1 00:00:02,100 --> 00:00:04,460 Tell us something about your life. 2 00:00:04,940 --> 00:00:05,920 About my life. 3 00:00:07,090 --> 00:00:11,600 It's been very long and very wonderful, 4 00:00:12,060 --> 00:00:14,920 but it wasn't much fun when I was a child. 5 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:24,150 I was raised in the northeastern part of the United States, 6 00:00:24,710 --> 00:00:26,990 in Maine and Massachusetts, 7 00:00:27,630 --> 00:00:32,740 which are two states, and I didn't like school very much. 8 00:00:32,740 --> 00:00:35,020 And I wasn't very happy at home. 9 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:39,500 But what I did like was a piano 10 00:00:40,110 --> 00:00:42,090 and a cat and a dog. 11 00:00:43,410 --> 00:00:44,290 So those were the things 12 00:00:44,290 --> 00:00:45,190 that I liked most. 13 00:00:45,350 --> 00:00:46,370 I didn't play sports, 14 00:00:46,450 --> 00:00:47,730 and I didn't play with dolls, 15 00:00:48,290 --> 00:00:50,270 but I loved animals, 16 00:00:51,070 --> 00:00:52,710 and I loved music, 17 00:00:53,010 --> 00:00:54,510 and I liked to paint and draw, 18 00:00:54,850 --> 00:00:56,210 and I loved to dance. 19 00:00:57,250 --> 00:00:59,270 So I describe myself 20 00:00:59,270 --> 00:01:00,590 as a natural artist. 21 00:01:01,150 --> 00:01:01,930 I've never been 22 00:01:01,930 --> 00:01:03,190 to music school. 23 00:01:03,190 --> 00:01:13,720 I still can't read music, and I always encourage parents to bring instruments into the home 24 00:01:15,050 --> 00:01:18,130 so that children are not forced into music, 25 00:01:18,270 --> 00:01:20,370 but so that they can play with the instruments, 26 00:01:20,930 --> 00:01:24,670 which is the natural way for music to grow, like toys. 27 00:01:26,570 --> 00:01:31,490 When I finished high school and went to university, my life changed. 28 00:01:31,490 --> 00:01:34,050 I met people from other countries, 29 00:01:35,470 --> 00:01:38,390 and I could study the things that I really wanted to study. 30 00:01:38,830 --> 00:01:44,760 I wanted to study the way that other people knew the Creator. 31 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:49,360 I wasn't very much interested in churches, 32 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:55,080 but I wanted to know how other people felt about the Creator in their hearts. 33 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:59,840 So I studied the religions of the world, 34 00:02:00,540 --> 00:02:03,160 and I also got a teaching degree, 35 00:02:03,740 --> 00:02:08,960 because I like children and I thought it would be good to be a teacher. 36 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:12,080 But, when I got out of university, 37 00:02:13,690 --> 00:02:17,370 the songs that I had been writing since I was very young, 38 00:02:18,130 --> 00:02:19,110 people liked them. 39 00:02:19,110 --> 00:02:24,470 And all of a sudden, I became a professional musician, 40 00:02:24,830 --> 00:02:27,270 even though I hadn't been to any music school. 41 00:02:28,290 --> 00:02:31,290 And since that time, I've traveled all over the world, 42 00:02:31,510 --> 00:02:37,630 and when I would go to a place like Stockholm or Oslo, 43 00:02:38,050 --> 00:02:42,470 as soon as the concert was over, I'd fly up to Lapland 44 00:02:42,470 --> 00:02:44,710 and spend time with Indigenous people. 45 00:02:45,350 --> 00:02:47,810 And if I'd go to Australia, the same thing. 46 00:02:47,810 --> 00:02:49,990 I'd do my fancy concert in the city, 47 00:02:50,330 --> 00:02:53,150 and then I'd go out in the bush with Indigenous people. 48 00:02:53,650 --> 00:02:55,150 And in North and South America, 49 00:02:55,510 --> 00:02:59,470 I'd do my fancy concerts, because I had airplane tickets 50 00:02:59,470 --> 00:03:01,410 that brought me for a fancy concert, 51 00:03:01,690 --> 00:03:03,930 but then I'd spend time with Indigenous people. 52 00:03:05,430 --> 00:03:12,750 So I've had a very nice life of combining the best of the city world and what I was 53 00:03:12,750 --> 00:03:16,950 really interested in, in spending time with Indigenous tribal people. 54 00:03:16,950 --> 00:03:20,790 It's very nice, unusual though, very unusual. 55 00:03:21,920 --> 00:03:23,760 Who are your role models? 56 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:27,100 Mostly people we've never heard about, 57 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:29,660 people in grassroots communities, 58 00:03:30,780 --> 00:03:33,580 some elders, but sometimes young people too. 59 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:36,980 Some of my role models are cats and dogs, 60 00:03:37,780 --> 00:03:40,580 goats and horses, and the stars. 