Big plans for Aboriginal Day
Artist group plans drumdance, mural and concert to focus on resilience
Robin Grant
Northern News Services
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
There are big plans in store for this year's Aboriginal Day.
On Aboriginal Day, Northern artists and musicians led by project leader Leela Gilday will be performing a collaborative concert as well as unveiling a mural honouring the survivors of the 14 residential schools in the North. There will also be 200-person-strong drum dance to mark the celebration. - NNSL file photo
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On top of the usual celebrations, singer-songwriter Leela Gilday is helping to lead the Gho-Bah project, which will bring a collaborative concert, mural and 200-person-strong drum dance to Yellowknife's downtown.
Gilday told Yellowknifer the idea for the project called Gho-Bah came to her when Canada Council for the Arts announced funding for artistic collaborations after the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report on residential schools in December 2015.
The commission was responsible for gathering records and testimony about residential schools and has condemned the residential school system as a form of cultural genocide. With this legacy in mind, Gho-Bah is all about showcasing the resilience of indigenous people in the NWT and Canada.
"Basically, since colonization and especially since residential schools, Northerners - Dene, Inuit, and Inuvialuit - have endured this onslaught of legislated policies of cultural genocide," explained Gilday. "Despite all of that, we made it. We're still here. There's lots of cultural strength to Northerners."
Gho-Bah is part of a group of organizations called "{Re}conciliation Initiative," which aims to promote artistic collaborations between indigenous and non-indigenous artists.
"It's a great opportunity for us as artists to bring that resilience into the public consciousness and to celebrate it and to get a dialogue happening," said Gilday.
The music and art showcased at the event will explore themes of cultural loss, genocide, fear, strength and how to move forward. Participants will also unveil a mural dedicated to the survivor's of the 14 residential schools in the North, which will be on permanent display and serve as a reminder to people of their shared history, said Gilday.
In addition to the outdoor public celebration on June 21, there is a concert scheduled for the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre on June 17 for special guests and survivors of residential schools.
Some artists on the docket for both events include Lawrence Nayally, Paul Andrew, Stephen Kakfwi, Catherine Lafferty, Casey Koyczan, Pat Braden, Andrea Bettger, Meg Dolovich, Debashis Sinha, Robert Walsh and filmmaker Amos Scott, including music written for and performed by the Aurora Chorealis.
Gilday is also writing songs for the collaboration, which will be sung in Dene.
"That's something I have wanted to place more of an emphasis on in my career," she said. "It is a great opportunity for me to do that. It's been a journey to write these songs together with these other artists and musicians."
On top of Canada Council for the Arts funding, Gho-Bah has received funding from the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation and The Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada.
