Learning the way of the drum
Northern youth learn drum-making at Fort Simpson cultural site
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, October 20, 2016
LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
Jerry Antoine remembers the day he found his singing voice.
Gordie Liske, left, Liidlii Kue First Nation Chief Jerry Antoine and Michael Cazon played drum songs to open the drum-making workshop held by K'iyeli Services and Northern Youth Leadership. - April Hudson/NNSL photos
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The Liidlii Kue First Nation chief was hunting caribou on the Horne Plateau with his brother Jonas when he heard a song. As he tried to hum it, he looked up to see a caribou standing in front of him.
They harvested the animal and bunked down for the night after making a fire and skinning it.
The following day, as they worked to set a net, Antoine heard the song again.
"We set the net and caught 50 whitefish," he said.
"All of a sudden, a sound came out of my mouth."
Later, he was told by an elder that the song he sang that day was a song of thanksgiving.
"I never used to sing like that. I never sang," Antoine said.
Antoine's story came on the heels of a series of drum songs he sang, accompanied by Michael Cazon and Gordie Liske, to mark the opening of a drum-making workshop near Fort Simpson.
The ceremony took place the morning of Oct. 12 inside a small arbour at a camp across the river from the village. Run by Maryjane and Gilbert Cazon, who together form K'iyeli Services, the camp brought together 7 youth through Northern Youth Leadership from across the North to learn the way of the drum.
The weather was chilly, shortly after Fort Simpson saw its first snowfall of the season, and the land - in the words of Gilbert - was "putting on her coat."
The site itself has significance, belonging to the Tonka and Tanche families. Gilbert said those families honoured the drum when other indigenous people fell away.
"We want to honour those two families and what they did for us," he said.
It is also close to where Gilbert and Maryjane's great-grandparents made their camp when they came to a gathering in Fort Simpson.
"My great-grandmother had a tipi on the river bank. So there's a lot of history here," Maryjane said.
"This used to be a part of our gathering place. It brings me back home."
The week-long workshop was set to run until Oct. 18 and took participants through the drum-making process from start to finish. Maryjane Cazon said the lessons would begin with fleshing two hides, which came from Peter Cazon and Sandra Edda, soaking them and fleshing them again.
Each hide could make up to 10 drums, she said.
Participants would also use caribou hide to make the strings on their drums.
"We need an older person to work on that," Maryjane said.
"(The strings) are like a human lifeline. You have to make sure, when you're cutting them, you do not go off. You cut straight. If you do that, you have a good lifeline for the rest of your life."
Part of learning the way of the drum is learning humility, said Gilbert.
"In order to be the way Dene are, you need to humble yourself. The only way to do that is to sing or to cry," he said.
"We sing for weather, thankfulness, empowerment, betterment, direction, healing and praying."
For the frame of the drum, Gilbert joined Michael Cazon and Alfred Saulteaux in cutting strips of birch wood, which would be planed, soaked in water and bent on a 10-gallon drum to make it round.
Ali McConnell, project manager with Northern Youth Leadership, which is a Tides Canada initiative, was camped on-site with Gordie Liske and field instructor Shauna Morgan, as well as the participants. Along with K'iyeli Services, the camp received ongoing support from Liidlii Kue First Nation and a small donation from Rowe's Construction.
McConnell said participants for the workshop came from Cambridge Bay, Tuktoyaktuk, Hay River, Ndilo, Lutsel K'e and one from Fort Simpson.