61 00:03:41,780 --> 00:03:43,920 I spend a lot of time in the garden 62 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:45,740 with the plants and flowers, 63 00:03:45,740 --> 00:03:54,960 and this gives me something that I can't really describe but I but it's it's one 64 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:56,980 of the most beautiful parts of my life. 65 00:03:57,420 --> 00:04:01,500 For famous people I love the music of 66 00:04:01,500 --> 00:04:07,660 Edith Piaf the French singer and the flamenco dancer Carmen Amaya from Spain 67 00:04:07,660 --> 00:04:14,180 she's a gypsy from Spain, and the jazz musician Miles Davis, 68 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:16,700 and the Dalai Lama, 69 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:23,600 Albert Schweitzer, let's see, Jesus Christ, 70 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:28,900 the Buddha, and sometimes people that I'll 71 00:04:28,900 --> 00:04:32,260 just meet on an airplane somewhere that I don't even know very well, 72 00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:34,320 but in my 73 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:40,260 life, I'm very fortunate to travel and to spend time with strangers who, 74 00:04:40,810 --> 00:04:41,310 when you talk 75 00:04:41,310 --> 00:04:43,070 to them, they always have something, 76 00:04:43,410 --> 00:04:44,850 you'll always learn something new. 77 00:04:46,150 --> 00:04:47,310 And I might see 78 00:04:47,310 --> 00:04:51,290 someone when I'm getting on an airplane and I'm wondering who I'm going to sit next to 79 00:04:51,290 --> 00:04:53,170 and I'll say, oh, I hope it's not that person. 80 00:04:53,830 --> 00:04:58,160 But then if it is, by the time the plane 81 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:00,860 has landed, we've found something to talk about. 82 00:05:01,020 --> 00:05:02,660 So that's taught me a lot of lessons 83 00:05:02,660 --> 00:05:07,340 that anyone in the world, you can be friends with anyone in the world, 84 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:09,780 I think, if you 85 00:05:09,780 --> 00:05:12,520 have the time to get to know them just a little bit. 86 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:15,720 How did you become a musician? 87 00:05:16,980 --> 00:05:19,020 I think I was born a musician. 88 00:05:19,900 --> 00:05:21,280 When I first saw a piano, 89 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:23,520 I was about three years old, 90 00:05:24,900 --> 00:05:27,500 and I listened to it, I touched 91 00:05:27,500 --> 00:05:28,680 it, I played it a little bit, 92 00:05:29,260 --> 00:05:30,840 and I didn't want to leave. 93 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:32,780 I fell in love. 94 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:36,820 Like other people love their dolls or their sports, 95 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:38,240 I fell in love with music. 96 00:05:38,620 --> 00:05:40,920 And I liked it so much, and it was so much fun 97 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:43,500 and so interesting that I just kept playing 98 00:05:43,500 --> 00:05:45,220 and playing what I wanted to play. 99 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:48,220 And I didn't have anybody telling me that I had to. 100 00:05:48,660 --> 00:05:51,020 So it was where I went when I wanted to cry 101 00:05:51,020 --> 00:05:53,060 or when I wanted to feel real good. 102 00:05:54,300 --> 00:05:56,520 So music comes to me naturally. 103 00:05:56,940 --> 00:05:59,720 And I think that all children, all young children, 104 00:05:59,860 --> 00:06:00,860 I think are artists. 105 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:03,820 And if you take children to the beach, 106 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:07,500 they'll all dance, they'll all make rhythm, 107 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:08,700 they'll 108 00:06:08,700 --> 00:06:14,040 all sing, they'll all make stories, use their imaginations and make stories. 109 00:06:14,620 --> 00:06:16,260 And I think that all children, 110 00:06:16,900 --> 00:06:19,060 just like all children can learn a language, 111 00:06:19,180 --> 00:06:19,540 even though 112 00:06:19,540 --> 00:06:22,000 they're very young, I think they all can express art. 113 00:06:22,540 --> 00:06:23,860 I think, though, as we get older, 114 00:06:23,980 --> 00:06:25,280 unless we do it, we forget. 