Mi'kmaq Atukwaqann and Aural Symbolism in the Music-Making of Thomas George Poulette

Mi'kmaq Atukwaqann and Aural Symbolism in the Music-Making of Thomas George Poulette KEVIN M. ALSTRUP Queen 's University As a songwriter and poet, Thomas George Poulette1 incorporates distinctly Native and Mi'kmaq themes into his song-narrative and musical organization. His use of specific sounds defines a culturally relevant musical form. 2 Mi'kmaq oral tradition and the telling of Atukwaqann ('old' or 'ancient sto ries') provide a point of reference for the development of his texts. His texts and music together create an expressive musical sound scape3 that is distinctly Native American in a general way and Mi 'kmaq in some very specific ones. These expressive forms and techniques and the overall musical practice result in a powerful re-formulation of Native American musical culture. For many traditional Mi 'kmaq, the content and process of ancient teachings is located in the tradition of telling Atukwaqann, shared and preserved in an orally driven and socially integrated event. The invoca tion of the Atukwaqann in contemporary Eskasoni serves as a powerful cultural act, creating a sense of connection and continuity between con temporary Mi 'kmaq and preceding generations. One of the most fascinating transformations of Mi 'kmaq culture is the integration of Atukwaqann into contemporary songwriting. I learned much about the Atukwaqann and the practice of storytelling from elders 1. Born in Sydney, Nova Scotia in 1950 to Joseph Poulette and Susan [Denny] Poulette from Eskasoni, Cape Breton. His grandfather, Levi Poulette, was a spiritual leader skilled in singing Mi 'kmaq hymns, and his paternal uncle, Peter "Bopi" Poulette, is remembered as a fme singer, fiddle and guitar player. Poulette's father, Joseph Poulette, played guitar and fid dle, and his brothers Jimmy David and Alec as well as his sisters Evangeline and Geraldine are able musicians, performers and songwriters. 2. The Poulette home was a locus of musical activity where family and friends met on weekends to play music and socialize, as is the custom in many Cape Breton communities. Like many musicians of his generation, Poulette developed his musical abilities in popular and contemporary settings. His life-long exposure to traditional Mi'krnaq knowledge and his more recent practice of (neo- or pan-tribal) traditional ''ways" has become a significant force in his musical and poetic practice. 3. Shelemay (2001) is the first ethnomusicological work to use the term "soundscape" for musicaVcultural occurrences. I use it here to refer to the textures of musical organization. Papers of the 35th Algonquian Conference, ed. H.C. Wolfart (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba, 2004), pp. 1-12. 2 KEVIN M. ALSTRUP in Eskasoni, yet it was a conversation with Poulette that firs ^ about contemporary manifestations of this tradition. One P3*10"^ of Poulerte's caught my attention, a narrative entitled 'Come an brother the bear.' As he told me (interview, 9 October 2001): . Native people have always felt that the animals and things, the ani mal and the "L'nu," 'the people', were the same and they taucea, mey did the same things. That's why 'My brother the bear, come ana meet my brother the bear.' He calls him 'my brother' because we re all related. Everything on the earth is related, the whole universe is related. Everything is your brother, you know, it's the same as every one is your sister. I suppose that if we (felt) like that we wouldn t be hurting our brothers and our sisters. 4 COME AND MEET MY BROTHER THE BEAR (1) Come with me to the forest (8) Then he'll turn to Nook a mee Come and meet my brother the bear To bring each a birch bark bowl Let him tell you stories Then she'll serve us the meal Of how things were there 'Cause these are the ways of old (2) Of the hills full of trees (9) Then he'll say 'Wait for the pipe' Of the rivers filled with life He'll fill it and from the ember Of flowers filled with bees With a smile he will light it Of plants and berries of ones delight Then he'll continue with 'I remember' (3) Of the skies so blue (10) When all these shores It becomes one with the sea Were full of red people Of frosty nights and morning dew Who worked their chores With springs so clear you can see Never disturbing the temple (4) If he tells Nook a mee (11) He'll speak of times when all were equal To cook a pot of stew But then our speech began to differ Then you'll know and see And we stood alone as people That all he tells is true Then his voice will snarl and whimper (5) Then he'll speak of good ways (12) He'll turn to Nook a mee Forgotten in time Then he'll