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>> Bizhiki refers to,

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it's what we recognize
as [speaks in Ojibwe],

3
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or like a buffalo.

4
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And you know, my name, the
name that was given to me,

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was Bizhikiins or
like young buffalo.

6
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And that was given to me by
the late Eddie Benton-Banai,

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who was a really great person,

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an individual that has empowered
a lot of our communities

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to reclaim our way of life,
revitalize our language,

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00:00:28,529 --> 00:00:30,764
revitalize our doings,

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and just be unapologetically
who we are as Anishinaabe.

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So part of that name
[drum booming]

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was to kind of pay homage

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to some of those old-timers
that really paved the way

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for us to be able
to have the rights

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and the things that we have
today as Indigenous people.

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>> And growing up,

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how was language a part
of your upbringing?

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>> Growing up,
there wasn't a ton.

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To look back now, and you
know, I'm not very old,

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but to look back now

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to today where we're at with
many of our communities,

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it's amazing to see all
of the different types

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of programming

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and all the different
infrastructure that
we have in place.

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All three of our children
have the opportunity

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to attend Ojibwe
immersion schools,

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which, you know, obviously I
didn't have that opportunity

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as a kid growing up.

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And so they're being taught
only in our language.

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So, shout-out to
Waadookodaading in Hayward

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or the community of
Odaawaa-Zaaga'iganiing in LCO.

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That's a big movement
going on there

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and has created kind
of this huge spark

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all across Ojibwe country.

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>> When I hear the
drums in your song

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and the video "Unbound,"

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it sounds so deeply personal.

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I'm sure it resonates
with a lot of people.

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Tell me about the significance
of some of the drums

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that you use and some of
the other instruments.

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>> To us, the drum
is really integral

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and a very important part
of everything that we do,

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whether it's, you know...

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There's different
types of drums,

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We have ceremonial drums.

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We have, you know, hand
drums, powwow-style drums.

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So those powwow-style
drums are kind

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of the more social drums

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that we're able to bring
out into the public.

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Also carry deep meaning as well,

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and say that any of those drums,

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they kind of carry that
heartbeat of Mother Earth.

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And so that drum or that
sound of that drum, you know,

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is reminiscent of hearing
your mother's heartbeat

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when you're in the womb.

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And so I was always taught

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that the drums that you use
have kind of like this impact

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or effect on people

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and help touch people in a
good way, help heal people.

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[Dylan singing in Ojibwe]

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Part of making the music
that we make, you know,

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part of it is we just try to
be as creative as possible,

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and we're, you know,
expressing ourselves

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and making things that we like.

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But another part of it
too was using our platform

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to normalize our sounds,
our style of singing,

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and our language
where, you know,

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you might not hear
all those things

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in any kind of
mainstream setting.

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But it was important for us

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to be able to
share those things.

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And you know, like my
relatives that we work with,

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you know, in kind of
the language world,

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we always say like,
that's a big part of it.

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As we bring back language
in a substantial way,

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it's becoming normalized
where it's okay

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to hear Ojibwemowin, our
language, being spoke, you know,

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in a supermarket or, you
know, in a random place.

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You know, that's how
we have to look at it,

81
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as we're all contributing

82
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to the normalization
of those things.

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>> Thank you so much for
that powerful message.

84
00:04:09,049 --> 00:04:11,618
>> Sounds great. Thank you.