Mali Obomsawin (they/she) is an award winning bassist, songwriter, and composer from Abenaki First Nation at Odanak.

With an expansive background in American roots, rock, and jazz, Mali’s debut album Sweet Tooth received international acclaim since its release, including rave reviews and Best of 2022 placement in The Guardian, JazzTimes, and NPR. A suite for Indigenous resistance, the album flies in the face of Western tropes that insist Indigenous cultures are monolithic, trapped in time. Instead, Obomsawin highlights centuries of clever adaptation and resistance that have fueled the art and culture of Wabanaki people.

As a Smithsonian Folkways Recordings artist, they toured internationally with Lula Wiles, appeared as an accompanist with contemporaries like Jake Blount and Lizzie No, and performed at premier festivals like Newport and Philly Folk Fest. In 2022, Mali received an International Folk Music Association’s Rising Tide Award and a New England Foundation of the Arts’ New Work New England award. Mali is a member of The Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band and Indigenous Performance Productions’ Welcome To Indian Country. They scored the upcoming film We Are The Warriors.

Beyond the stage, Mali is a community organiser and advocate for Indigenous rights, environmental justice, and landback. She works with the Wabanaki-led Sunlight Media Collective to document and promote stories at the intersection of environmental justice and Tribal sovereignty. Her journalism has been published in Smithsonian, National Performance Network, and the Boston Globe. In 2020, Mali co-founded Bomazeen Land Trust, the first ever Wabanaki land trust, where she currently serves as executive director.