In The Bay Bleeding heart and soul By Leith Dunick Web Posted: 11/8/2008 8:00:00 AM
Her name was supposed to be Cheyenne, to honour her Native heritage.
But Shy-Anne Hovorka's birth mother took one look at her newborn's big brown eyes, thought she saw terror, and quickly changed the spelling to reflect her daughter's mood. Thirty-two years later the fear has never completely disappeared, even as she displays her innermost thoughts and feelings to the world on her debut CD, Black Thunderbird.
Named for her given spirit name, the album is 100 per cent me, said the Red Lake native, who has temporarily given up a teaching career to try her hand in the music business.
"That's my heart, that's my soul," Hovorka said, two days before leaving for Winnipeg, where she is up for three trophies at the Aboriginal People's Choice Awards ' best new artist, best songwriter and single of the year for Thunderbird.
A singer since her earliest memories ' she recalls making up songs at age three, before she could really even speak ' Hovorka said the decision to pursue a music career and release a self-funded collection took her years to make. And with good reason, she added.
"When you put it on an album, either people are going to like it, or they're going to absolutely hate it. I know not everyone's going to like it, which is fine. But the worst thing is you spend all that time and all that money and all that heart and soul and tears, and then find out that everybody hates it. It's very sensitive in that way."
Hovorka leaves nothing to the imagination in her music, drawing on the emotional experiences of her life to spin tales she hopes her audience can relate to through their own lives.
Thunderbird, one of the more powerful tracks on the CD, took her two to three weeks just to be able to sing without breaking down in tears.
"It's a poem I wrote when I was in Grade 8. I would have been about 13 years old. I had spent a lot of time in foster care before that. At that time I had an obsession with thunderstorms. If there was a thunderstorm, I would be outside hiding underneath the balcony, just watching it and looking at it.
"There's a lot of stuff in there. Being an educator the last five years, and working primarily with Aboriginal students, they have a lot of the same background I've been through. That's another reason it's hard to sing. It's not just about me, it's about people that have had similar circumstances growing up," said Hovorka, born half Ojibway and half Portuguese.
"I want them to know they're not alone as well."Hovorka, who will also perform at the award ceremony in Winnipeg, has tried out for Canadian Idol and sings in venues throughout Northern Ontario, said she's already working on a second album, even though she's only sold 1,000 copies of Black Thunderbird.
But it's not about numbers, she said, her lifelong fears dissipating as she spoke. It's about reaching out to others, having a positive effect on the lives of those she touches. Hovorka recalled a young student of hers, one of her biggest supporters, who promised to be at the Winnipeg show to cheer her on.
"For her to say she sings to my CD and she knows all the words, that to me is success."
Hovorka's album can be found on CD Baby, on iTunes and in town at the Anishnabee Art Gallery on James Street and Coran's Music Centre on Victoria Avenue.