Buffy Sainte-Marie

Buffy Sainte-Marie is one well-travelled woman. Straight out of college she toured her music alone, penned the song ‘Up Where We Belong’ and became one of the key faces in a generation of activists.
“I like to see the world and I’m kind of a lifetime learner,” Buffy says. “I kind of got into show business by accident but I knew that I wanted to travel.”
“When I got out of college I just tried my luck at singing in Greenwich Village, but actually I was on my way to go to India to continue my studies. I had a major in oriental philosophy, so even before I started singing I had a teachers degree and a degree in oriental philosophy – so I was determined that I was going to see this world and to be able to see it as a musician is a real treat.”
“I’ve gotten to experience the changes and ripening of the whole world and the people in it, so it’s really been nice,” she says.
Her passion to fight for what’s right hasn’t left her with her increasing fame, and she continues to fight against GMO pesticide and fracking. While the landscape for activism has changed since the days of her media blacklisting in the ‘70s, there are still many challenges when going up against big industries.
“In the ‘60s it was only me, everyone else was at the civil rights photo-ops, but I was all by myself in Indian country. Even today Indigenous people are such a small population that we tend to be going up against huge corporations with small numbers,” she says.
“So in some ways of course things have gotten better, but in others it’s still really a challenge when you’re a small group trying to make changes that involve corporate money, which is such a big factor in the world today.”
Surprisingly, despite her achievements in the music industry, her activism and her stint on Sesame Street, setting up a scholarship fund in the ‘60s (the Nihewan Foundation) and seeing the results from past recipients is something she looks back upon.
“I found out maybe ten years ago that two of the people who were scholarship recipients from my foundation had gone on to become the presidents of tribal colleges and one of them founded a tribal college, so that was kind of a big smile on my face that nothing can top,” she beams.
“It wasn’t even me, but it’s so nice that you can do a nice thing for somebody else and they’ll take it on and maximise it in ways that you could never have dreamed.”
While it doesn’t seem like much can top something like that, Buffy is looking forward to revisiting the vastness of Australia, with our unique wildlife (as she tells me of her many trips to the zoo) and music festival WOMADelaide.
“At world music festivals like WOMADelaide, they always have bigger ears than concert goers who just hear the same type of music all the time. So we get a big response even though our songs are different from one another,” Buffy says.
With a new album on the way, there’s bound to be a few surprises in the live set, and the album, as Buffy assures me.
When & Where: WOMADelaide, Botanic Park, Adelaide – March 6-9 & Port Fairy Folk Festival – March 6-9.
By Amanda Sherring