(The following article is from the December 1-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.

Review by Kimball Cariou

November 15 - it's a celebration of Louis Riel Day in Vancouver, organized by the Compaigni V'ni Dansi, dedicated to teaching and performing traditional and contemporary Métis dance. Suddenly a familiar voice rings out from backstage, and Don Freed emerges with his guitar, singing "Daughters of the Country" while the Louis Riel Métis Dancers perform. This tribute to Métis women was one of the highlights of the evening, including songs by Sandy Scofield and poetry by Joanne Arnott. Altogether, the event was powerful proof that the Métis Nation continues to grow 122 years after Batoche.

     Don Freed performed several other numbers from his recent CD, The Valley of Green and Blue, produced with the help of the Gabriel Dumont Institute.

     Readers who take the time to order this CD through a local independent music store will be richly rewarded. Not being a music critic, I'll turn to John Kendle of Winnipeg's Uptown Magazine for this commentary:

     "In just 65 minutes, veteran Canadian singer/songwriter Don Freed tells the tale of an entire people, from origin to present day, in a thoroughly researched, wonderfully humanist history of the Métis and the Red River Settlement. The scope and magnitude of this project is almost unfathomable - work began with a small grant in 1991 - yet Freed manages the journey from beginning to end in just 15 songs, culminating with a breathtaking singalong of "When This Valley" (considered by some to be the Métis national anthem) at the old church in Batoche, Saskatchewan. This musical trek, which encompasses folk, roots, blues, jigs and reels, begins in the 17th century and touches on the fur-trade wars, the first settlements at Red River, the massacre at Seven Oaks, the politics of Manitoba, the tale of Louis Riel and Sir John A. Macdonald, and the struggle of a people without a home. Along the way we meet many remarkable characters, from the first man named Sansregret to Gabriel Dumont and his rifle, Le Petit. Aided and abetted by a star-studded cast of local roots and bluegrass players, from Dan Frechette to Sierra Noble to four-fifths of The Duhks, the thin-voiced but always passionate Freed has created a masterpiece of musical storytelling."

     Freed dedicates the CD with the following words: "Recently, I have been telling stories and singing songs to schoolchildren. When I ask the groups gathered before me how many of them are Métis I am pleased to see hands rise. There was once a dark and difficult time when this would not happen. It is to those generations who could not raise their hands that this recording is dedicated."

     I was deeply gratified to hear the following lines in "The Ballad of Johnny Sansregret": "Malcolm Norris and Jim Brady both deserve a lot of praise / For their vision in the time they lived and determined work they've done." Norris and Brady, of course, were the famed "Métis patriots of the 20th century," whose pioneer organizing campaigns starting in the 1920s played a critical role in the re-emergence of the Métis Nation. Jim Brady was also the most prominent Communist Party activist among the Métis in Saskatchewan.

     The CD also features extensive liner notes, including the lyrics, historic photos, and gorgeous original artwork by Donna Lee Dumont. Check it out at Don Freed's website, http://www.donfreed.com, where you can listen to several songs from The Valley of Green and Blue.

Found at: https://peoplesvoice.ca/articleprint08/16__THE_VALLEY_OF_GREEN_AND_BLUE__A.html