Truth and Reconciliation takes to the concert stage


Joan Cohen


amerata Nova reaches up, reaches out . . . but its roots are deep in Prairie soil.” So says an information sheet put out by this gem of a singing group some months ago. The small chamber group, regarded as a hidden treasure within Winnipeg’s music community, is in early March again reaching up, and quite possibly finding a broadened au- dience, with a triplex of powerful choral premieres by indigenous Canadian composers, in what is described as a National Concert of Truth and Reconciliation. Its musical scores break new ground with offerings of in- digenous sounds in a contemporary mode. Its title, and stories’ theme, Taken, is a reference to key losses the indigenous population suffered in centuries past at the hands of European settlers, as detailed in Sen. Murray Sinclair’s powerful, year-old commission report. Clearly, as Sandi Mielitz, Camerata’s board chair, ex- plains, this very small group “is there to take risks and do difficult things.” A group of 14 to 16 singers, some of them just launching into a music career, it special- izes in early (Renaissance and medieval), contemporary and indigenous-infused music, under what the cham- ber group describes – aptly – as “a unique model of cre- ative leadership”. Four “highly talented and commit- ted” musicians share the conductor's role, it explains. With that in hand, “we are able to offer huge musical diversity and embrace the talents of some of the best of Winnipeg’s rich choral talent.” Highly celebrated in this group is Andrew Balfour, Cantata Nova’s artistic director and resident composer, a Cree native with a strong background in choral and Renaissance music first acquired during his Menno- nite university schooling. “Andrew is the founder of the group,” a Cantata Nova information sheet explains, “and it his vision of our music cloaked in innovation, that persists.”


“C


The organization was founded in 1996; it offers three concerts a year, as well as guest performances with groups such as the Winnipeg Symphony, Festival du Voyageur and Contemporary Dancers, and prides itself in a special relationship established with Canada’s indigenous and Francophone communities. Also im- pressive: it has commissioned more than 40 new works by local composers, including its own artistic director – and with Taken has begun branching out in its talent search to the rest of the nation.


Chamber singers are featured this month in three premieres of indigenous music in a contemporary mode. Photo by Chris Black.


Andrew Balfour’s Quamaniq, a drama about 16th century explorer Martin Frobisher transporting Inuit back to England to show as “curiosities”, is a major offering in the three-piece Taken premiere, and stars Iqaluit throat/folk singer Madeleine Allakariallak and Jeremy Dutcher. Andrew now spends much of his time composing, often pieces displaying Renaissance and contemporary classical influences with aboriginal mu- sic and Cree texts. Also charged with music direction as the group’s impressive conductor/curators are Mel Braun, Vic Pankratz and John Wiens. Cantata Nova explains that each of Taken’s three compositions contain imaginative elements of solo per- formance art. In one, New Brunswick Maliseet Jeremy Dutcher, now a Toronto composer and tenor, joins the group to sing about the loss of language that occurred under settler policies. That precious heritage was one of several systematically “taken” from countless indi- viduals in the indigenous community. Lindsay Knight, also known as Eekwol, a brilliant Muskoday hip-hop


Six white killers B


annock is not a North American invention and not a traditional food of indigenous North Ameri- cans. It came here with the Europeans and is a great killer. Over my life, I have eaten much bannock, and I have enjoyed it, especially when it is freshly made and topped with butter and strawberry jam. Today, I eat bannock very seldom. This is because it is made with two or three of the six “white killers”, depending on the recipe.


These “white killers”, all brought to


the Americas by Europeans, are destroy- ing peoples’ health. We are all aware of the dangers of these killers: white sugar, white flour, white salt, white baking powder, white hydrogenated oils, and white monoso- dium glutamate. All of these cause serious chronic illnesses, with diabetes being at the top of the list.


