Tuesday 8th October

Type Buffy into Amazon and you get Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but for me Buffy will always be that Native North American Girl.   I first heard of her at school in the mid-sixties as part of the Greenwich Village folk scene; someone had an early album of hers, great voice but I thought the songs a bit weird –all about Reynardine and Sir Patrick Spens.

Then in the early seventies came Soldier Blue, the song of the film.   This nurtured a nascent interest I had in the red Indian movement and I rapidly bought ‘Bury my heart at wounded knee’.  I bought a few of her records including ‘She used to wanna be a Ballerina’, ‘Gonna be a country girl again’ and the brilliant ‘Illuminations’.  The first is a pretty straight-forward rock album, the second a great country album and the third is something else entirely; every sound on the record is synthesized from her voice and guitar.  It is haunting, ethereal and wonderful.  She is incredibly versatile.  Add to that a wonderful songwriter whose songs have been recorded by many artists, including a number 1 hit for Jennifer Warnes and Joe Cocker ‘Up where we belong.’

She took a few years out in the late seventies and regularly appeared on Sesame Street.  She has been involved in Indian rights all her life and her latest two albums  were full of Indian chants as well as some very good songs.  No-one has a voice quite like Buffy’s, tender and gentle and yet capable of great strength and passion.  I saw her live a few years ago and at nearly seventy she was still singing brilliantly.