First Words: Logan Staats speaks Mohawk
CBC Radio | Posted: November 27, 2018 9:36 PM | Last Updated: November 30, 2018
First Words is a weekly podcast focused on Indigenous languages. Each week, we welcome a new guest into the hosting chair to teach us a few words in their language.
Logan Staats is a Mohawk musician from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Ontario.
Armed with a guitar and harmonica, Staats pours all the emotion he feels into his unique voice. He's shared the stage with Buffy Sainte-Marie, Mumford and Sons and Keith Secola.
His hit single, The Lucky Ones, shot to the top of the charts after winning the first episode of CTV's The Launch, a TV reality show that gives Canadian singers a national platform.
Staats isn't fluent in the language, but has clear memories of growing up with its presence.
"I remember talking to my mother and saying a word in Mohawk, I remember how that made me feel. Every time I say one of these words, it brings me back to that moment when I first started experiencing the language and the culture," he said.