115 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:29,980 How can we help Native children? 116 00:06:29,980 --> 00:06:39,480 Well, I think you're on the way because you want to know about the way other people in 117 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:40,720 the world really are. 118 00:06:41,990 --> 00:06:47,730 There are so many false stories that we hear about you and that you hear about us that 119 00:06:47,730 --> 00:06:50,610 when you find out how real we are, 120 00:06:51,090 --> 00:06:53,190 and we do some things a little bit differently, 121 00:06:53,610 --> 00:06:53,850 but 122 00:06:53,850 --> 00:06:55,310 it's really interesting. 123 00:06:56,050 --> 00:06:58,210 Our music is a little different and very special. 124 00:06:58,210 --> 00:07:01,130 And I'll show you some of my pretty things, 125 00:07:01,250 --> 00:07:02,590 like this that I'm wearing. 126 00:07:03,010 --> 00:07:04,610 You know, things that are very special 127 00:07:04,610 --> 00:07:05,410 and a little different. 128 00:07:05,770 --> 00:07:10,270 But our hearts, we're very much the same 129 00:07:10,790 --> 00:07:12,490 as other children, I think. 130 00:07:13,090 --> 00:07:14,410 We love to have fun. 131 00:07:14,830 --> 00:07:17,570 We all have families, dreams and wishes. 132 00:07:18,150 --> 00:07:20,470 So I think that the way that you help native children 133 00:07:20,470 --> 00:07:26,970 is by wanting to learn and continuing to want to learn. 134 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:29,280 What's your favorite song? 135 00:07:30,700 --> 00:07:34,000 My favorite song that I wrote is called Starwalker. 136 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:36,760 I don't know how it came into my head, 137 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:38,740 but as soon as I heard it, I loved it, 138 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:39,980 and other people love it too, 139 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:42,540 and it's very inspirational to me. 140 00:07:42,700 --> 00:07:45,400 Every time I sing it, I, oh, it's just, 141 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:47,620 it's exciting to me as it is to an audience. 142 00:07:47,980 --> 00:07:49,860 Other favorite songs that I've written, 143 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,740 Universal Soldier has changed people's lives. 144 00:07:53,740 --> 00:07:54,400 They tell me. 145 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,480 I get lots and lots of letters about it. 146 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:00,240 But the songs that have 147 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:04,100 made me enough money so that I could continue to be an artist and didn't have 148 00:08:04,100 --> 00:08:06,440 to have another job are all love songs. 149 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:08,920 Until it's time for you to go up where 150 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:10,080 we belong, you know. 151 00:08:10,740 --> 00:08:15,720 Of other people's music, I like Miles Davis's Sketches of 152 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:20,390 Spain and Edith Piaf's Je Ne Regrette Rien. 153 00:08:21,190 --> 00:08:22,910 I like a lot of different kinds of 154 00:08:22,910 --> 00:08:23,530 music though. 155 00:08:24,450 --> 00:08:26,650 How can art save the world? 156 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:30,620 I think that artists think about things 157 00:08:30,620 --> 00:08:36,410 in a different way and I think that we see things a little bit differently and 158 00:08:37,680 --> 00:08:45,640 every now and then artists become popular enough so that the world will 159 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:47,180 listen to what they have to say. 160 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:52,920 Not enough I think but hopefully what an 161 00:08:52,920 --> 00:09:00,140 What an artist can do is to communicate a different inner vision than what the corporations are selling. 162 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:02,720 Because art is never about selling. 163 00:09:03,380 --> 00:09:07,140 Art is not about dollars and euros and yen. 164 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:13,020 Art is about sharing perspectives and points of view, I think. 165 00:09:14,900 --> 00:09:18,740 Tell us something about Cradleboard, your project for children. 166 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:23,940 Well, it's called the Cradleboard Teaching Project. 167 00:09:24,740 --> 00:09:28,180 And a cradleboard is a baby carrier. 