Kym Gouchie
{{Short description|Canadian musician and visual artist}}
Kym Gouchie is an indigenous Canadian musician and visual artist. She plays the acoustic guitar and traditional hand drum, sings, composes songs, and tells stories. Her music often deals with First Nations, women's and environmental issues and promotes reconciliation and community building.{{cite web|url=https://citizenfreak.com/artists/109924-gouchie-kym|access-date=2023-11-09|title=Gouchie, Kym|publisher=Citizen Freak}}
Personal life and education
Gouchie was born in 1964 to Ernie Gouchie, a son of prominent elder Mary Gouchie, and Robin Gouchie. She is a member of the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation, a Dakelh nation whose territory includes the city of Prince George, British Columbia, where she lives.{{cite news|url=https://www.coastreporter.net/local-arts/kym-gouchie-sings-at-high-beam-dreams-june-8-5433977|title=Kym Gouchie sings at High Beam Dreams June 8|publisher=Coast Reporter|first=Michael|last=Gurney|date=2022-06-05|access-date=2024-02-01}} She is of Dakelh (Carrier), Secwépemc (Shuswap), Cree and Irish ancestry.{{cite news|url=https://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/local-arts/gouchie-working-on-childrens-album-in-ancestral-languages-3742413|title=Gouchie working on children's album in ancestral languages|date=2021-01-10|access-date=2023-11-09|publisher=Prince George Citizen}} She has four children and ten grandchildren.
Kym received her training as an artist in the Fine Arts Diploma Program at the University College of the Cariboo, now Thompson Rivers University, in the Northwest Coast Native Art and Silk-screening program at the Prince George Native Friendship Centre, and in the National Aboriginal Professional Artist Training Program at the En’owkin Centre in Penticton, British Columbia.
Artistic work
Gouchie performs frequently, both solo and as part of several groups, all over British Columbia as well as elsewhere in Canada and in the United States.
{{cite news|url=https://www.haidagwaiiobserver.com/community/northern-star-set-to-shine-on-island-6342114|access-date=2023-11-09|date=2018-09-06|title=Northern star set to shine on island|publisher=Haida Gwaii Observer|first=Andrew|last=Hudson}}{{cite news|url=https://www.pqbnews.com/entertainment/singer-songwriter-kym-gouchie-to-play-at-parksvilles-knox-united-church-1203450|access-date=2023-11-09|date=2022-06-02|title=Singer-songwriter Kym Gouchie to play at Parksville's Knox United Church|publisher=Parksville Qualicum Beach News|first=Kevin|last=Forsyth}}
{{cite news|title=Symphony performance a dream come true for singer songwriter Kym Gouchie|url=https://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/local-arts/symphony-performance-a-dream-come-true-for-singer-songwriter-kym-gouchie-6844333|access-date=2023-11-09|date=2023-04-11|publisher=Prince George Citizen|first=Christine|last=Dalgleish}} Apple Music characterizes her musical style as '‘alternative folk'’{{Cite web|title=Northern Shining Star Woman by Kym Gouchie|url=https://music.apple.com/ca/album/northern-shining-star-woman/1208389071|access-date=2023-11-09|publisher=Apple Music}}
Most of her songs are in English, but Gouchie has also composed songs in her endangered ancestral Carrier language, working especially with her grandmother Mary Gouchie, one of the last fluent speakers of the Lheidli dialect, until her death in 2019 at the age of 97.{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/lheidli-t-enneh-elder-mary-gouchie-dies-dakelh-1.4997303|date=2019-01-29|access-date=2023-11-09|title=One of the last fluent Dakelh speakers dies, taking 'a whole dictionary with her'|first=Audrey|last=McKinnon|publisher=CBC News}}
{{cite news|url=https://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/local-news/remembering-mary-gouchie-lheidli-tennehs-eldest-elder-1223018|date=2019-02-01|access-date=2023-11-09|title=Remembering Mary Gouchie, Lheidli T'enneh's eldest elder|first=Hanna|last=Petersen|publisher=Prince George Citizen}} In 2008 she received a C$8,000 grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to compose songs in the Lheidli dialect.
