Eva had it made by someone in the Cree community of Mistassini, Quebec, where she worked at the time. The drum is made out of wood, caribou or moose hide stretched across the frame. It has red dots on it, and my understanding is that the paint is to replicate the red ochre our peoples used many centuries ago on their faces and on items such as snowshoes and paddles.

The drum has a deep sound to it. I’ve heard other, bigger, drums of this type that sound very deep and resonate really well. The hunter would tap the drum skin with his hand or maybe use a shaker like the one attached to my drum. It, too, is a small, handheld version of the drum, but with a shaker sound.

My father collected hunting songs when we lived in the Eastmain, Quebec area, and had recordings that I heard as a young boy in Moose Factory. The old men singing on my father’s recordings fascinated me, and by that time, 1970s, it was only voice and maybe fingers tapping a table or their lap.

Over time, missionaries that arrived during the Hudson and James Bay fur trade frowned on the drum and the songs. So the drum disappeared, and the songs were only sung in private or on the trap-line, where hunters continued to sing about the animals, fish and birds that they harvested. It was a way to connect with the animal spirits, to tell them how much they were valued and respected for giving themselves to the hunters for food. This kind of hunting spirituality was important in order to give thanks. The animals would hear the songs and make themselves available again. 

The Cree and other Indigenous Peoples have a different understanding of animals.  We see that understanding in our stories and ancient myths, and it’s found in the hunting drum and songs. The animals have spirits and know when they are being mistreated or disrespected. It’s different than an agricultural view in which animals are domesticated and subservient to people. In the Cree way, animals, birds and fish are equal to humans and have souls. This is a fundamental difference in understanding our worldview, and it is often misunderstood.

The Cree way of understanding, as well as the hunting drum and song, draws my interest today because it has survived over time and space and is a particular kind of self expression. While I don’t use the drum or songs in the way my ancestors did, I have respected the drum, cared for it, and kept it safe over many years. I carried it when I went to university and college, and it still hangs in my house today.

I consider it an original Cree way of expression that today we call ‘music’, but in the Cree traditional society of the past, it served a much different, deeper symbolic experience of life, death, and the inter-personal relations between humans, animals and the earth. It’s an Indigenous view, and one that even Cree youth and people of our communities have forgotten.

For myself, I have thought it important to understand Cree stories, ancient myths, and the hunting drum and songs of my ancestors. There are many different Indigenous practices and religions entering our communities today, and this is my way of preserving something of our Cree past.

The post The Cree Hunting Drum appeared first on Midnight Shine.

Another holiday tradition I’ve come to enjoy is hockey. Growing up, while I was never good enough to play in local organized leagues, I always enjoyed playing on neighborhood streets. It’s where I learned about hockey.

When you think about it, just about every Canadian kid – Indigenous and non-Indigenous – has played street hockey, pond hockey, or backyard rink hockey. It’s where we all first learned to shoot, skate, or simply just run around on ice. It’s where we learned to love hockey.

As we got older, my friends in the Linklater family started an annual Christmas hockey tournament on Cotter Street in Moosonee, using a tennis ball for the puck. For a while our tourney was called the “Cotter Cup,” and friends young and old, and their children, too, all came together to join in the good ‘ol street hockey game.

We’d dress warm, wearing snow boots, thick gloves, ski pants, and winter hats. We’d usually have enough players to make three teams, with the best two teams advancing to play in the final game. The first team to score three goals would be named champions, and get to proudly hoist the Cotter Cup – a small water pail nailed to a wooden base. Captain of the winning team also got to keep the Cup until next tournament.

Playing pond hockey is fun, and allows us to relive some of our childhood glory, be with friends, get some exercise in over Christmas, and have a few good laughs, especially when someone takes an unexpected spill on the ice! I’ve never won the tournament before, but this year, with some good luck, good defense, awesome stick handling, and no injuries, my team won – making us the Champions! Haha! 

Over the last few years, we’ve changed the name and location of the tournament. It’s now called the “Veterans’ Cup” in honour of World War II veteran Munroe Linklater, the father of my friends. We now play on a small pond near my house which is sheltered from the wind, and where we can make a small fire to warm-up around. Some bring hot chocolate, tea, coffee, snacks, even a hot toddy or two to keep the cold bodies warm.

Our annual Veterans’ Cup pond hockey game in Moose Factory has become a fun and meaningful tradition with friends and family that I look forward to every Christmas.

And now, in this New Year that’s upon us… I’m also looking forward to my winning team keeping the cup until next Christmas. Haha!

Happy 2019!

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Growing up in Moose Factory with my parents, my sister Eva was the first one to get me a mandolin when I was about 12 years old. I’m not sure if it was a birthday or Christmas gift, but it doesn’t matter now. What matters is that I liked it. I don’t know what happened to the original, I think my late brother-in-law Gerry Barbeau took it home with the idea to fix it up. I did neglect it for a short time.

