Community Sound[e]Scapes - Northern Ontario - Elder Interviews
As part of the “Sounds of North Spirit Lake” project, the Community Sound [e]Scapes team worked with K-Net and with Sally Bunting, the Mental Health Counselor for North Spirit Lake to bring young people and Elders together to share knowledge and questions about sound in the community. The recoded stories below are in Oji-Cree, with translation by Sally Bunting.
Four young people visited the houses of three Elders (Connie Rae, Eva Rae, and Irene Rae). At each house, the young people took turns in recording the stories and asked their own questions.
Questions included:
“How has the sound changed in the community?”
“What are the beautiful sounds you remember?”
“How long is it since you heard a drum in the community?”
“What are the sounds of the pow-wow you remember?”
“Would you like to hear a pow-wow again in the community?”
“What would you think about having a pow-wow again this summer?”
The stories, answers and knowledge shared by the Elders included everything from memories of the sounds of animals, wood chopping and singing, to stories about how drums were made, to memories of family and children, to concerns for the future of the young people in a changing community. The Elders leant their support to the hopes of the young people for new pow-wows again for the first time in over sixty years. We are all very grateful that the Elder’s agreed to be part of this project, and that the young people asked the questions they did. We hope it could be start of new community soundscapes, and help build new bridges between young people and the knowledge of the Elders. Many thanks to Sally Bunting who arranged the interviews, translated and made this part of the project possible.
Elder interview 1 Irene & Raven
Elder interview 2 Connie & Kota
Elder interview 3 Eva & Phillip
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Download Elder interview 1 Irene & Raven