Submitted by Hannu Björkbacka, Jun 24, 2007 06:51

Ms. Buffy Sainte-Marie never goes out of fashion. The newest Quentin Tarantino film shows a lot of film posters, but the first one seen is from Soldier Blue with Buffy's name in big letters - and the soundtrack under the opening titles is by her friend, colleague and former husband, Jack Nitzsche. I've been writing about Sainte-Marie in Finland in various newspapers and interviewing her for the Finnish radio. In 1996 she told me how Nittzsche had come to visit her on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, in her home, and asked what Sainte-Marie had been working on lately, because he was commissioned to do the soundtrack for the Taylor Hackford film An Officer and a Gentleman. Buffy played him the melody, which later became Up Where Belong, for which Sainte-Marie collected the Oscar in 1982, as the first Canadian and first Native American to receive one. (Nitzsche and Will Jennings also contributed to the song, as Sainte-Marie never forgets to point out). I understand Buffy has double citizenship, because she works a lot in USA and lives there, but indentifies herself as Canadian, because she was born there, in Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan (about which one of her most wonderful songs on Sweet America (1976) tells us so eloquentely). Ms. Sainte-Marie also told me in May this year, that the British cult musician of The Smiths fame and solo success, Mr. Morrissey came to see her London Hammersmith-Odeon show after the Coincidence and Likely Stories (1992) and was "kind and supportive". I know for a fact that in the Rolling Stone interview on Joni Mitchell, Morrissey compared Sainte-Marie with Ms. Mitchell and Dylan as one of the greatest lyricists. The Hip Hop producer and star Kanye West has also sampled Buffy's song for a track on artist Cam'rons album. Sainte-Marie performs with her band at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival on July 14th. She told me that her new album featurers contributions from her old friend Taj Mahal, and is the third one on which she has worked with her co-producer and guitarist Chris Birkett from Great Britain. My interview articles have appeared in Finnish newspapers Keskipohjanmaa (June 16th, 2006) and Kaleva (July 26, 1996).

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