Influence
Gouchie's music has inspired others. Angela Rudden, principal violist with the National Ballet of Canada and music teacher at the Dixon Hall Music School in Toronto, was inspired by Gouchie's
2016 song "Cleansing the Highway of Tears" and played it to her class. She and her students
then wrote an orchestral score to accompany the song. Gouchie subsequently recorded a new vocal track to accompany their score.{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/cleansing-the-highway-of-tears-toronto-students-learn-about-mmiw-in-cross-country-musical-collaboration-1.3976897|title='Cleansing the Highway' in reference to the Highway of Tears: Toronto students learn about MMIW in cross-country musical collaboration|publisher=CBC News|first1=Andrew|last1=Kurjata|first2=Jordan|last2=Tucker|date=2017-02-11|access-date=2023-11-09}}
Awards and honours
In August 2015 her single 'For the People' was included in a collection of information about the
Canadian Indian residential school system, the Truth & Reconciliation Compilation CD. The same month her single 'Sister Rain'
made it to the top of the NCIFM National Aboriginal Top 40 Music Countdown.
In 2019 Gouchie received the Stingray Rising Star Award at the Mundial Montreal
world music conference and festival.{{cite web|url=https://www.fyimusicnews.ca/articles/2019/11/27/mundial-montreal-world-music-success-story|access-date=2023-11-09|date=2019-11-27|title=Mundial Montreal: World Music Success Story|publisher=FYI Music News}} The following year she was an invited speaker at the International Indigenous Music Summit in New Orleans, Louisiana.
In 2022 Gouchie received the Jeanne Clark Local History Service Award from the Prince George Public Library for her efforts to preserve Lheidli T'enneh history, culture, language, and music.
The same year, she received a gold medal for her contributions to the BC Summer Games,
where she performed in the opening ceremonies and for which she designed the medal
ribbons, with themes based on local wildlife.{{cite news|url=https://www.myprincegeorgenow.com/166386/featured/artist-kym-gouchie-receives-surprise-thank-you-gift-from-bc-summer-games-organizers/|access-date=2023-11-09|date=2022-09-16|title=Artist Kym Gouchie receives surprise thank you gift from BC Summer Games organizers|publisher=My Prince George Now|first=Will|last=Peters}}{{cite news|url=https://www.princegeorgepost.com/news/local-news/lheidli-tenneh-musician-artist-kym-gouchie-presented-with-b-c-summer-games-gold-medal|access-date=2023-11-09|date=2022-09-17|publisher=Prince George Post|first=Jack|last=Moulton|title=Lheidli T'enneh musician, artist Kym Gouchie presented with B.C. Summer Games gold medal}}
In 2025 she was one of the five nominees for the Juno Award for Children's Album of the Year.{{cite web|url=https://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/local-arts/juno-nomination-for-singer-songwriter-kym-gouchie-10219464|access-date=2025-04-06|publisher=Prince George Citizen|first=Christine|last=Dalgleish|title=Juno nomination for singer-songwriter Kym Gouchie|date=2025-02-11}}
Discography
- Mountain of Youth (2014)
- Sister Rain (2015)
- In the Hearts of You & Me (2016)
- Northern Shining Star Woman (2017)
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://kymgouchie.com/ Her web site]
- {{imdbname|8659864}}
- [https://nativeamericanmusicawards.com/track/1049486/for-the-people-kym-gouchie A recording of her song For the People]
- [https://www.instagram.com/gouchiek/ Kym Gouchie on Instagram]
- [https://music.apple.com/ca/artist/kym-gouchie/332791058 Kym Gouchie on iTunes]
- [https://soundcloud.com/kymgouchie Kym Gouchie on SoundCloud]
- [https://open.spotify.com/album/3wwyQ01vI0I6nj7T1tu3QE Kym Gouchie on Spotify]
- [https://twitter.com/kymgouchie Kym Gouchie on Twitter]
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Category:20th-century First Nations musicians
Category:21st-century First Nations musicians
Category:21st-century Canadian musicians
Category:21st-century Canadian women musicians