Ish’kode
Kitigan Zibi Anishinaabe
Western Quebec
Teacher Lead: Amanda Buckshot
Guest Artist: Justin Holness, Moe Clark, and Craig Commanda (workshop assistant)
Justin Holness is an indigenous producer, entrepreneur, and hip-hop artist, originally from Winnipeg and now based in Ottawa. He has his own production and entertainment company, UN1TY Entertainment, and in 2013 he won first place at the Summer Solstice Aboriginal Arts Festival Talent Contest.
Moe Clark is a multidisciplinary Métis artist, performer, writer, educator, and activist. Among her many projects is the 10th Annual Canadian Festival of Spoken Word (Montreal, artistic producer and performer) and feature performances at the Maelström ReEvolution Poétique Fiéstival (Belgium), the IDEA World Congress: Art for Social Change (Brazil); and a commissioned performance for the Canadian Olympic team at the 2012 London Summer Olympics. Moe will host Casual Fridays with the NAC Orchestra on January 14.
Craig Commanda is a talented local guitarist and bass player from Maniwaki who will assist Moe with the performance workshops on January 11 and 12.
I lost my tongue
I found my voice
I lost my way
I found my home
Walking through this world
With no where left to go
Ish'kode...is in my heart
150 years of indigenous history
Lost and forgotten they took away our identity
Victims abused, in all kind of ways
They don't even care how we turned out today
Strangers on the land, they just don't understand
Traditions kept a secret from the white man
150 years of cultural genocide
You can't take away from the fire that's inside
Ish'kode keeps us alive
Flowing through our veins until we die
They called us all savages, said we're full of sin
Murray Sinclair said young people are medicine
Listening and honouring to the state were in
Healing our nation it's time for reconciliation
Truth to be told, respect the young and old
Now is the time to listen to the stories that are told
All of this trauma created all this drama
Too many young people grew up without their mama
This land is sacred it needs our protection
When you look into our rivers you can see our true reflection