown of indigenous families. Those are some of the themes.
“Of course, I am always shaped by the land and the place that I am from, because it’s quite powerful and meaningful. The title track I called North Star Calling, and when I was young, I struggled to a certain degree with mental health issues and it’s great that there is more conversation happening surrounding that in the general public. But with regards to the north, we have out of control suicide rates, especially for youth. When I was 17 and heading off to study music and opera in university, my mom used to say to me, ‘if you feel sad, my girl, you just go out onto the land and go and feel the wind in your hair, look up and see the stars, look at the trees, feel the earth, be by the water. It will help you to feel better.’ And that’s such simple advice, but it is so universally true. Healing from the land is the only thing that works for our people. So North Star Calling is about that exact connection, If you feel alone, if you feel sad, make sure you’re going out and being reconnected to the land.”
As many of us do, Gilday had ‘stuff’ to go through and ultimately emerge from over the past few years, which is why it’s been some time between albums [her last one was 2014’s Heart of the People]. But the masterful musical results evident on North Star Calling prove that time can be a friend to the creatively inclined.
“It has been five years. Definitely a part of it was seeking the right producer. And I am a part of the music industry, but I am not on a two-year album cycle or anything like that. I have always taken a little more time to make my records, because they are really art projects and are really important to me. I am not just making a record in order to meet an artificial industry deadline of ‘let’s get a record out,’” she explained.
“I was looking for a new producer to push me past my own boundaries in music, and I found her [Hill Kourkoutis] and it took a really long time to find her and it was just by serendipity. I also have gone through some personal struggles that had pushed the music to the side. Dealing with them and going through all the things that I have gone through, that I am not really inclined to talk about publicly, music became something I would do more in private. And even though it’s my job, it was harder for me, because when you write a song, you really face your own vulnerabilities. For me, it was a time of healing and coming through that.
“I wrote many, many songs in the time that I hadn’t made a record, including a lot of collaborations, and that really helped me move through the things I needed to move through and heal, and let go of a lot of things. For this record, the songs that we chose and their messages, they’re really about letting go of your own fears and stepping into your own power and celebrating that.”
Gilday continues to celebrate having Toronto-based songwriter/producer Kourkoutis as an integral part of her creative team, crediting her with bringing out the best of her talents as a writer and performer for North Star Calling.
“Hill Kourkoutis pushed me further than I have ever been pushed in the studio. But it wasn’t like, ‘you have to sing this way or that way.’ I have always been a musician who has relied on the power of my voice. I have a very strong voice, because I studied opera and I have spent many years in practice, just belting it out. I have come to rely on that strength and power,” she said.
“She pushed me to be vulnerable, and that was really scary for me. She urged me to step up just inches away from the microphone and just sing, without all the bells and whistles, without all the vocal gymnastics and be really vulnerable. That was super scary for me and pushed me past my comfort zone. It was a really amazing experience to be vulnerable in that way.
“Hill is an incredible producer. She is lightning fast and extremely musical, but she is also extremely intuitive and I think that any artist she works with she really seeks to find the heart and soul of what that artist is trying to say, and to shape the production in a way that serves the song and the artist. I listened to a lot of what she has done before, and everything that I hear of hers, is really unique to the artists and that’s a really special skill. The sky is the limit for Hill. I think she is going to be a huge and important producer. I knew she was special and would be a great partner and friend when I first travelled to meet her in Toronto in April of last year and what was supposed to be a one hour meeting turned into a more than four hour lunch.”
The new single from the forthcoming album, Hard Ground, was co-written by Gilday and long-time friend, the now Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Jadea Kelly.
“Oh my God, I love Jadea. I was touring my first record and she came and opened a show for me in Edmonton. She was just such a young singer/songwriter and I have always been enchanted with her voice and with her thoughtful lyrics. So, I think it was about four years ago, I was doing this indigenous residency in Toronto, and we were able to choose a mentor or a colleague and do whatever we wanted. I was really looking to break out of a kind of writer’s block and thought Jadea would be the perfect co-writer,” Gilday said.
“We spent a couple of afternoons writing songs together, and Hard Ground is one of them. She actually really helped me work through a lot of stuff, and we shared a lot, and I love and respect her so deeply. I think she is one of the most brilliant songwriters and singers that we have. I am so happy for her success and so happy to write with her. It’s a pretty autobiographical song, but in a very coded way. I am glad that we wrote it and I am glad that we put it in this record, but I am going to be cagey about what it’s really about. The connection to the land resonates through that song as well, and bringing you back to the point where you just sit with yourself and you have to kind of realize what this earth holds for you, how you can be grounded in it, and how that can take you through the fire.”
The song Space is a deeply emotional song, that features a sonic background featuring recordings Gilday collected many years ago in her home community, featuring soundscapes from the land and water, ravens fly overhead, people drumming and dancing, as well as an elder singing a Dene love song.
“I hadn’t shared this with anyone before and we used it as a backdrop for some of the songs on the record, especially for Space. That elder passed away many years ago, and the song is actually about the friends and family we have lost. I have lost many people over the last couple of years who have gone on to the spirit world for whatever reason – cancer, suicide and other reasons. This song is about how we will all be together again,” she said.
“It’s a celebration of life, really, and the way that I have been able to do that is to move through those things that have kept me from living my life in whatever way that is. And that’s not a Dene thing or an indigenous people’s thing, that’s a human thing. It’s our birthright. Everything is better when you’re connected to the land, and it’s absolutely true.”
After leaving home for university in Alberta, Gilday then moved on to Toronto at age 21, then and still today the centre of the music industry in Canada. She was taking private voice lessons before embarking on a master’s degree in voice, when she started to immerse herself in songwriting, which meant deviating from her classical studies.
“I did that because I needed to hear my own voice reflected in the music I was singing. And, at that time, if I looked on TV or I listened to the radio, I was not seeing myself reflected. And by myself, I mean indigenous people and specifically indigenous women. And we have such a huge contribution to make to the future of the world. We find ourselves at such a critical time with climate change and it’s the traditional values, the traditional stories, the world view of indigenous peoples that I think is the key to the future,” Gilday said.
“For me, I felt that the stories and the things that I wanted to share as a songwriter were important enough to step outside of the classical world I was in and push myself. I took me a long time before I wrote a song where I was like, ‘okay, this is good. This is actually what I wanted to say.’ It was a learning journey for me, but I feel that I am at a place where I often get people coming up to me, especially women, saying, ‘thank you for sharing these things, because that’s exactly what I feel.’
“And as for my influences, listen my first cassette tapes, yes that’s how old I am, were Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston. I loved soul singers. I absolutely loved the strength and the power and the tenderness of Aretha Franklin’s voice. All of this, as well as my traditional upbringing has created this palate in my mind. Its been my challenge as a songwriter to try to find that authentic voice that includes all the things that inspire me, but also has consistency. My first record was all over the place: there’s a country tune, and other stuff. I have strived to move towards a consistent sound, but still be able to express myself in all the ways that I want to. I hope I have been successful with this new record. I have come to place where I feel that my songs are finally expressing what I want to share, without trying too hard.”
Gilday’s music has taken her around to world, earning critical and popular acclaim throughout North America, Greenland, Denmark, throughout Europe and New Zealand. On Aug. 18, she performed at the Darwin Festival in Darwin, Australia. Current touring plans are in the works.
For more information, visit https://www.leelagilday.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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