turn once more Of the sacred tree that now sways They'll fade till we can't see Inserted in children's rhyme Vanished behind some door (6) He'll tell you why (13) Come with me to the forest The owl flies at night Come and meet my brother the bear And why our sky Let him tell you stories Turns to darkness then light Of how things were there. (7) Why the chipmunk has stripes Why the skin of the toad is rough Why the eagle flies at great height And why the badger is so tough MUSIC-MAKING OF THOMAS GEORGE POULETTE 3 In this text, traditional Mi'kmaq figures such as "Nook a mee"5 and the bear act as central characters. Kinship is established with the bear, a pow erful, human-like figure that commands respect from all animals (includ ing humans). For Poulette, 'Come and meet my brother the bear' is a journey to a specific place and time marked by the boundaries of cultural knowledge. He continued (9 October 2001): So for that moment in time, when I say, 'Come meet my brother the bear' we go into a time where we can again converse with the bear and the bear now tells you what used to be, how the Indians used to be, how it was, and all of sudden, as we're talking, all of a sudden, things change as the bear was telling us all these good things, communicating with us, all of a sudden, he starts to snarl and whimper the way the bear does, and he's still talking to you but you don't understand him anymore. So all of a sudden, it seems to fade away, with Noogoomi, because all of a sudden, your visit is over and they vanish behind a door and that's the whole idea of timing. ... And then I end it with what I started. I said, 'Come with me to the forest, come and meet my brother the bear. Let him tell you stories about how things were there.' As Poulette explains, his text asserts the importance of kin and the creation stories of the Atukwaqann. He juxtaposes elements of style that appear contradictory, inconsistent and somehow inauthentic: the use of English to communicate Mi'kmaq teachings; the engagement of direct narrative executed in a strophic form; and the significance of an oral tradi tion represented in the written word. Yet this apparent contradiction, man ifesting creative and cultural syncretism, represents the core of contemporary Mi'kmaq cultural expression.6 Poulette's text represents this cultural and artistic process by incorporating culturally disparate expressive elements that together encapsulate the qualities of the tradi tional Atukwaqann. 4. All lyrics copyright Thomas George Poulette, reproduced here with his kind permission. 5. In Mi'kmaq folklore, "Nook a mee" or "Noogomi" is understood to be a "spiritual" grandmother to all and the grandmother of Glooscap. Here, Noogoomi is the bear's com panion. 6. Syncretism in Native American culture contradicts and confounds conventional Western notions of authenticity and cultural purity, yet for many Native peoples the prac tice of syncretism and the flexibility of meaningful interpretation is an important defining quality in the interpretation of the "authentic" (Alstrup 2003:65-71;189-203). 4 KEVIN M. ALSTRUP As a poet and songwriter, Poulette writes concise narratives that embody Mi'kmaq knowledge and expressive aesthetics. As a traditional ist and as a member of old Eskasoni and Waycobah families (Denny and Poulette, respectively), he is also familiar with the landscape and lore of the area surrounding Bras d'Or Lake, viewing them from an intimate and culturally informed perspective. Several of his texts focus on themes of landscape and "land consciousness."8 His references to placenames in the Mi'kmaq landscape are important since the latter is understood as the place of Mi'kmaq experience in its complex entirety, as a landscape deeply intertwined with Mi'kmaq history, lore, kin and genesis. During the spring of 1999, towards the end of my second field stay, Poulette showed me his poem 'Here on our land,' that suggested the pri macy and tenacity of the relationship between Mi'kmaq worldview and landscape. In reading the text I was moved by the powerful connections that he established among land, animals, people, places and values. After we talked about this narrative, he mentioned that he had made a musical recording of it. His recorded version (performed with the late Eugene Denny of Eskasoni) invokes an unusual combination of disparate ele ments. The piece "works" as a contemporary form of traditional musical expression because of the levels of meaning built into the organization, performance and reception of the sounds. A transcript of the performance is included in the Appendix, along with the complete song text.

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