There is a myth that the Europeans came to the Americas, conquered the wil- derness and tamed the native savages. This is far from the truth. For evidence, look at the true traditional foods of the indig- enous peoples who, at the time of the Eu- ropean invasion, had the most advanced civilizations in the world. These people farmed and had many domesticated ani- mals. All of their foods were organically


8 www.lifestyles55.net


artist from Saskatoon, has written a strong, poetic rap text about loss of identity and culture. The concert also features Manitoba-born baritone Jason Klippenstein and cellist Leanne Zacharias, with Fred Ford as nar- rator.


Two performances are scheduled: on Saturday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday March 5 at 3 p.m. at the Ukrainian Labour Temple. Tickets are $30 for adults, $25 for seniors and $15 for under-30s. Camerata Nova describes its people as “a group without feat” – the youth and informality of the group, constant collaborations, diverse range of program- ming, catchy-mysterious concert titles (The Full Mon- te, nortendluvsongs, etc.), quirky approach to music and performance and much else add to the attraction of the concerts.


A special bonus, making this a truly national concert, is an invitation to the chamber group from the Na- tional Arts Centre to perform Taken in Ottawa on June 17 as part of the NAC’s major Canada Scene Festival.


Find and cherish true foods and you won't be tempted by these destructive trespassers. Wayne Douglas Weedon


grown. Common foods that these people developed, grew, and ate were: squash, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, corn, beans, avocados, apples, oranges (including seedless oranges), grapes, turkeys, llamas, venison, fish, and the list goes on and on. Today, how many indigenous people eat these foods in abundance? Or does every- one gorge themselves on foods such as Chicken Delight, noodles in a cup, Kraft Dinner, Wonder Bread, Coca-Cola, and bannock?


Within history one may, with much effort and work, mine from narrow dark crevices tiny nuggets of truth. It is worth the search, but in your search for the truth, beware of fool’s gold that is difficult to distinguish from the genuine article. Take the advice of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), that one should not be- lieve anything one reads and only half of what one sees. To get to the truth, I suggest reading books by authors who have searched for it. Maria Campbell in her book Half-Breed, tells the reader how the conquerors divided to conquer and how the conquered do it to their own. Conquered people now commonly accept falsehoods as truths.


I also recommend authors such as Howard Zinn, Kevin Annett, William Hickling Prescott, Christopher Hitch- ens, Richard Dawkins, Tom Harpur and Gavin Menzies who have searched for


the truth. From these, I suggest look- ing for the many historians who are not commonly mentioned in universities, but have also pursued the truth. Find them and you will move closer and closer to the truth.


Try emulating your ancestors. Take your life into your own hands. Rather than have others dictate to you how you must live and think, decide for yourself what is beneficial for you, what your true needs and desires are. Try it. You will feel so much better.


You have a body which has the goals of surviving and procreating; this is why you have body desires such as hunger, thirst or the need for sex. You also have a ratio- nal brain; it determines if the body’s de- sires are legitimate and beneficial or not. Finally, you have a soul, also referred to as the “I”, the part of you that makes you an individual.


You must decide if the “I” in you con- trols your body or if your body controls you. Society teaches you that you are weak and you cannot control your body. That is not true, and you can discover this for yourself with this simple test: ev- ery day do at least one thing that you do not feel like doing but know you should do. You could start with a simple act, like jumping out of bed when the alarm rings or washing the dishes as soon as you have finished eating.


Eventually, with practice, you will do these things automatically, without thinking and the body, like any bully, will give up. It will stop trying to control you. This is very simple.


The establishment, however, in order to form you into a perfect consumer, has made you believe that these simple tasks are too difficult for you. But just try: you will be amazed at the results, as you begin, say, to discover the phony in the food you eat and the genuine – and also the deceptive and the true in the world that surrounds you.


For inspiration I suggest you read Christian D. Larson’s book, Your Forces and How to Use Them. It is a fine book. Larson tells us no one knows how many energies there are in man, but there are many. Some of these energies, he says, are “so remarkable as to appear both lim- itless in power and numberless in possi- bilities; we may well wonder what man will become when he learns to use them all.”


Answers to CJNU Music Trivia from page 10


1. C 2. E 3. B 4. G 5. A.


March 2017


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