If the production of contemporary Canadian opera is a rare occurrence, it is even rarer that such work leads to dialogue about the relationship between Indigenous law and song.

For Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션�s professor Dylan Robinson (Languages, Literatures and Cultures), the Canadian Opera Company카지노 게임 컬렉션�s remounting of the opera , based on the life of the Métis political leader, was an opportunity not only to address issues of song appropriation, but also the ways in which music organizations across the country might play a role in redressing the history of Canada카지노 게임 컬렉션�s Indigenous peoples.

카지노 게임 컬렉션�This dialogue is part of a longer conversation that has been going on for quite a number of years between myself and a number of Indigenous colleagues regarding the many uses of our songs within musical compositions,카지노 게임 컬렉션� says Dr. Robinson, a scholar of Stó:lō descent who holds the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�I felt it was important that Indigenous musicians, performers, and knowledge-keepers come together to share our views with music organizations on the functions that Indigenous song serves as law, history and medicine. Our songs are much more than simply songs.카지노 게임 컬렉션�

The day before the Louis Riel카지노 게임 컬렉션�s opening, Dr. Robinson led a dialogue to discuss First Nations song protocol and the mis-use of Indigenous songs in Canadian compositions. Represented in the dialogue were Nisga카지노 게임 컬렉션�a and Métis performers and artists, representatives of the Canadian Opera Company, National Arts Centre, Canadian Music Centre, and the executors and advisors to the estates of the composer and librettist, and members of Louis Riel카지노 게임 컬렉션�s cast and stage director.

Spurring the dialogue was the opera카지노 게임 컬렉션�s use of a Nisga카지노 게임 컬렉션�a mourning song, the 카지노 게임 컬렉션�Song of Skateen,카지노 게임 컬렉션� in an aria sung in Cree by the character Marguerite Riel. Under Nisga카지노 게임 컬렉션�a tradition and law, the song is only to be sung when a community member or chief passes away, or with the appropriate permission of the family who holds the hereditary rights to sing it. Dr. Robinson explains that, in the context of the performance, the song is being utilized in a way that conflicts with its significance for Nisga카지노 게임 컬렉션�a peoples.

카지노 게임 컬렉션�I believe our ancestors shared these songs for safe keeping for our future generations,카지노 게임 컬렉션� explains Dr. Robinson. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�Instead, once the songs were recorded, they were then simply 카지노 게임 컬렉션�filed away카지노 게임 컬렉션� in museum collections, in the words of the ethnographer Marius Barbeau who recorded 카지노 게임 컬렉션�Song of Skateen카지노 게임 컬렉션�. This is where thousands of Indigenous songs remain, often disconnected from Indigenous communities to whom they belong. In some cases, particular songs were also transcribed into western music notation. This made it very easy for contemporary Canadian composers to use them without the knowledge of the families and individuals who still hold the hereditary rights to their use.카지노 게임 컬렉션�

The community consultation, led by Dr. Robinson on April 19, was one of a number of initiatives the Canadian Opera Company committed to in order to address the issue. Another was to host two presentations by the led by Wal'aks Keane Tait and the led by G̱oothl Ts'imilx Mike Dangeli and Sm Łoodm 카지노 게임 컬렉션�Nüüsm- Mique'l Dangeli  who explained the true history of the song to the opera카지노 게임 컬렉션�s audience.

Dr. Robinson says a second dialogue is planned in conjunction with the opera카지노 게임 컬렉션�s Ottawa performance, scheduled for June 15 and 17. He says that, while this is the first step in a much larger conversation on how music organizations might address the various issues, the response by the Canadian Opera Company카지노 게임 컬렉션�s director Alexander Neef and Heather Moore of the National Arts Centre카지노 게임 컬렉션�s upcoming Canada Scene gives him reason to be optimistic.

카지노 게임 컬렉션�I feel hopeful, and that카지노 게임 컬렉션�s kind of a new thing for me to say,카지노 게임 컬렉션� he explains. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�I have had similar conversations over the years with non-Indigenous composers and music organizations that have fallen on deaf ears. This time, however, the Canadian Opera Company and National Arts Centre moved with agility to address the issue as the serious infraction of Nisga카지노 게임 컬렉션�a law that it is. That has not happened before, and so even though we카지노 게임 컬렉션�re at the beginning, I think that there is some institutional will to bring about meaningful action.카지노 게임 컬렉션