Mali Obomsawin is a genre-defying bassist, composer, vocalist and proud citizen of the Odanak First Nation. She composed the score to the Academy Award nominated National Geographic documentary, "Sugarcane." In the film, an investigation into abuse and missing children at an Indian residential school ignites a reckoning on the nearby Sugarcane Reserve. A stunning tribute to the resilience of Native people and their way of life, Sugarcane, the debut feature documentary from Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, is an epic cinematic portrait of a community during a moment of international reckoning and illuminates the beauty of a community breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma and finding the strength to persevere. The documentary is streaming on Disney+ and Hulu and the soundtrack was released on Nat Geo’s Hollywood Records.

In this program, Mali and her band perform live with the backdrop of the film.

“Obomsawin reminds listeners constantly that folk music shouldn’t be about pliant, pretty subservience, and that Abenaki culture is loudly, proudly living and expanding.” -The Guardian

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