askiw meskocipayowina: nikamon wîskicâk (The Seasons: Whiskey-Jack’s Song): A Music Composition for Wind Symphony and Cree Drummers, Chanters and Soloist

• Main Author: Young, Jason Alexander
• Other Authors: Radford, Ronald Laurie Charles, Bell, Allan Gordon, Hynes, Laura Anne, Markides, Jennifer Megan, Carrabré, Thomas Patrick
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Graduate Studies 2023
• Subjects: Indigenous; Composition; Music; Moose Factory; Moosonee
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1880/117062

askiw meskocipayowina: nikamon wîskicâk (The Seasons: Whiskey-Jack’s Song) is a cultural-based hybridized composition that is inspired by the musical practices of my complex Cree-Settler heritage. My Indigenous family’s ancestral ties are to the Eeyou community of Quebec. My grandmother attended residential school in Moose Factory. Therefore, askiw meskocipayowina: nikamon wîskicâk is largely inspired by her Mushkegowuk (Moose Cree) upbringing, teachings, and her community members in Moosonee and Moose Factory. It incorporates Cree drummers and solo and group chanters with the contemporary Western wind symphony. I composed this piece entirely while residing in Calgary, Alberta and chose to represent the Nêhiýaw (Plains Cree) people through the language of the text to show my respect and appreciation as a guest among these people that inhabit the neighbouring areas of central and northern Alberta. I feel the result is a composition that incorporates these disparate Indigenous cultures in a way that maintains their integrity and protections in a good way. It is an expression of my view as a person of mixed-Cree-settler heritage and my story.