Innu EverybodyKnows

[Bob Dawson]

Innu tribe (Montagnais) from Sept-Isles / Maliotenam in Quebec on the North Shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence: version of Everybody Knows in the Innu language (not the same as Inuit.) There are a total of 9,500 people who understand and speak the Innu language. And their second language is French, not English. But they sing Cohen in Innu !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bztt_cn507s

submitted by Bob Dawson. I don 't know how to put it on the list of cover songs.

[jarkko]

Thanks for sharing!
Our long coverlist www.leonardcohenfiles.com/coverlist.php does not list performances that are "only" available as YouTube videos, MP3 downloads etc. - the cover song has to be released on an album (CD, DVD, BluRay, vinyl LP, single and so on). We have already 1800 songs listed, and it would be impossible to add all live or digital versions (I am sure there are thousands!)

[Bob Dawson]

Yes, you are right - there must be many thousands. It would be a big project. And I see a lot on You Tube where it's every teenager trying to be Charlie Manson. And there are tens of thousands of videos of people's pets. Cats. Dogs. Budgies. It's information over-load and a lot of it is crap. But there are these revelations - where only a few hundred or a few thousand people speak a language, and yet one of the things that gets translated into that obscure language is Leonard Cohen. And it becomes an anthem for them; it has cultural force to help them be strong. It's amazing and I hope somebody will sift through the rubble and preserve the best of these gems for future generations to marvel at, as the present generation marvels now.
And thank you for this website; archaeologists will be memorizing it 3,000 years from now.

[Darling]

The cover on the video is Florent Vollant's TSHISSENITENANU from his album Katak. It is on Jarkko's incredible list.

But there are these revelations - where only a few hundred or a few thousand people speak a language, and yet one of the things that gets translated into that obscure language is Leonard Cohen.

Yes!

[Bob Dawson]

Oh wow! Oh wow! That is just fantastic and wonderful. It is an anthem of strength and pride among the 9 or 10,000 people who understand that particular Innu language. My wife and I lived among them when some were still semi-nomadic, and few spoke English or French. I fall off my chair to find out that Jarkko already has it on his list. The world looks so much better to me here than on the news. I will follow that.

[Darling]

Oh wow! Oh wow! That is just fantastic and wonderful. It is an anthem of strength and pride among the 9 or 10,000 people who understand that particular Innu language. My wife and I lived among them when some were still semi-nomadic, and few spoke English or French. I fall off my chair to find out that Jarkko already has it on his list. The world looks so much better to me here than on the news. I will follow that.

Have you listened to Chloe Sainte-Marie new album: Nitshisseniten e tshissenitamin ? All songs (except two) are written by innu artist Philippe McKenzie and it is truly beautiful.
It's nice that for a change, someone from another language sings in innu instead of the other way around. The CD comes with a booklet with all the lyrics in innu and also with the French translation.

And, incidently, Chloe Sainte-Marie compares Philippe McKenzie to Bob Dylan and... Leonard Cohen.

[Bob Dawson]

Wow again! Is it Chloe Sainte-Marie who is in the video about the white wolf - the visual joke at the end is they see the skyline of Montreal through the trees, so it was filmed on Mt. Royal, not in the deep forest. There are two guys in it and one woman in it - called Miam Miam or something in Innu -- is that Philippe McKenzie and Florent Vollant from Kashtin, plus Chloe Sainte-Marie - it is in French and Innu - is it two Innu fighting for the affection of la quebecoise, or, is it Innu and French competing for la Quebecoise... or am i reading post-colonial Canadian politics into a great work of art that is actually about man and woman and wild and tamed?

[Darling]

Wow again! Is it Chloe Sainte-Marie who is in the video about the white wolf - the visual joke at the end is they see the skyline of Montreal through the trees, so it was filmed on Mt. Royal, not in the deep forest. There are two guys in it and one woman in it - called Miam Miam or something in Innu -- is that Philippe McKenzie and Florent Vollant from Kashtin, plus Chloe Sainte-Marie - it is in French and Innu - is it two Innu fighting for the affection of la quebecoise, or, is it Innu and French competing for la Quebecoise... or am i reading post-colonial Canadian politics into a great work of art that is actually about man and woman and wild and tamed?

Thanks for pointing out this video, I really like the ending too.
I prefer your second interpretation, to me it's like the woman/white wolf is showing the two men/wolves that time for fighting each other is over, reminding them what our world has become...

The French lyrics basically say : Once upon a time on a summer night appeared a great white wolf, free as the air, everywhere in the lands I was a terror of proud race, they said I was murderer. I howl at the moon in my solitude, I run away from the crowd into the fog...
The other man with Florent Vollant is Éric Lapointe a very popular Quebec singer. I'm not usually a fan of his but sometimes he makes great duos like this one, I really like the way the two voices mix together. I don't know who the woman is, but it's not Chloe Sainte-Marie.

The exact name of the song is Miam Maikan (Loup Blanc in French). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZHwHyuSn5c