168 00:09:28,420 --> 00:09:31,520 It's a thing that you make to support a child. 169 00:09:33,500 --> 00:09:35,840 And it's a Native American invention, 170 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:39,660 and sometimes that piece of wood has straps 171 00:09:39,660 --> 00:09:41,460 so that you can carry it on your own back, 172 00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:44,600 but in the front, it's like a pouch, like a pocket. 173 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:48,720 The baby is in there with blankets and nappies 174 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:53,640 and everything that the baby needs and then there are straps around it so that everything 175 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:54,900 is nice and secure. 176 00:09:55,480 --> 00:10:02,160 But each tribe, each culture group makes their own style so that they don't all look alike. 177 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:10,840 Each one is very special, very specially decorated by the person who makes it with whatever materials 178 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:11,800 the person has. 179 00:10:12,580 --> 00:10:16,800 So what we're trying to do with the Cradleboard Teaching Project is we're trying to support 180 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:21,340 children in getting to know other children from other cultures. 181 00:10:22,020 --> 00:10:23,140 And we're also trying 182 00:10:23,140 --> 00:10:26,080 to, we write curriculum. 183 00:10:26,260 --> 00:10:27,480 And curriculum are lessons. 184 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:30,740 We write lessons and we teach teachers 185 00:10:30,740 --> 00:10:32,020 how to teach the lessons. 186 00:10:32,620 --> 00:10:37,180 And the lessons are about things that most children have to 187 00:10:37,180 --> 00:10:39,080 study in school anyway, like science. 188 00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:42,960 So we write science through Native American eyes. 189 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:46,900 So that when we study the principles of sound, 190 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:51,900 instead of using pianos and tubas to study sound, 191 00:10:52,100 --> 00:10:56,000 we use drums and flutes and stringed instruments 192 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:01,690 and singing and rattles to study the principles of sound 193 00:11:01,690 --> 00:11:03,850 so that children are not only learning science, 194 00:11:04,350 --> 00:11:06,530 they're also learning culture at the same time. 195 00:11:07,550 --> 00:11:10,190 See, this is the first time that it's been done this way. 196 00:11:10,190 --> 00:11:13,650 Usually when people study Native American cultures, 197 00:11:14,010 --> 00:11:16,690 they think that they're gonna study horses and teepees 198 00:11:16,690 --> 00:11:20,430 and feathers and stereotype things. 199 00:11:21,010 --> 00:11:25,090 But no, we have children studying geography 200 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:29,030 and government always through a Native American perspective. 201 00:11:29,230 --> 00:11:31,950 So they get to know real Native children 202 00:11:32,750 --> 00:11:35,170 expressing their culture, whatever that culture might be. 203 00:11:35,230 --> 00:11:35,910 So they get both. 204 00:11:36,250 --> 00:11:37,350 They get all the pretty stuff 205 00:11:37,350 --> 00:11:39,690 about teepees and horses and feathers, 206 00:11:39,690 --> 00:11:43,770 But at the same time they're learning things like geography and science and government. 207 00:11:45,010 --> 00:11:46,990 I think we have to stop pretty soon 208 00:11:47,470 --> 00:11:50,970 We are a global radio for kids by kids. 209 00:11:51,230 --> 00:11:53,710 We connect kids in 100 countries 210 00:11:54,230 --> 00:11:55,070 Advertising free. 211 00:11:55,230 --> 00:11:56,330 Do you like this idea? 212 00:11:56,590 --> 00:12:04,610 I do like this idea and it's very much like the same idea that I have for cradleboard cradleboard the cradleboard teaching project 213 00:12:05,330 --> 00:12:06,310 is free 214 00:12:06,930 --> 00:12:11,850 We don't charge any money for it and I feel as though as soon as money and 215 00:12:11,850 --> 00:12:18,290 advertising are involved, it all becomes about the money and the advertising and 216 00:12:18,290 --> 00:12:21,090 stops being about what you really want to talk about. 217 00:12:21,270 --> 00:12:22,730 So yes, I think it's an 218 00:12:22,730 --> 00:12:23,490 excellent idea. 219 00:12:23,610 --> 00:12:24,050 Congratulations.