Bebe Buckskin's recently released Cree version of Led Zeppelin's 1970 rock classic "Immigrant Song" is fantastic — and well worth a watch and listen. Bebe Buckskin, who was born Dani Ghostkeeper and describes herself as a "Cree Métis blues-rock mama," was raised on the Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement in northern Alberta, Canada. The Calgary Herald reports that she was surrounded by fiddle music growing up, and when she started playing music she gravitated toward blues, R&B, and soul.
More recently, she has been exploring her Métis/Cree heritage in her music, as evidenced by her new version of "Immigrant Song," which is sung in Cree. She describes her version of the "iconic battle cry, reimagined in Cree":
Gritty, raw, and powerful, this track fuses the thunder of classic rock with the soul of Indigenous resistance. It's more than a cover — it's a reclamation. A celebration of culture. A voice rising from the boreal forest and mighty muskeg with a fire that won't fade.
It's a compelling reimagining of the classic Zeppelin song that American Songwriter describes as a "howling, brooding, repetitious representation of mythical conflict." While originally written by Led Zeppelin with a focus on Norse mythology, the song's imagery of a land of ice and snow, midnight sun, and hot springs; along with its "bashing percussion," which, to American Songwriter, symbolizes a collective heartbeat that "belongs to the soldiers" and portrays "their feet running over land, axes above their hands," all translate beautifully to a Cree context.
The song absolutely rocks, and the video is stunningly gorgeous — go watch and listen!
Hear more at Bebe Buckskin's Instagram or website.
Previously:
• Led Zeppelin's 'Ramble On' — what makes this song great?
• Earliest known Led Zeppelin recording
• In Cree, Heinz new 'MayoChup' translates poorly
• Indigenous dancer gives stunning twist to viral Kendrick Lamar dance challenge
