Indigenous artist brings song about residential schools to Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo
DeeDee Austin plans to bring the heat to the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo this weekend.
“I have three pyrotechnics on hand for me and then I have a four-person stage crew to make sure that everything is spaced away,” Austin told CTV News Atlantic’s Katie Kelly on Wednesday.
The 18-year-old singer is performing her original song, “Buried Truth,” at the Tattoo in Halifax.
“I wrote it about the residential school and the inspiration came to me when I first found out that my great-grandmother attended the Indian residential school in Shubenacadie,” she said.
Austin’s music video for the song features a piano engulfed in flames, an effect she looks to recreate at the Tattoo.
“To have the opportunity to play ‘Buried Truth’ and tell my story and then to have pieces in the performance that represent the powerfulness of the song and the emotions that all of Indigenous people feel about the residential schools…it’s just so special and I’m just honoured and immensely thankful to be here,” she said.
Austin performed the show for more than 3,000 students as part of a warm-up gig on Wednesday.
“I hope that, you know, the story that they heard today in the song, I hope that they kind of learn from it because I’d like to use ‘Buried Truth’ as an educational tool as well.”
The Tattoo runs from Friday to Monday.
For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Who are the richest people in Canada? Here's how many billionaires there are
If you gathered all the wealth that billionaires currently have worldwide, you would have about US$14.2 trillion, according to Forbes Magazine. But what about in Canada alone?
'7 years of regret': Raunchy leg piece wins bad tattoo competition at Edmonton Expo Centre
Friday night was a celebration of mistakes for a small group of body art enthusiasts.
Time crunch, rules mess could plague a Liberal leadership race
Calls have intensified for Justin Trudeau to resign as head of the party he almost single-handedly pulled back from the brink after a decimating electoral defeat in 2011.
Despair in the air: For many voters, the Biden-Trump debate means a tough choice just got tougher
The sound you might have heard after the presidential debate this past week was of voters falling between a rock and a hard place.
Lightning deal Sergachev, Jeannot; Maple Leafs acquire Tanev's rights at NHL draft
General managers wheeled and dealed Saturday in Sin City.
235 flights cancelled as WestJet waits to hear from labour minister on next steps in mechanics strike
WestJet said 235 flights have been cancelled Saturday as it waits to see what the next steps are in its ongoing labour dispute with its mechanics.
A year ago, she drank battery acid to escape life under the Taliban. Today, she has a message for other Afghan girls
Holding a mirror steady in one hand, Arzo carefully applies pencil to her brows as she gets ready for an English lesson a short walk from her home on the outskirts of Pakistani megacity Karachi.
A Florida auctioneer was about to sell an 1800s pocket watch. He learned it was a stolen piece of U.S. presidential history
A pocket watch that belonged to Theodore 'Teddy' Roosevelt was returned to his New York home this week after it was stolen decades ago and later showed up at an auction, according to the FBI and the National Park Service.
U.S. and Europe warn Lebanon's Hezbollah to ease strikes on Israel and back off from wider Mideast war
U.S., European and Arab mediators are pressing to keep stepped-up cross-border attacks between Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah militants from spiraling into a wider Middle East war that the world has feared for months. Iran and Israel traded threats Saturday of what Iran said would be an 'obliterating" war over Hezbollah.