In 2017, Winnipeg-based Anishinaabe and settler folk-soul musician Ila Barker held a guitar on her lap as a friend confided in her the details of an abusive relationship. Barker sang her friend’s words back to her, softly strumming the strings and turning anguish into a serendipitous self-serenade. Eventually that song became the title track of Barker’s debut full-length album, Fool Under Water, a tough-but-tender testament to the possibility of survival, forged as she swam ashore herself. Barker has played the Regina Folk Festival, the Winnipeg Folk Festival, the sākihiwē festival, and opened for Jeremy Dutcher’s sold out performance at the Indian River Festival in PEI. Through her work as founding curator with AIRsessions, a series of free music workshops for youth, Barker advocates for gender equity and Indigenous representation in music.
This program is in partnership with Red Music Rising and Canada’s Music Incubator.
For the full Union Summer lineup click here.