In high school, I really grew to like the sound of the mandolin after hearing the great John Paul Jones, bassist and keyboardist from Led Zeppelin, play it on Going to California. As well, I especially liked Jones’s mandolin playing on Battle of Evermore from the Zeppelin four album. I remember I would lay on my bed listening to the way Jones would accompany Jimmy Page’s awesome acoustic guitar playing on these songs. There is a real skill to being an accompaniest on the mandolin to other acoustic guitars and instruments. I think it takes a certain ability to know when to play, what notes to choose, and how to play them that embellishes a song in a particular way. It can be happy, sad, or dark.

In terms of a band’s identity, it was interesting for me to hear such a heavy rock band like Led Zeppelin play traditional English folk songs on acoustic guitars, mandolins, and harmonicas, and use various tunings. Their acoustic songs and sensitive, almost country-inflected style, always impressed me. In my mind, Led Zeppelin made playing acoustic instruments very cool! As well, I think as a musician, if you can show or use some of your other skills other than your main electric instruments, it is a worthy goal to pursue. So I have tried to incorporate some mandolin and acoustic guitar into some of our Midnight Shine live shows.

Today, I use a Godin mandolin and a Gibson Jumbo acoustic series guitar with another band that I play with in Moose Factory. The band is full electric with drums, but they also use mandolin, acoustic guitars, and a box-like cahone drum for quieter acoustic live shows. I’m learning more country-infused bluegrass style mandolin playing, as its never too late to learn new styles.

To me, the mandolin is still an important part of the instruments I own. In fact, if you had a chance to see it on youtube recently, you’ll see me playing mandolin to James Bay with high school students from Delores D. Echum Composite School in Moose Factory, for the CBC Music Class Challenge.

The post Playing Mandolin Strikes A Chord With Me appeared first on Midnight Shine.

Back when I was in high school (a long time ago, haha!)  I was into music and did well in music classes and school performances. I also really liked art classes and made wall murals and other Pink Floyd-like images. I wasn’t the best, but it was a fun way to express some of my tastes.  

 

My approach to photography is loose and unplanned. Sometimes I’ll go for days or weeks without seeing something that I think would look interesting.

 

When I find a sky or sun that looks dramatic, I will grab my camera and take multiple shots of the scene. Since light and movement change slightly every second as the earth is in motion, I try different camera speeds and different F-stop settings, to let in more or less light. 

The post Shooting The Landscapes Of Moose Factory appeared first on Midnight Shine.

There were Indigenous peoples in attendance from Africa, Mexico and Scandinavia that were dealing with climate change in their respective environments, linked to human activities such as emissions from plants and other resource activity.

In many cases, government sanctioned resource activity that is driving the world economy is altering Indigenous homelands. Sometimes the Indigenous peoples, like in Mexico, were in danger of losing their land and their lives when in conflict with companies and state military. When money, economy and rich rewards are at stake, local peoples are in danger from powerful governments and connected companies.

The conference was quite enlightening in the fact that protest around the world has had very different results. In Canada, we’re quite safe and I learned that equality, justice and respect are protected in many places, but in others, it is not guaranteed.

The post Learning About Climate Change appeared first on Midnight Shine.

A friend was just getting into long distance running, and suggested I read a book on running and start learning how to successfully incorporate that into my life.  As I discovered, there’s much more to it than strapping on the running shoes, getting out the door, and running down the roads. You need to be aware of body parts, you need to hydrate with water, maybe electrolytes and energy gel packs.

When I first got out the door, I tell you, I couldn’t run the distance between two telephone poles without huffing and puffing! Don’t forget I had been pretty inactive for many years from high school to adult life, so running was a complete shock to my system. Even just getting out on Moose Factory streets in full view of people who could see me doing something so out of my routine was hard. I felt self-conscious, almost embarrassed to be out there running. I would see people smiling, some even making fun of me! But I persevered, kept at it every day.

I started off one telephone pole at a time, and by the end of the week, I was progressing to 4-5 telephone poles. Eventually, I felt empowered as the distances I could run increased, and people started giving me the thumbs up! My friend kept encouraging me, too, and that also kept me going. I was really feeling like I had climbed a steep, hard hill and was now at a plateau where I could run 5k, 6k and even 8k distances. Every time I hit a new distance I would thrust my fist in the air when no one was watching! It felt like a victory! At last, I could run 10k distances, three times a week.

Over the next three years I trained to complete two half marathons – one in my beloved city of Toronto, and the other in Ottawa.  Running the streets of Toronto, with no one I knew, and alongside 10,000 other runners, was intimidating. The only person there to encourage me was a lawyer friend that worked with the Moose Cree people. He yelled “Go Stan!” as I ran by him on the Lakeshore front. I’m happy to say I finished those two half marathons, and achieved an awesome personal goal!

Running is now an important part of my life. I run when I’m on business trips. I can be found most of the time on the dusty, pot-holed Moose Factory roads running for good mental and physical health, and empowering strength.

