HALIFAX \u2014 The last time Canada\u2019s national orchestra performed in Eskasoni First Nation, Mi\u2019kmaq singer-songwriter Emma Stevens was a young teenager volunteering at the show. <\/p>\n
Almost nine years later, as the Ottawa-based National Arts Centre Orchestra embarks on its 100th tour, the 23-year-old musician will be performing original music alongside the prestigious ensemble.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to be able to see our culture in full light, and see how amazing and beautiful the Mi\u2019kmaq language and Mi\u2019kmaq music is,\u201d Stevens said in an interview Monday, reached at her home in Eskasoni in Cape Breton.<\/p>\n
The singer-songwriter gained international attention for her music in 2019, when her Mi\u2019kmaq-language cover of the Beatles\u2019 song \u201cBlackbird\u201d went viral. The song was translated by Katani Julian and Albert Golydada Julian and produced by Stevens\u2019 music teacher Carter Chiasson.<\/p>\n
Her high school posted the \u201cBlackbird\u201d video to YouTube, where it has been viewed more than 1.9 million times. Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney shouted out her \u201cbeautiful version\u201d of the song while he was on tour in July 2019. McCartney met Stevens before his Vancouver concert that summer, then later told the crowd her version \u201cis so beautiful I\u2019m going to be nervous singing my version.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since then, Stevens has performed widely and spoken at multiple United Nations events, highlighting issues facing Indigenous people in Canada. \u201cI talk about language loss and missing and murdered Indigenous women, and that\u2019s where I love to put my focus,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Stevens said she has been working hard to reconnect with her Mi\u2019kmaq language, and recently wrote a song in Mi\u2019kmaq by herself for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very surreal, and I was very proud of myself. But I know there are some inconsistencies in (the song) because I\u2019m not as educated in my own language \u2026 I want to make sure that the younger generations continue to speak it and hold their language close to them,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Stevens grew up speaking Mi\u2019kmaq at home, but said she began to lose her fluency after learning English in school. \u201cI can hold a conversation, but writing is very difficult \u2026 now that I\u2019m writing (in Mi\u2019kmaq) I feel more connected,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
The young musician said she\u2019s elated to be performing two songs at the concert in Eskasoni Tuesday evening, and then at the orchestra\u2019s other two Nova Scotia stops in Halifax on Thursday and Wolfville on Friday. She will perform the Mi\u2019kmaq cover of \u201cBlackbird\u201d and \u201cThe Ballad of Shubenacadie\u201d \u2014 an original song she co-wrote with Chiasson about the Canadian residential school system. The song was released on Truth and Reconciliation Day in 2023. <\/p>\n
Also featured in the orchestra\u2019s tour is Wolastoqiyik composer and singer-songwriter Jeremy Dutcher, a member of Tobique First Nation in northern New Brunswick and two-time Polaris Music Prize winner. Dutcher is also the 2025 recipient of the NAC Award at the Governor General\u2019s Performing Arts Awards.<\/p>\n
Stevens said she\u2019s thrilled to be joining Dutcher, who she looks up to. \u201cHe\u2019s an amazing artist. His voice is amazing. The way that he brings himself and he tells his story. It\u2019s so beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dutcher, who also said he\u2019s a big fan of Stevens, says the orchestra\u2019s audience should expect a celebration of music, language \u201cand the resilience of our melodies and our people.\u201d The musician said it was his mentor, elder Maggie Paul from Peskotomuhkati Nation, who encouraged him to champion traditional Indigenous music. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was her dream to hear our old songs lifted up by symphonic voices \u2026 it is so meaningful to bring an ensemble as fantastic as the NAC Orchestra to Wabanaki Territory, and to have our songs and language underscored by Canada\u2019s orchestra, in our language, in our homelands.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2026. <\/p>\n
Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HALIFAX \u2014 The last time Canada\u2019s national orchestra performed in Eskasoni First Nation, Mi\u2019kmaq singer-songwriter Emma Stevens was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-603006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}