LAYLA
STAATS
musician
filmmaker
activist
OCTOBER 10, 2024 LAYLA STAATS BEGINS FILMING FOR SKYWALKER DOCUMENTARY
Layla has kicked off production on her second documentary, focusing on the legendary Mohawk Skywalkers. Filming started this month up high above the streets of Tkaronto, with a crew of hardworking, no fear, Ironworkers.
Wes Day (NDNs on the Airwaves, Ego of a Nation), an Ojibway multimedia artist from Serpent River First Nation, is joining as the Director of Photography. Eric Anderson (True Seed Media) from Six Nations Territory is on board as Sound Engineer.
LAYLA STAATS RELEASES FIRST SINGLE WHITE PINE ON ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS SEPTEMBER 16, 2023
“Niá:wenkowa to the amazing team behind the song, my family and my brother who are my biggest fans, to all of the movements that inspired this medicine, and the teachings that root it in power”
Layla
Stream White Pine everywhere you find great music!
Boil Alert premieres at tiff
september 15, 2023
There’s a wildfire burning inside of me that’s about to spread to the world. Two years ago when I started this documentary I was at crossroad in my life.
The journey of going from community to community … to spread awareness about the water crisis in our reserves forever changed me.
The stories I heard, I can never unhear.
The things I saw, I can never unsee.
The people I met, forever changed me.
Layla Staats
September 9, 2023
Music
In Mohawk culture at one time, language was completely oral, so nothing was written down. The only way to transfer knowledge was through speaking. Layla’s ancestors used stories to teach others. Music was a way to express those stories and allow others to connect with the emotion of shared experiences. Layla started singing backup vocals with her brother Logan Staats and recently claimed her own powerful voice, recording 10 songs to be released in the fall of 2023.
Film
Blood and Water: A Reclamation Story is a short film that shares the story of Layla Staats on her path to reclaim her Mohawk identity. As a generational survivor of residential schools, they took her culture from her, but watch her story as she takes it back. And it all started with the water.
Activism
How did you feel while singing to a wall of Royal Canadian Mounted Police with snipers pointed at you?
I imagined my song White Pine was like a massive wave of energy leaving my body and entering RCMP. It didn’t stop them; it didn’t even seem to faze them at the time. If they could feel the song, I thought they might reflect on the situation differently. In the face of violence and dominant threat, we did not fight back, we did not lash out in anger, but we all stood in peace, and I sang from my heart. That is power.”