The latest season of Amplify is one that will pull on your heartstrings. The new season showcases several Indigenous musicians on songwriting journeys for the series, sharing their music with the audience.
Cree singer-songwriter Sebastian Gaskin is highlighted in the seventh episode of Amplify, directed by Carla Robinson. Gaskin is the recent Juno Award winner for Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year for his single “Brown Man.” Gaskin’s debut album, “LOVECHILD,” was released this year and features 11 tracks that blend R&B, pop, and rock elements.
Ahead of the episode’s release, I had the wonderful opportunity to speak with the Toronto-based musician about what it was like to be featured on Amplify, the power and importance of beading and how the art form helped inform his music, and his new song from the episode called “Woven.”
Watch the full interview with Sebastian Gaskin below:
Getting to participate in an episode of Amplify was an exciting moment for Gaskin who has been watching shows on APTN since he was a child.
“It was obviously super cool to get the the ask. I’ve been watchingshows on APTN ever since I was young, young boy. So, you know, to be able to be a part of one was obviously really exciting. I thought it would be a really cool opportunity too, especially like the sort of layout of the show, you know? Having to write music for a show and sort of stuff like that was really cool,” Gaskin shared.
Regarding the song itself, Gaskin said that he wanted to honour his late grandmother, Charlotte, who was an avid beader and craftsworker, and his mother with the song.
Gaskin said, “I was really thinking a lot about my late grandmother, Charlotte, who was a very avid beater and crafts worker. Also my mom. My mom is also she does a lot of beading. And so, I kind of just wanted to to honour that part of my family with with this song.”
In Gaskin’s episode of Amplify, the singer-songwriter talked about beading being his first creative outlet, and was something that led him into his journey for music. Gaskin shared that his first beading project was a pair of moccasins he made with his grandmother.
“Yeah, it was a pair of moccasins that I made with my my grandma, and we beaded the vamps together but I drew the design, and it was very much inspired by – I wish I had them here with me to show you, but I’m just in the middle of moving right now, so we’re kind of lost in the boxes, but yeah, it was just this pair of moccasins that I made with my grandmother. And you know, since she’s gone to the next place now, it’s a nice reminder of her and her memory,” Gaskin shared.
As seen in Gaskin’s episode of Amplify, beading is a meticulous art form, one that he’s tied back to his music and songwriting.
Gaskin said, “That’s a great question. Um, I think because beading is so meticulous, and it really takes a lot of your time, that transferring that patience into songwriting sort of allows me to sort of maybe even just find the best lyric, or, you know, going back and reworking a song sort of thing. Because, you know, generally, whenever I’m working on a beading project, it takes me like, months and months, because I’ll do like a week here or something, do a couple days there. Yeah. I think the the meticulous aspect of it is really something that transfers over.”
Sebastian Gaskin’s episode of Amplify is available to watch now on APTN Lumi. Be sure to watch the official music video for “Woven” below!
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