We need your help to make the ANTHEM the rallying cry of the Afro-Métis Nation

Video Credit: Karen Ashton
The 'Anthem' Story
 
George Elliott Clarke
May 2024
 
Ever since I became a book-published poet in 1983 and began to do public readings and, later, lectures based on my scholarship as a professor of African-Canadian literature, folks have told me, "I wish I had a recording of your voice!" I've answered instead, "Now that you've heard me read (or recite or talk), you can buy my book(s)!" And I'd smile beseechingly, and folks would sometimes actually buy the book(s)! But I didn't think seriously about doing a record until my daughter Aurelia, in early 2016, shortly after I became the 7th Parliamentary Poet Laureate, shouted out--after hearing my performance with the fine Country & Western, R & B singing sensation, Shelley Hamilton--"You should make an album!" Well, once Aurelia gave me that command, I assembled several cousins involved in music and song, and we met in Shelley's Toronto backyard in June 2016. We talked about what kind of record we might make, and then we noticed that we all have Indigenous roots--bloodlines--DNA-- familial connections. So, Shelley, Chris White, Russ Kelley, Sugar Plum Croxen and I decided to record an album, Constitution, in 2018, as the Afro-Métis Nation. 

The CD was released in April 2019, and Shelley, Plums, and I were nominated as "Best Indigenous Songwriters" for the 2020 Canadian Folk Music Awards. Better than that, other Afro-Métis or Black and Indigenous people came to adopt or accept this identity as being very much their own. Lookit! We didn't just record and release a record, we delivered a Constitution for all the Red-Black people. We had given a name and a voice to an identity that has been too long repressed on Turtle Island (North America).
Our MUSIC is YOURS!
And even better than that again, we used all the musical styles common to our culture: R & B, Country & Western, Spoken Word poetry, Soul, Gospel/Spiritual, Folk, and Celtic, with Indigenous drumming, guitar, fiddle, and even the Swedish nyckelharpa, etc., producing a down- home and yet exotic vibe; a Red-Black blues tone that was also eclectic and inclusive. The only passport you need for The Afro-Métis Nation is a set of ears.

Listen to Constitution HERE

And then COVID happened. And after 3 years of on-and-off silencing of our music, I nudged Shelley to help organize the recording of "Anthem." She had to say "No" this time, but she did tell me to apply for a grant. I took a chance and tried the Toronto Arts Council, and they awarded me $9200 to assemble a group to put together this second CD.
 
We mean to do as good a job with Anthem as we did with Constitution, but $9200, while significant, isn't quite enough to cover the costs necessary to make an excellent record. Indeed, we are working with producer Ken Whiteley, who has reduced his rate to accommodate us (such a noble gesture), but we also need enough cash so as not to worry about the price of a musician or the price of renting a hall to share our music LIVE with all who have backed our harmonies. I--we--hope that you will be able to support the fundraising side of our music-making, and all donations are welcome.


On behalf of our team of Anthem musicians--Sid Ameen (who plays a multitude of instruments expertly), Karen Ashton (THE sister on electric guitar), Ricky Atkinson (a harmonica virtuoso), Linda Carvery (superstar vocalist), Sugar Plums Croxen (happy squeezing accordion, or playing guitar in "buck time"), Russ Kelley (a hard-working lyricist whose tunes are so easy on the ears), Chris White (folk artist extraordinaire), and Sheila White (whose songs are catchy and ultra-positive) --I thank you for reading through this preamble to premium songs. (Smile.) I think that's what we'll achieve again, especially with Ken--The Wizard--Whiteley producing. And me? GEC? I'm a catalyst, a poet, and someone who can sing--if just a tad.  

Thank you for your interest and your support. Means MUCH! - GEC

 With Gratitude: FUNDERS 


Toronto Arts Council (TAC) is the City of Toronto’s funding body for artists and arts organizations. Since 1974, TAC has offered innovative and responsive programs, enabling artists and arts organizations to explore, create and thrive. With funding of over $25 million annually, TAC grants lead to exhibitions, performances, readings and workshops seen each year by over 5 million people across the city. TAC is proud to play a leadership role in fostering Toronto’s dynamic and diverse arts scene.

 With Gratitude: SPONSORS

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LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We wish to acknowledge this land on which the ANTHEM campaign exists in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.”​

Now, we “Africadians” include multiple African diasporas as well as mixed-race progeny, whose DNA is both cosmopolitan and truly indigenous—due to Cherokee and/or Mi’kmaw admixture, thus creating the “Afro-Métis.”
“Indigenous Blacks”—or “Africadians”—or “African-Nova Scotians” have resided in Nova Scotia—originally (and still) Mi’kma’ki—for over 400 years, since 1605. First brought as enslaved people to Louisbourg, Cape Breton (1713-1760), then as enslaved “Planters” to Halifax and the mainland (1749-1760), their ancestors were also anti-slavery Black Loyalists (1783), Maroons (1796-1800), War of 1812 Black Refugees (1812-1816), and free workers and miners in industrial Cape Breton (early 20th Century).Hailing historically from colonial New England and Dixie, then Jamaica, and then the British West Indies, this polyglot and multicultural Black people are a distinct North Atlantic offshoot of the African Diaspora.
 
Their landed presence connects Nova Scotia to pre-and-post-revolutionary United States, Bermuda (via the Royal Navy), Jamaica (via the Maroons), Sierra Leone (via Black Loyalists and Maroons), and the British West Indies (especially Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad), and to the United Kingdom.
 
A resilient people, the African-Nova Scotians—despite slavery, racism, and segregation—built 52 communities, all anchored by a self-instituted church, all about Mi’kma’ki, but on the worst possible land provided by racist governments. Still, this land-base allowed a powerful culture, specific form of English, and spirited faiths to take root and thrive. \

They have astonished the globe as acclaimed athletes, singers, musicians, artists, warriors, scholars, and preachers.Now, we “Africadians” include multiple African diasporas as well as mixed-race progeny, whose DNA is both cosmopolitan and truly indigenous—due to Cherokee and/or Mi’kmaw admixture, thus creating the “Afro-Métis.”

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