Running has helped me think about being a better bass player as well, in how I approach playing with other musicians.  My focus and attention is a lot better in trying to be in the moment during each song, just like focusing on rhythm and pace during a run and not thinking about how many more kilometers are left. Just staying in the moment and let everything else flow.

To all the kids out there, and everyone reading this blog… find something positive to build into your personal health. Remember only you can be responsible for how you treat your body. Be proactive about your health, and do it soon. Don’t waste as much time as I did. Your body will thank you for it later.

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It was an exciting week of rehearsals, doing some songwriting together, sitting down for lots of media interviews, and a live performance on national television with a return visit to Canada AM. CBC also contacted us after seeing a story about Midnight Shine in the Toronto Star, and we were fortunate to get to meet and have an interview with Wendy Mesley. In the end, we ended up with stories on CBC National News, National Post, Vice Daily, Nationtalk, Canada AM, and Toronto Star, and Canadian Press articles that ran in dozens of newspapers from coast to coast. It was quite surreal, and overwhelming. It was also pretty fantastic.

We got to perform two concerts during Canadian Music Week in Toronto — Thursday night at Boots & Bourbon, and Saturday night at the legendary Horseshoe Tavern, as part of United Talent Agency’s artist showcase. Both nights, our agent Ralph James was there to support us, and share his excitement and enthusiasm about our music. That really meant a lot to us, and it’s nice to know that he believes in us as much as we believe in him.

At the same time, we know that the interviews and media coverage coincided with Attawapiskat being in the news again with youth suicide attempts, We hope people understand that we’ve never said we have the answers to these deeply troubling issues, and that we care what happens to families, children, Elders and many others that are struggling in the communities. We felt pretty torn about celebrating our CMW success, while this news was (and still is) going on. We also feel hopeful that if our music can shine a positive light, and provide some happiness to people in First Nation communities in Canada, then that is a contribution we are happy with.

We know that songs, music and concerts can’t solve deeply rooted problems. The issues are very complex, and there is no easy solution. However, we also believe that creative expression may be an ideal way for youth and others to channel some of the emotions that are currently being experienced. Sometimes, all that is needed is a verse, a few chords, writing a poem, making a journal entry, or doing art, to help articulate an emotion — whether sadness, anger, grief, or even happiness.

Look for artists, singers, bands, books, films, and documentaries that inspire you, speak to your sense of the world, and help you identify what you may want to accomplish or succeed at. I will never forget what Elders in Moose Factory have said about having the will and strength to survive, and to never give up. We must remember that advice, as many Elders and their parents and grandparents lived thru immense hardships such as starvation, deprivation, and family separation. Many survived, but many also perished.

I also hear many Elders say that today, we are fortunate to have so much available to us. All it takes is for current generations to have the courage and will to live the lives they want to be living. For those who believe in themselves, and the opportunities that are out there, anything is possible.

The post Canadian Music Week, Community, Creativity appeared first on Midnight Shine.

I had to travel to Toronto last weekend, before the start of Canadian Music Week. We had rehearsal space booked, and also had several media interviews lined up in advance of our CMW showcases. In order for me to get off the island, my only choice was to charter a helicopter and be airlifted to Moosonee, where I have to go to catch airplane flights. And I wasn’t even sure if the helicopter would be flying, because it was snowing at the time, and it’s often grounded when it snows!

The helicopter pilots and crew made sure I got to the airport on time. The two connecting airplane flights went well, too, and after a long day of travel, I was excited to finally touch down in Toronto – one of my favourite cities. It has so much to offer in terms of great live music, entertainment, restaurants, and a bustling energy. It’s awesome to be here, be part of Canadian Music Week, and to feel like you’re part of one great city as you walk its streets and use its transit system.

The subway and streetcars make it easy to travel around, and quickly, too. Coming from a small town and entering the underground subway is a great way to feel like you’re part of the city and its culture. I’ve met helpful people willing to offer directions if you’re not quite sure you’re on the right line.

Toronto is very different from Moose Factory, that’s for sure. The photos here… one one taken on my street just last week, showing what the weather was like when I left Moose Factory. The other is a photo of the subway at Bloor and Yonge – a definite contrast to where I live.

The post Toronto-Bound From Moose Factory appeared first on Midnight Shine.

Its good to have ideas about our origins, and whether there is something beyond our material world. It’s also good to look at Aboriginal traditional stories, and religious beliefs, for guidance on morality and how we should treat others.

But sometimes, people look to holy books or ancient teachings that promote bans on what women can do, how they should dress, and who they may marry. Such teachings can make good people believe in unhealthy ideas in the name of a God, Allah, Mohammed or Yahweh that are in conflict with modern, progressive ideas. Our world is also seeing much violence and death committed by extremists who believe they are doing divine work. There are problems with fundamentalist followers in any religion that are not open to criticism, free speech and reformation of dangerous ideas.

In today’s modern world, we need effective dialogue between minds of different knowledge systems that can change dangerous ideas and reform beliefs that will enhance humanity.

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