Misplaced Pages

Mali Obomsawin

Article snapshot taken from[REDACTED] with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
First Nations musical artist
Mali Obomsawin
Obomsawin in 2022Obomsawin in 2022
Background information
Born (1995-07-19) July 19, 1995 (age 29)
Stratford, New Hampshire, U.S.
GenresJazz, Free Jazz, Folk music, Roots, Rock, Contemporary Indigenous
Instrument(s)Double Bass, Electric Bass, Voice, Guitar
Years active2014-present
LabelsSmithsonian Folkways Recordings, Out Of Your Head Records
Websitemaliobomsawin.com
Musical artist

Mali Obomsawin is an Indigenous musician from Abenaki First Nation at Odanak. An award-winning bassist, vocalist, songwriter, and composer, Obomsawin is a cross-genre artist specializing in free-jazz, rock, and American roots music. Her debut solo album Sweet Tooth (2022) received international acclaim.

Early life

Obomsawin was born in Stratford, New Hampshire. She is an enrolled member of Abenaki First Nation at Odanak in Quebec, and of Sephardic Jewish Descent. She is the granddaughter of writer/activist Paul Goodman, and cousin of renowned Abenaki musician, filmmaker and activist Alanis Obomsawin. Obomsawin grew up in Farmington, Maine, and began playing double bass at age ten.

Education

Obomsawin attended Berklee College of Music in 2013 before transferring to Dartmouth College where she obtained dual degrees in comparative literature and government in 2018.

Career

Music

In 2014, Obomsawin joined her first band, the folk-rock trio Lula Wiles, who would go on to tour extensively in the US, Canada, and Germany, receiving acclaim for their renowned three part harmony singing and innovative songwriting. Signing with Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in 2018, Lula Wiles released three well-received recordings before disbanding in 2021.

Obomsawin performs as an accompanist with Jake Blount, Peter Apfelbaum, Taylor Ho Bynum, Bill Cole's Untempered Ensemble. and The Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band.

Obomsawin's debut solo album, Sweet Tooth was released October 28, 2022 on Out Of Your Head Records to international acclaim, receiving praise from Jazz Times "album of the day" Financial Times “Critic’s Choice,” and The Guardian’s "Folk Album of the Month" for November 2022. The album was coproduced by Obomsawin and Taylor Ho Bynum.

In 2023, Obomsawin's music was featured in season 3 of the television series "Reservation Dogs" (Deer Lady, episode 3) on FX on Hulu. She also scored the National Geographic Documentary Sugarcane, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January 2024.

In 2024, Obomsawin independently released her sophomore album under the alias Deerlady, a duo with guitarist Magdalena Abrego. She also released a collaborative album with Jake Blount, titled "symbiont" on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. On December 10, 2024, National Geographic released Obomsawin's original score of Sugarcane on Hollywood Records.

Discography

As Mali Obomsawin

Title Details Type
Sugarcane (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
  • Label: Hollywood Records
  • Release date: Dec 10, 2024
 Soundtrack
Sweet Tooth
  • Label: Out Of Your Head Records
  • Release date: Oct 28, 2022
 Studio Album

As Deerlady

Title Details Type
Greatest Hits
  • Label: Self-released
  • Release date: Jan 19, 2024
 Studio Album

With Lula Wiles

Title Details Type
Shame and Sedition
  • Label: Smithsonian Folkways
  • Release date: May 21, 2021
 Studio Album
It's Cool
  • Label: Smithsonian Folkways
  • Release date: Nov 8, 2019
 Single
What Will We Do
  • Label: Smithsonian Folkways
  • Release date: Jan 25, 2019
 Studio Album

With Jake Blount

Title Details Type
Symbiont
  • Label: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
  • Release date: Sep 27, 2024
 Studio Album

References

  1. "Rising Tide Award". Folk Alliance International. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  2. "Mali Obomsawin 6tet: Sweet Tooth Album Release". The Jazz Gallery. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  3. "Radio Alhara راديو الحارة - Artist interview, Mali Obomsawin", Player FM, retrieved 2022-11-22
  4. "Mali Obomsawin: Sweet Tooth review | Jude Rogers's folk album of the month". The Guardian. 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  5. "Odanak First Nation's Mali Obomsawin tells Indigenous stories through music". NPR. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  6. "Mali Obomsawin tells a tale of Indigenous cultural survival in Sweet Tooth — album review". Financial Times. 2022-11-04. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  7. "Reader Opinion: The Abenaki abide, and know who they are, by Christopher A. Roy". SentinelSource.com. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  8. Woodward, Richard B. (2011-10-19). "Paul Goodman: Recounting Forgotten Man on the Attack". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  9. "StackPath". www.folkradio.co.uk. 30 August 2022. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  10. "Mali Obomsawin". www.mainefiddlecamp.org. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  11. "FULL BIO". MALI OBOMSAWIN. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  12. "Lula Wiles | Berklee". www.berklee.edu. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  13. Nancy Schoeffler (November–December 2022). "Brand New Sound". Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  14. "Odanak First Nation's Mali Obomsawin tells Indigenous stories through music". NPR. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  15. "Lula Wiles". Philadelphia Folksong Society. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  16. "Lula Wiles' Invigorating 'Shame and Sedition' Calls Out Bad Actors and Pursues Change". No Depression. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  17. jaimemar00 (2022-07-06). "Trading righteous anger for joyous action". Fix. Retrieved 2022-11-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. Hight, -Jewly. "Lula Wiles". Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  19. "Mali Obomsawin July 29, 2022 | Twenty Summers Concerts at Truro Vineyards". Twenty Summers. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  20. "Mali Obomsawin Sextet & Coast Jazz Orchestra :: Taylor Ho Bynum". Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  21. "Cole, Obomsawin Bring Jazz To Seven Stars Arts Center". The White River Valley Herald. 2022-07-14. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  22. "Bill Cole - Untempered Ensemble". billcole.org. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  23. "Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band". Julia Keefe. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  24. "ANNOUNCING Mali Obomsawin - Sweet Tooth (OOYH 017)". Out Of Your Head Records. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  25. Enos, Morgan. "Mali Obomsawin: Sweet Tooth (Out of Your Head)". JazzTimes. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  26. "Mali Obomsawin tells a tale of Indigenous cultural survival in Sweet Tooth — album review". Financial Times. 2022-11-04. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  27. "Mali Obomsawin: Sweet Tooth review | Jude Rogers's folk album of the month". The Guardian. 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  28. "Sweet Tooth, by Mali Obomsawin". Mali Obomsawin. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
  29. Hart, Hugh (2023-09-20). "From Native American surf rock to the Rolling Stones: How 'Reservation Dogs' got its DIY sound". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
  30. Sugarcane (2024) - IMDb. Retrieved 2024-12-10 – via www.imdb.com.
  31. "2024 Sundance Film Festival Announces Award Winners - sundance.org". 2024-01-26. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
  32. "Band To Watch: Deerlady". Stereogum. 2024-04-25. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
  33. "symbiont". Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
  34. Carey, Matthew (2024-10-31). "Oscar Contender 'Sugarcane' Sets NatGeo & Streaming Debuts, Days After Pres. Biden Apologizes For Horrors Of Indian Residential School System". Deadline. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
Categories: