Photo of Sunflower Medicine with Emily Donville (left, CJSW).

Sunflower Medicine performed during Sled Island on Wednesday, June 17th at Commonwealth (Downstairs).

Interview Audio:

Interview Transcript:

Emily (CJSW)
My name’s Emily. I’m here on behalf of CJSW Radio at the 2026 Sled Island Music and Arts Festival. I’m sitting here with Sarah and Skye from Sunflower Medicine. How are you both?

Sarah
Feeling sassy.

Emily (CJSW)
I love it.

Skye
Tânisi, CJSW. I’m feeling good. I’m feeling well rested. I slept really well last night.

Emily (CJSW)
I’m glad at least one of us feels well rested.

Skye
I’ve been volunteering, so I just like went to sleep, didn’t get up till noon. Here we are. Yeah.

Emily (CJSW)
Yeah, right on.

Sarah
She works hard to pay her rent. Let’s just say that.

Skye
I was volunteering.

Sarah
If that’s what you call it. Just kidding, that’s me. That’s me. I’m, I’m volunteering.

Emily (CJSW)
Can you introduce yourselves and your role in Sunflower Medicine?

Sarah
Sure. Personally, I’m DJ Good Medicine, Sarah Good Medicine, she/her. I’m a hip hop DJ, hip hop MC, and yeah, and I also spin everything because I DJ to serve the community. I love that.

Skye
Tânisi. My name is Skye Pinay, and I am a Cree artist, music producer, music enthusiast. I’m working on an album right now with the Calgary Arts Development, so yeah, I’d like to spin for the community, but…

Sarah
This girl’s too busy.

Skye
I’m too busy.

Sarah
She has better things to do.

Emily (CJSW)
Wearing all these different hats.

Sarah
We’re down here, she’s up there.

Skye
No, it’s not like that.

Sarah
Yes, I should. should also mention both my parents are mixed European and Métis, so kind of like our own little two-spirit DJ sisterhood with Sunflower Medicine. Yeah, we came together. It’s kind of like if you watch Dragon Ball Z, and they do the fusion thing.

Emily (CJSW)
A long time ago.

Sarah
You don’t know, that’s fair. The listeners will know.

Emily (CJSW)
They’ll definitely know.

Sarah
Took us a while to get the technique right, because first few times we merged. Just kidding. Anyways.

Emily (CJSW)
Skye, last time you sat down with us last year, it was a solo project. So, tell me about how you two kind of came together to form this beautiful sisterhood of music?

Skye
So, there was one December evening we were DJing a community event.

Sarah
There was a log fire going.

Skye
There was a log fire going, and I don’t know, I just.. I sparked it, because I was like, we should probably like, because we’re like one of the only few, if not the only like Two-Spirit DJs, actually, I know a few, never mind

Sarah
And like trans DJs.

Skye
Trans DJs, yeah. We’re, yeah, we’re kind of in our own league.

Sarah
We’re just talking over you. Sorry, go ahead.

Skye
No, it’s okay. I don’t know, I just feel like maybe the both of us together could do some pretty amazing work, we are. We just did a set the other night, and it was pretty kick ass. But lately, I’ve been like dabbling into visual arts, and so that’s hard to do, playing on stage with music and doing the visual thing. So a big part of me wants someone else on stage, and that’s kind of my thought process.

Sarah
“That’s my thought process,” like a real music producer, just methodical. I was gonna say, yeah, I feel like we’re a group, we’re a thing, because Skye, well, my first memory is that we were going to work on a song together, and I said, “send me the stems, would it be okay if I mixed it?” Because I’m sometimes a control freak, and you were learning how to mix vocals, and I never got that song back to you, so then you followed up with me and said we should – this is probably skipping over some details – but we should DJ together, make art together, and I really like what you said about it’s hard to do more stuff when you’re just playing music, like visuals and stuff, and so. She comes, Skye comes to the group with a background in music production and, and visuals as well. I come to the group as a DJ with a background in rapping and emceeing spoken word, and so that was one of the things that was so beautiful, which I think now, thinking back, is kind of sad. They didn’t get to see visuals for what we did on this past Wednesday for our show, but like I’m able to emcee when she’s DJing, whether that’s rapping, like sometimes when I’m DJing, but when I pass it off to her, it’s easier for me to do stuff, you know, same same thing with her, and we also, it’s nice because we just come with different skill sets, like she also spins a lot more bass, drum and bass, 140, that kind of stuff. I’ve more of a, I started DJing as a thing for our rap youth group, so I actually specialize in spinning for rap cyphers and rap battles, and then more now into electric powwow, house music, dance music, but we sort of mix it up, and and that’s what was so beautiful about the set on Wednesday, I would say, I don’t know if there’s other things you would say, Skye, but that you’re like going from like some crazy bass wobbly sounds, you know, over to like an electric powwow sort of, you know, more like drum hit type of song, and then like into a hip hop song and then back into this 140 bpm as we’re passing it back and forth.

Skye
There’s a lot of overlap with bass music and like hip hop because there’s this shared origin of marginalized communities and that same with like street photography, I also, I’m also very big into street photography, so I’m just trying to make art in these realms, yeah, but that’s that’s pretty much how.

Emily (CJSW)
That’s really lovely, like both of you have…

Sarah
We’re both currently single, if you’re looking for any bass baddies, drop into Sunflower Dreams DMs.

Emily (CJSW)
Love it. You both bring something so unique to the project since you’ve started making music together. Like, how do you think you’ve influenced each other?

Sarah
How do you think, what?

Emily (CJSW)
How do you think you’ve influenced each other?

Sarah
Well, we talked about that this week. Do you want to talk about getting on the mic?

Skye
I’m pretty awkward on the microphone, so we’re… You can’t really tell right now, but like, like on stage, of like, I don’t, I don’t like talking, so that’s where Sarah comes in, and she’s, she’s amazing at it, a wizard on the microphone. And then I guess, sorry.

Sarah
We complement each other really good. That’s it, that’s all I got.

Skye
Well, I get the electric powwow, because that’s near to me. I’ve always just kind of been in my own league when it comes to music spinning, and you’ve also been in your own league as well.

Sarah
Yeah, that’s one of the really nice things.

Skye
Yeah, so we complement, complement each other for that, I think.

Sarah
Definitely. Just kind of echoing. We’re all about those prayer hands, just. We definitely complement each other, and you know, believe it or not, I know that, like, my job, like, I’ve been working full time as an artist for, like, the past three, three and a half years, between DJing, hosting events, hip hop performances, stuff like that, running also a youth worker, so I have my own little Two-Spirit youth group, shout out to my Two-Spirit youth circle, but I am scared to like get on the mic and stuff, but something just happens and I do it, and so I’m happy that that’s a thing, but I don’t know as much about things like music production, and music production like and genres can merge and stuff, but like, I know, especially the least amount, around Skye’s background, with like 140, drum and bass up there, a bit higher, like all like sort of the stuff that she likes to think about, how you make those weird bass sounds, I’m learning from her composition of like a full song, like I think about that in terms of a hip hop song, but like the way that an electronic song is structured is different, so those are like a couple things, and then just like knowledge of the music. I have a friend, shout out Rubix’s, who spins a lot of drum and bass, dub music, dubstep, and, and between him and between Skye, I’m sort of getting into more of this like jungle-esque, bassy sort of stuff, and yeah, and that’s something nice to get from Skye. Yeah,

Emily (CJSW)
I love that. Very complementary.

Sarah
She also gives me shit when I’m being an idiot, so that’s good.

Emily (CJSW)
Someone to level you out a little bit.

Sarah
Level me out on all angles that I’m out of whack.

Emily (CJSW)
Let’s see, you’ve mentioned electric powwow a little bit, and I love to touch on that. I feel like electric powwow, as a genre, can be a very powerful way to kind of decolonize the dance floor, and I’m curious, like, how do you transform, like, a place like Commonwealth, where you performed on Wednesday? How do you transform that club venue into a space for kind of community healing?

Sarah
I mean, it’s hard. I do a lot of sober stuff, so being in bars, like, I actually, I mean, we haven’t talked about this as much, but I do like think about, like, going in there, you know, when you’re in a bar, it’s hard to think about sobriety, and a lot of, I’m not like, you know, preaching sobriety all the time, but I am trying to live a good life, and, and be healthy, and I think it is challenging in a way, but I think people resonate with, with electric powwow, a lot of the sounds and songs that come from traditional First Nations singing, that’s on those kinds of songs, like that kind of singing, and those songs, like they’re so old, you know, and I guess this is just what happens in my head. I think that they resonate for people, because we all, no matter what ethnicity you are, where you come from in the earth, we all come from tribal beginnings, where you know, shout out, John Trudell, for this, we all come from a place where we, you know, believe that the earth was our mother and the sky was our father, and, you know, we, we knew we were taken care of in that way, and those songs come from a way of living, a tribal way of living that is like that. So, I think people are, I think it moves people. There’s something in our DNA or something in our, our spirit that gets moved by that kind of music, and I, I like it. I think it’s important to celebrate being a human being, and, and to me, that’s what I’ve learned from that music. I don’t know, I feel like Skye…

Skye
There’s an energy that comes with festivals like Sled Island, and, well, just about basically any festival that you go to. There’s a, there’s a spirit I’d like to say, and it’s a connection that we all – everybody in the room, not just the dancers, not just the performers, with everybody. There’s this connection that we all feel when that music is playing. Maybe it’s the bass and the sub frequencies, but there’s like this vibration that we all feel, that there’s another connection, not we’re just not, we’re not just listening to it, we’re feeling it. So I feel like that’s a huge, that’s a celebration I think.

Emily (CJSW)
I feel like it can be kind of grounding, like Sarah, you were talking about, you know, these songs, and you know the way of being, and I can’t help but feeling like I feel like we’ve lost the plot, like as a society, I’m like, we kind of tend to, you know, gravitate or dwell on things that I just feel like don’t matter, but then when you’re on the dance floor, like, I feel like that music can be so powerful and just can kind of remind you of what’s important, I guess.

Sarah
Yes, I think that’s a really good way to put it, and I want to echo two things: one, around festivals, there is an energy, and Skye is a, is a festival DJ, like she’s played a lot of festivals, her catalog of festivals is growing, that’s another thing that I’m learning from her, most of the DJing that I do is for like local community events, hip hop events, which tend to be a little bit more like either the DJing is adding to something for the event or it’s supporting like an element of hip hop, but at a festival, like the DJing is like the main thing, and so I am learning that from her, and there was something I was gonna say, but I forgot what other part was… Something. It’ll come back to me.

Emily (CJSW)
I know it will. I want to maybe switch gears and talk a little bit about maybe, or maybe not switching gears, but like delving further into that festival aspect. Skye, obviously you have a lot of experience playing at festivals, and you more so at community events. How do you feed off the crowd when you’re performing at a festival like Sled Island, as opposed to maybe a more community or event that’s completely divorced from a festival?

Skye
Usually, if I hear a whoo.

Emily (CJSW)
Good indicator.

Sarah
To all you listeners out there, if you give us a little whoo, makes us feel good.

Skye
Yeah, so there’s yeah, just to add on to what I was saying, there’s this connection that I feel to the music when you’re playing on live, and like other people are there too, they can feel it, yeah, so when you play something that resonates in that way, it just… it’s very cathartic. Yeah.

Emily (CJSW)
I think at the beginning of this interview, too, like both of you mentioned you DJ for the community. Do you feel like…

Skye
I suck at those.

Sarah
She’s getting better.

Skye
Yeah, I think I’m getting better. But.

Emily (CJSW)
Well, I was just thinking, like, do you feel like the community knows that? I don’t know. I don’t even know if the community feels that. I don’t even know if that’s a good question.

Skye
I don’t even remember the last community event that I did.

Sarah
Last Wednesday, the Wednesday before.

Skye
Yeah, that was good.

Sarah
I can tell you her favourite flavor of toothpaste too. She might not remember.

Skye
Okay, yeah, okay. So the last community event that I did, I connected well, I think, but it was, it was a movie premiere, so everybody, they came in, and then they just immediately sat down. Yeah, so I feel like no matter what I played, they were gonna enjoy it, but I did throw in some electric powwow, and that was that was a really nice touch I think. That’s something I learned from Sarah.

Sarah
And you know, you were talking about, like, the healing element, and then, or we were talking about it, and then you just, your question about, like, how do you tell how the community is vibing, or how people are responding. As an MC, like as a hip hop MC, culturally my role is to move the crowd with the microphone, and I’ve been rapping and emceeing long before I was DJing, so if the crowd is doing something I don’t want them to do, I make them, not like make them, but I lead, that’s the role of the MC, is to move the crowd, it’s my, I’m the master of ceremony, and so, like, for instance, we were playing in the basement at Commonwealth, and the crowd at the beginning was a little bit smaller, and as the act upstairs finished, they piled downstairs, and it was wicked packed in there, but there’s always this thing around the DJ booth, which we also appreciate sometimes, because we don’t want to get our stuff damaged, or whatever, so people getting too rowdy, but they were like giving us way too much space, and so I, so I started talking to them and saying, “there’s a lot of shy people in here, and we want to make sure that we can see each and every one of your beautiful faces, so bring it in, bring it in,” and you have to keep telling them, because they’ll question it. ‘Do I want to? Do I want to be seen? Do I want to be up front?’ So I wanted to say that that’s like how I engage the crowd and vibe is I lead it. Sometimes they need permission to enjoy it. That’s what I’ve noticed as an MC, people want to clap or cheer, but sometimes they won’t, so I gotta, some maybe one person will clap or give a whoo, I’ll be like, “that’s, that’s good, we should, we should cheer for that,” and then the whole crowd cheers, you know what I mean, like, so there’s stuff like that. The other thing I wanted to mention on the topic of emceeing and healing, this is what I wanted to say earlier was that it just happened when we were DJing together, as I start going into a spoken word approach over her songs, and this specifically came from her song Bloom, which I think is coming out soon, hey? Oh, Bloom just came out last week, and it’s called Bloom. And as we were playing it and listening to it while we were practicing, I imagined a small seed under the ground that had everything that it needed inside of it to grow and to push past the soil, push past the air, and be nourished by the air and by the soil and by the sun and grow into that rebirth, that next life that that form of the earth is that seed is going to take. And so I did that during the show, and people took it like a guided meditation.

Emily (CJSW)
I love that.

Sarah
It was crazy.

Emily (CJSW)
I’m having serious FOMO now.

Sarah
Well, next time.

Emily (CJSW)
Yes, next time.

Sarah
But that came from her music. Whatever medicine she put into that song brought that medicine out in me, and that was something we delivered to the crowd there that I don’t think anybody – I mean, there’s probably other people – but it was like, it felt special what we were doing.

Emily (CJSW)
It’s like very clear that you’re having this conversation, and it’s cool to kind of see the way that you respond to each other during your set. Are you like, are you mostly improvising during your set?

Sarah
So our songs, with some some working through, we figured out we built a set, we wanted to come prepared with a set like professional DJs, which is a lot harder as a DJ duo, because you know, maybe we want to swap songs out, or you know, whatever, you know, like it’s different than when you’re DJing on your own, yeah, we’re making decisions together in terms of the spoken word and, and the over talking, it’s, it does, it comes from the heart, comes from spirit, or if the audience isn’t behaving themselves, then it comes from me giving them shit.

Emily (CJSW)
Fair enough. Let’s see, Skye, you mentioned you’re working on new music. Can you tell us more about that?

Skye
So, I’m happy that everybody loves Bloom. It’s very upbeat, but my next single is going to be very dark. So, this record that I’m putting out in August has been a long time in the making. I’m pretty sure I talked about this last year too, when I was here. So I got an arts grant, I finally was able to put the energy, it allowed me to put the energy that I want to put into it, and it’s finally coming out. It’s finally coming out, and it’s very, it’s very like sad in a way, because there’s like on the album, there’s feelings of happiness, like Bloom, there’s feelings of sadness, like the next song that I’m going to put out, there’s feelings of joy, and you know, there’s there’s all like sorts of these emotions that are in it, and I think that’s because, like, I started these songs when I was just starting transitioning, and now that I’m on this side of the transition, I’ve had my surgeries, and I started transitioning eight years ago at this point, and a lot of this music started eight years ago, too, so in a way these songs transitioned with me because it switches up halfway through it with Bloom. I started that before, right before COVID came about, and for like the longest time it was two songs. The song, it was going to be longer. It was going to be longer, but I was like, you know what, I maybe I’ll just cut it here, release the first half, and then later on the second half I can come back to, so that’ll be, there’ll be, there’ll be more. There’s a lot more than what I’ve already released, and there’s a lot more than what’s on this upcoming album of like eight or nine songs.

Emily (CJSW)
Amazing, exciting.

Sarah
Not six or seven.

Skye
Not six or. I got the grant for like six or seven songs. And then, but as time, as you know, time allowed, I was able to put more effort into other things as well, so yeah.

Emily (CJSW)
What does it mean for you to kind of translate these personal experiences into these songs?

Skye
It’s 100% cathartic. Yeah. Like I feel like…

Emily (CJSW)
You think there’s like a sense of relief, maybe?

Skye
Oh my god, yes, yes, I can tell you that we probably wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t a musician, like, if I wasn’t working on those, because, like, in 2013 someone broke into my house and stole my shit, and so there’s, there’s those emotions with that, so some of these songs are just letting go of those emotions, yeah, and all the emotions in those years, not even just the break-in, but, so it’s been nice to just move on. And now with Sunflower Medicine, I can start new things, and I’m just like, I’m at a point where it’s like, is it actually gonna be done? Because it is. And like, because six songs are already in the bag, they’re already ready to go, and I got like three more to do, just the finishing touches. But I’m thinking about next year, and what projects are going to be there for me, because if I didn’t do this record, I wouldn’t be here, we wouldn’t be here.

Emily (CJSW)
Yeah, yeah. Thank you for sharing that.

Skye
Thank you.

Emily (CJSW)
Maybe another question, before we kind of close things out, but when you’re working on your album, like, is there a moment where you know a song’s finished, or is it kind of like?

Skye
No, as a matter of fact, these songs are not finished, they’re just finished enough to just push them out the door. They’re like kids going to school, you hope they do good. You could only, you could only wish, you could only do the things that you’re in control of, and releasing these songs, so they can do their own thing. The algorithms.

Emily (CJSW)
Let them grow and exist in the world, yeah.

Skye
And it’s like it’s not the end, it’s not the end of the projects, like as time moves on, and the more shows I play, the more edits and VIPs I can do of my songs. I could, you know, do something special for one crowd and do something special for another crowd, so it’s not over. It’s just finished enough.

Emily (CJSW)
Finished enough. I liked that. Feel like I’m gonna carry that through my own life.

Sarah
Finished enough. I was, that was beautiful.

Skye
I already have another version of a song thats on this album that I’m really excited for people to hear.

Sarah
Perfect, so watch out for that. No, you’re like every other artist I’ve…

Emily (CJSW)
I feel like it comes with the territory of like being an artist, like you’re always your own worst critic. You just got to put it out there.

Sarah
That’s true. Maybe we, maybe that’s one of the ways we can like lean into supporting each other. And I just want to say…

Skye
You already do that.

Sarah
Do I?

Skye
You’re already like, “you can’t think like that Skye.”

Sarah
Oh, that’s good. I feel like sometimes, because I tease her a lot, like I like, so you know, like I, yeah, I don’t want to, that’s what I think sometimes, I tease too much, so I’m glad.

Skye
I’ll say.

Sarah
Right, you do it.

Skye
It’s a native thing.

Sarah
It is a native thing.

Skye
We just like to laugh.

Emily (CJSW)
Laughter is medicine.

Sarah
We do, and I, it is, and I just want to say, kisâkihitin, I love you, and I, I didn’t hear you say that before about your music, and I can relate. Just wanted to say that.

Emily (CJSW)
I’m gonna tear up over here.

Sarah
Right? I know we just, we’re like coming in from working on the street to make a rent, so now we’re making you cry. One other thing before, before we wrap this up, I know we’re probably way over time, but I was gonna say we, in the long term, have in the pipeline, two collaborative songs we’re working on that are just drafts right now, so just wanted to say that. They won’t be out forever, so you’re just gonna have to hold your panties tightly. We’ll get back to you on that, but that is, that is a goal to do some. Can we say panties on air?

Emily (CJSW)
Yeah.

Sarah
I think you can.

Emily (CJSW)
I think so.

Sarah
I think so too.

Emily (CJSW)
It’s community radio, anything goes. Can I just say, how special this has been to sit with you two and just chat? I feel… I don’t know, my spirit has been lifted through this conversation. And before you go, tell me, do you have any upcoming shows that people can look forward to?

Sarah
This is like the thing you’re supposed to come into the interview with. I’m gonna give this to Skye, so I can think for a second.

Skye
I have at the end of July, I’m going to Quebec to play a festival, but until then, I’m working on my album, so. Oh yeah, and then I got an artist residency in Edmonton in August, so that’s something I’m really excited about and scared about, because it sounds intense from everybody that has done it.

Emily (CJSW)
Busy summer, but hopefully fruitful.

Skye
I also technically owe them a song too, so I could just use one of my songs, but yeah.

Sarah
DJ Good Medicine here, you could catch me at so many different community events, AFCC Stampede Barbecue, Aboriginal Friendship Center of Calgary Barbecue, honoring Indigenous Peoples Day, which is happening July 1st. So, if you’re listening to this and it’s not July 1st, we’re going to be at City Hall, I think it starts at about 10 and goes till about 1pm or 12pm so you can come check that out, and yeah, and I’m also a rapper. Most of the songs that I make are our rap songs, so that’s something you can keep an eye out for. I also won the Calgary Poetry Slam the other night.

Emily (CJSW)
Congratulations.

Sarah
Smoked out. It was, the competition was stiff, but I smoked out nine other poets, and so hopefully I was just talking with Cobra, shout out Cobra, if I can, I’ll be in the finals for the for the year, and if I win that, which, like, I’m not saying I will, but I’m just putting it out there that if I do, then I go to represent our city for Vancouver, and I guess, I can’t remember their name that went last year that represent our city, but they won in Vancouver, representing for the Nationals, representing our city, so maybe I could do that too.

Emily (CJSW)
Oh, I know you can.

Sarah
Yeah, but I got a song I’m working on with my friend Phrekwency. Shout out, Phrekwency. I got a song with Tea Fannie I’m working on, shout out Tea Fannie, and a few other things on the pipeline.

Emily (CJSW)
Awesome, you two are both very busy this summer. Thank you so much for sharing some of your afternoon with me, and I hope you have a great rest of your Sled.

Sarah
Thanks, Emily.

Skye
Thank you.