Mali Obomsawin
Background information
Born (1995-07-19) July 19, 1995
Stratford, New Hampshire, U.S.
GenresJazz, Free Jazz, Folk music, Roots, Rock, Contemporary Indigenous
Instrument(s)Double Bass, Electric Bass, Voice, Guitar
Years active2014-present
LabelsSmithsonian Folkways Recordings, Out Of Your Head Records
Websitemaliobomsawin.com

Mali Obomsawin is an Indigenous musician, scholar, and community organizer from Abenaki First Nation at Odanak. An award-winning[1] bassist, vocalist, songwriter, and composer, Obomsawin is a cross-genre artist specializing in free-jazz, rock, and American roots music. Her debut solo album “Sweet Tooth” (2022)[2] has received international acclaim.[3][4][5][6] She has toured nationally and internationally with the Mali Obomsawin Sextet, her band Lula Wiles,[7] and as an accompanist. Obomsawin is also a founding member of the Wabanaki-led nonprofit Bomazeen Land Trust, where she currently serves as executive director.[8]

Early life

Obomsawin was born in Stratford, New Hampshire.[9] She is an enrolled member of Abenaki First Nation at Odanak in Quebec, and of Sephardic Jewish Descent on her mother's side. She is the granddaughter of writer/activist Paul Goodman,[10] and cousin of renowned Abenaki musician, filmmaker and activist Alanis Obomsawin.[11]

Obomsawin grew up in Farmington, Maine,[12] and began playing double bass at age ten.[13] She was introduced to roots music early on through mentorship from traditional fiddler Steve Muise and attendance at Maine Fiddle Camp.[14] She toured the Canadian Maritimes in high school with the Franklin County Fiddlers.[15]

Education

In 2013, Obomsawin enrolled at Berklee College of Music where she completed three semesters[16] before transferring to Dartmouth College. She obtained dual degrees in comparative literature and government from Dartmouth in 2018.[17]

Obomsawin is also an alumnus of the Acoustic Music Seminar in Savannah, GA (2017 and 2018), where she studied and performed with Bryan Sutton, Mike Marshall, Aoife O’Donovan, and Julian Lage.[18]

Career

Music

While at Berklee, Obomsawin joined folk-rock trio Lula Wiles in 2014,[19] who would go on to tour extensively in the US, Canada, and Germany, receiving acclaim for their renowned three part harmony singing[20] and innovative songwriting.[21] Lula Wiles signed with Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in 2018[22] with whom they released three well-received recordings before disbanding in 2021.[23]

An in-demand bassist in the Folk, Americana, and Jazz circuits, Mali has performed with Jake Blount, Lizzie No,[24] Peter Apfelbaum,[25] Taylor Ho Bynum,[26] and Bill Cole's Untempered Ensemble.[27][28] Obomsawin is also a member of The Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band[29] and Indigenous Performance Productions' Welcome To Indian Country.[30] Other notable collaborations include a forthcoming album featuring Delbert Anderson and Pura Fé.[31]

In 2021, she scored the forthcoming film "We Are The Warriors”[32] and collaborated with Red Sky Performance,[33] the Toronto Symphony Orchestra[34] and Palaver Strings.[35]

Obomsawin received Folk Alliance International's 2022 Rising Tide Award," which celebrates “a new generation of artists who embody the values and ideals of the folk community through their creative work, community role, and public voice.”[36] Obomsawin also received the New England Foundation for the Arts' "New Work New England" award in 2022 to support her debut solo album.[37]

Obomsawin's debut solo album, "Sweet Tooth," was released October 28, 2022 on Out Of Your Head Records[38] to international acclaim, receiving praise from Jazz Times "album of the day"[39] Financial Times “Critic’s Choice,”[40] and The Guardian’s "Folk Album of the Month" for November 2022.[41]

Community organizing

Outside of her musical career, Obomsawin is a community organizer and advocate for Indigenous rights, environmental justice, and land back. In 2020, she began working with Sunlight Media Collective,[42] a Wabanaki-driven media team whose work is focused on, "documenting and promoting stories at the intersection of environmental justice and Tribal sovereignty."[43] Obomsawin has also worked as a consultant and educator for Racial Equity and Justice.[44]

Her writing on Indigenous sovereignty and racial justice has been published in Smithsonian Folkways Magazine,[45][46] National Performance Network,[47] and The Boston Globe.[48]

In 2020 Obomsawin co-founded Bomazeen Land Trust, a Wabanaki-led 501(c)3 nonprofit organization focused on land protection, Indigenous cultural transmission, education, and food sovereignty.[49]

Discography

As Mali Obomsawin Sextet

Title Details Type
Sweet Tooth (2022)
  • Label: Out Of Your Head Records
  • Release date: Oct 28, 2022
 Studio Album

With Lula Wiles

Title Details Type
Lula Wiles (2016)
  • Label: Self-released
  • Release date: May 27, 2016
 Studio Album
What Will We Do (2019)
  • Label: Smithsonian Folkways
  • Release date: Jan 25, 2019
 Studio Album
It's Cool (2019)
  • Label: Smithsonian Folkways
  • Release date: Nov 8, 2019
 Single
Shame and Sedition (2021)
  • Label: Smithsonian Folkways
  • Release date: May 21, 2021
 Studio Album

Featured on

Title Details Type
We Are the Warriors (Forthcoming)
  • Documentary Film
  • Release date: Forthcoming
 Original Soundtrack
Jake Blount - The New Faith (2022)
  • Label: Smithsonian Folkways
  • Release date: Sep 23, 2022
 Studio Album
Bill Cole's Untempered Ensemble - Margaret and Katie (2022)
  • Label: Self-released
  • Release date: Apr 15, 2022
 Live Album
Aurora Birch - Brightness (2017)
  • Label: Self-released
  • Release date: Dec 2, 2017
 Studio Album

