MJ Kim/MPL Communications Ltd.Last month, students from a high school in Nova Scotia, Canada, debuted an unusual rendition of The Beatles‘ “Blackbird,” featuring the lyrics translated into the indigenous Mi’kmaq language — and now Paul McCartney has given a shout-out to the cover.
At his Freshen Up Tour stop this past Saturday in Lexington, Kentucky, as McCartney was preparing to play “Blackbird,” he told the crowd, “There’s an incredible version a Canadian girl’s done. You see it on YouTube. It’s in her native language…It’s really cool, check it out.” A video clip of McCartney’s comment was shared on the UN-Habitat Youth organization’s Twitter feed.
According to CBC.ca, the “Blackbird” cover was recorded by students from Allison Bernard Memorial High School, located on Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Island. It featuers vocals by 16-year-old Emma Stevens. A video of the performance premiered on the school’s YouTube channel in April.
The recording was organized by Carter Chiasson, a music teacher at the high school, in conjunction with the United Nations’ observance of 2019 as the International Year of Indigenous Languages. The campaign seeks to raise awareness about the importance of preserving indigenous languages and cultures around the world.
Stevens told Canadian arts-and-culture magazine program q via email that when she found out about McCartney’s comments, “I got so excited that it almost made me cry. I grew up listening to the Beatles every day, my dad is a super fan. To have someone like Paul recognize what we did, and why, is a true honor.”
Meanwhile, Chiasson said in his own email to q, “We are beyond excited about the awareness that this is bringing to Mi’kmaq language and culture in particular, and to our home, [Cape Breton]. Thank you, Paul McCartney!”
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