Ts’msyen musician Saltwater Hank sees and sings the world in Sm’algya̱x

Though he heard Sm’algya̱x spoken around him as a baby, and started picking up the language as a teenager, it’s only in the last six years that Ts’msyen musician Wil Uks Batsga G̱a̱laaw (Jeremy Pahl) — also known as Saltwater Hank — has learned to speak his traditional language more or less fluently.

His next step was to record an entire album in Sm’algya̱x, the language spoken by Ts’msyen First Nation peoples, whose territory spans the northwest coast next to Haida Gwaii.

The album, G̱a̱l’üünx wil lu Holtga Liimi, was released on July 1 to coincide with Canada Day, as an Indigenous act of resistance.

And after his current tour is finished — Saltwater Hank plays The Terminal Bar on Nov. 1 and The Beacon House on Protection Island on Nov. 2 — Pahl says he plans to immediately begin recording another 10-song album, which will also be in Sm’algya̱x.

“The way that I see it is, we have way too much English language material already — anybody that wants to learn the English language can go all over Spotify and most of the music in the world is in English. I am contributing nothing if I am continuing to write in English,” he says, adding that he primarily learned through immersion by speaking with elders.

Pahl’s home community is in Txałgiiw (Hartley Bay), though most of the residents live approximately 145 kilometres to the north in Kxeen (Prince Rupert). It is estimated that only 48 people worldwide speak Sm’algya̱x as a first language, according to a variety of sources, though there has been a resurgence of interest in learning the language, especially among young people.

“I’ve come a long way. I’ve been able to converse at length with elders back home, which is pretty cool. But it’s also pretty lonely, because I am among a very small number of young people that are at this level in the language,” he says.

Ts’msyen Knowledge Holder and mentor Huhuułk (Theresa Lowther) says that though the numbers of fluent or native Sm’algya̱x speakers is still small, she has hope for the language.

“Thirty years ago, we started teaching in the schools and at that particular time, all the fluent speakers were documenting as much as we could, writing down, recording things that we knew, doing words for the dictionary, because that’s what we thought was going to be left of the language,” she says. “Well, we’re now into 2023, and the light at the end of the tunnel is getting bigger.” 

Sm’algya̱x is Huhuułk’s first language, and she continues to teach group language classes with six other elders three times a week.

“It’s just floored us all, how many young people are taking on learning the language. And the light at the end of the tunnel to me is getting bigger and bigger. We’re so proud of them, and so proud of Jeremy really, he’s really taken learning the language and he’s just run with it. He’s just a natural. If you tell him something, he doesn’t forget,” she says.

It’s not only singing in his own language that has changed the music Pahl puts out as Saltwater Hank — the name is a nod to his father and great-uncle Hank — his musical style has also evolved over the last six years as well, moving from a folk and country sound to more rock and roll.

But most importantly, his perspective on life has shifted as well.

“I definitely have started to see the world through the lens of the Sm’algya̱x language. I can look at things outside, when I’m out and about on the water, and be thinking of the words to describe those things in our language, before English. It’s kind of neat,” he says.

Saltwater Hank plays The Terminal Bar with Myc Sharrat at 8 p.m. on Nov. 1 and at The Beacon House on Protection Island with accordion-wielding comedic storyteller Danny Bell at 7 p.m. on Nov. 2. For tickets to the Protection Island show, email summer.laurie@gmail.com.

He also plays the Woodstove Arts & Music Festival in K’ómoks territory, Cumberland Nov. 3 to 4 and in W̱SÁNEĆ territory, Saltspring Island on Dec. 8.