Basia Bulat ponders Polish roots, Olympics

Basia Bulat

With Katie Stemanis
Starlite Room (10030–102 St.)
Wednesday, March 3 at 8 p.m.
$15 at Ticketmaster

“No one’s making huge amounts of money; everyone is doing it for love,” says London, Ontario based folk singer Basia Bulat, when asked about the Olympics. Canadian-raised with a Polish background, Bulat says that when it comes to the question of who to cheer for, it's not as simple as choosing a country.

“I don't really cheer for anybody,” says Bulat, adding that she's “more into the individual” that’s competing, rather than their nationality. “Everyone is going for the same things, and everybody has their reasons why they’re competing.”

Bulat’s outlook on the individual was partially sparked by studying one of her favorite authors, Charlotte Brontë, at Western University.

“There’s a lot of self-assertion, and an identity purpose that’s being worked through [in her books],” relates Bulat. “[Brontë] really speaks to me, ever since I was a little girl," she says, adding with admiration that Jane Eyre is among her favourite books. [Eyre's] basically looking for life in her own terms, love in her own terms, and everything on her own terms as much as possible.”

Bulat transfers her admiration of Brontë and “living on her own terms” to her new album Heart of My Own. On the record, she's incorporated many different and unusual instruments, including the autoharp.

“I approach [the autoharp] as I do any other instrument, [...] A lot of other people seem to view it as a novelty, but I think it has a place among all the other instruments in the world,” explains Bulat of her fascination with the instrument.

Growing up as a Polish-Canadian, Bulat admits that she wasn't as connected to the Slavic part of her heritage as she'd liked to have been, but during the holidays, her family made sure to make Polish traditions an important part of their celebrations.

"My family spoke English at home, so the things that connected me to Poland were cultural traditions and customs at Christmas and Easter and things like that,” recalls Bulat.

“I think a lot of people are in that position, their parents weren’t born in Canada, but the kids were, and you're sort of in between. [It’s] not something that’s necessarily a unique experience, but I think it’s kind of great that there are a lot of people going through this experience together,” she says.

“People with more than just a Canadian background are so lucky to have two places to call home and two histories to be proud of.”

Bulat’s unique outlook on her cultural heritage is especially poignant at a time when the West coast is flooded with individuals from over 200 different nations, sharing in the Olympic experience. “It all comes down to a personal best; I don’t think any country 'wins' the Olympics,” she concludes.