For the Innu, drums are made of caribou hide and are of central importance to their culture and the old man-shaman’s skilled way to tune, add a variety of feathers for different songs believed to help communicate with the spirits of animals. With assistance from young men to care for and bring the drum to the old man-shaman when needed.
Drumming is a central aspect of Innu culture. Songs beats would vary with each song while dancers would keep in time rhythmically to all the changing beats. Singers are those who have the power to have visions and dreams that were inherited from males in the family as well as reflections of hunters who live in nature; more recently mostly women sing to ensure the preservation of the ancient Innu songs.
The Innu songs are about awareness of the relationships with the feelings and thoughts of the animal world, a way to prepare for hunting by sharing dream visions about the hunt and songs of love for marriage celebrations. Origins of songs will be discussed before a drummer begins singing about a former ancestral lifestyle of hunting and travelling in nature.
Among the Mi’kmaq songs were accompanied by percussive instruments and later near the end of the 20th Century, drums were introduced. Being inventive, Mi’kmaq also used cylinders made of either wood or metal covered by a piece of hide to be used like a drum. Chants are formally introduced and origins of the family and meaning of the chants are customarily described before a performance. Like many other Indigenous peoples, Mi’kmaq chants help prepare for hunting and assist in courtship rituals. Other celebrations, feast and even moments in history are occasions to hear the Mi’kmaq sing out their chants which were usually sung by the men, however many women now sing in order to retain the oral teachings offered by the chants.
The fiddle is the central instrument used among the Métis throughout Atlantic Canada as it was inherited by French and Scottish lineage. Not to be held back by not being able to afford buying a new fiddle, many Métis used maple and birch to make their own. The Métis fiddle music with background sounds of clacking spoons has its own distinct tempo, including extra beats for the Métis jig which is learned through oral teachings and does not follow a typical musical structure found in formal mainstream use of the same instrument.
Prior to European contact, Innu had no borders between now Labrador and Quebec relatives and in the spirit of celebrating their culture an annual Amerindian music festival called Innu Nikamu is hosted to upwards of 6000 attendees and features a blend of traditional and modern music. This event has been running since 1985 and a means to showcase the empowering effects of music to reinforce Innu identity, language and strengthening community connections. Songs using a frame drum with snares are used to prepare hunters are common among the Innu as well transplanted pow-wow songs are also infused alongside more contemporary compositions. With a unique genre of folk Innu that is a combination of traditional drumming and the use of acoustic and electronic instruments.
A Mi’kmaq musical legend is Willie Dunn who was one of Canada’s original Aboriginal recording artists. With support in the 1970s from the National Film Board of Canada, Willie is famed for producing The Ballad of Crowfoot and The Other Side of the Ledger and won international acclaim with several awards in his unique poetic style to voice the historical struggle of Indigenous peoples.
Willie toured extensively performing and recording his music throughout Europe and North America. To his filmmaking, directing and production credit, Willie Dunn was inducted into the Walk of Honour for the Ballad of Crowfoot, The Other Side of the Ledger, The Voice of the Land is in our People. As recently as 2005, Willie Dunn was honoured during the Aboriginal Music Awards in Toronto with the Lifetime Contribution to Aboriginal Music award (www.williedunn.ca).
This article is a non-comprehensive and living document that provides an overview of artistic activities in the region. It will be revised as necessary as part of our ongoing process of continuous updates.