References

  1. ↑ "Rising Tide Award". Folk Alliance International. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  2. ↑ "Mali Obomsawin 6tet: Sweet Tooth Album Release". The Jazz Gallery. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  3. ↑ "Radio Alhara راديو الحارة - Artist interview, Mali Obomsawin", Player FM, retrieved 2022-11-22
  4. ↑ "Mali Obomsawin: Sweet Tooth review | Jude Rogers's folk album of the month". The Guardian. 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  5. ↑ "Odanak First Nation's Mali Obomsawin tells Indigenous stories through music". NPR. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  6. ↑ "Mali Obomsawin tells a tale of Indigenous cultural survival in Sweet Tooth — album review". Financial Times. 2022-11-04. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  7. ↑ "Bio". Lula Wiles. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  8. ↑ "Bomazeen Land Trust". Bomazeen Land Trust. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  9. ↑ "Reader Opinion: The Abenaki abide, and know who they are, by Christopher A. Roy". SentinelSource.com. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  10. ↑ Woodward, Richard B. (2011-10-19). "Paul Goodman: Recounting Forgotten Man on the Attack". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  11. ↑ "StackPath". www.folkradio.co.uk. 30 August 2022. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  12. ↑ "Mali Obomsawin". www.mainefiddlecamp.org. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  13. ↑ "FULL BIO". MALI OBOMSAWIN. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  14. ↑ "Bassist Mali Obomsawin's 'Sweet Tooth' puts jazz in conversation with Indigenous history". VPM.org. 31 October 2022. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  15. ↑ "Touring musician remembers Franklin County Roots with instrument donation – Daily Bulldog". Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  16. ↑ "Lula Wiles | Berklee". www.berklee.edu. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  17. ↑ Nancy Schoeffler (November–December 2022). "Brand New Sound". Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  18. ↑ "Mali Obomsawin". www.mainefiddlecamp.org. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  19. ↑ "Odanak First Nation's Mali Obomsawin tells Indigenous stories through music". NPR. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  20. ↑ "Lula Wiles". Philadelphia Folksong Society. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  21. ↑ "Lula Wiles' Invigorating 'Shame and Sedition' Calls Out Bad Actors and Pursues Change". No Depression. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  22. ↑ Hight, -Jewly. "Lula Wiles". Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  23. ↑ jaimemar00 (2022-07-06). "Trading righteous anger for joyous action". Fix. Retrieved 2022-11-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  24. ↑ Williamson, Shelby (2022-10-27). "Basic Folk - Mali Obomsawin". The Bluegrass Situation. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  25. ↑ "Mali Obomsawin July 29, 2022 | Twenty Summers Concerts at Truro Vineyards". Twenty Summers. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  26. ↑ "Mali Obomsawin Sextet & Coast Jazz Orchestra :: Taylor Ho Bynum". Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  27. ↑ "Cole, Obomsawin Bring Jazz To Seven Stars Arts Center". The White River Valley Herald. 2022-07-14. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  28. ↑ "Bill Cole - Untempered Ensemble". billcole.org. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  29. ↑ "Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band". Julia Keefe. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  30. ↑ "IPP Original-Welcome to Indian Country". IPP. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  31. ↑ "Delbert Anderson - Don Cherry Tribute". delbertanderson.com. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  32. ↑ "We Are The Warriors". We Are The Warriors. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  33. ↑ "Mistatim Reimagined – Red Sky Performance". Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  34. ↑ "Mistatim Reimagined - Toronto Symphony Orchestra". www.tso.ca. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  35. ↑ "A Maine Musician Taps into Her Roots". The Maine Mag. 2022-07-05. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  36. ↑ "Rising Tide Award". Folk Alliance International. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  37. ↑ Eric Russell (2022-04-27). "Maine artists receive grants from regional, diversity-focused program". Press Herald. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  38. ↑ "ANNOUNCING Mali Obomsawin - Sweet Tooth (OOYH 017)". Out Of Your Head Records. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  39. ↑ Enos, Morgan. "Mali Obomsawin: Sweet Tooth (Out of Your Head)". JazzTimes. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  40. ↑ "Mali Obomsawin tells a tale of Indigenous cultural survival in Sweet Tooth — album review". Financial Times. 2022-11-04. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  41. ↑ "Mali Obomsawin: Sweet Tooth review | Jude Rogers's folk album of the month". The Guardian. 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  42. ↑ "Kihtahkomikumon (Our Land) – #IsLandBack in Passamaquoddy Territory". Sunlight Media Collective. 2021-10-21. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  43. ↑ "About". Sunlight Media Collective. 2021-06-16. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  44. ↑ "Advocates, activists, and community Organizers". Racial Equity & Justice Organization. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  45. ↑ "This Land Is Whose Land? Indian Country and the Shortcomings of Settler Protest". Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. June 14, 2019. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  46. ↑ "Native Land, Native Leadership: Restructuring the Climate Movement". Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. May 4, 2020. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  47. ↑ Graham, Bryan (2021-05-04). "Turning Our Insides Out: On "Presenting" Indigeneity, Self-Commodification, and the White Gaze". National Performance Network. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  48. ↑ Mali Obomsawin (September 15, 2020). "The myth of Native American extinction harms everyone". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  49. ↑ "Initiatives". Bomazeen Land Trust. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
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