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 frostynight s 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 fieldstay , 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. The tran scription, unfortunately, cannot possibly do justice to the aural quality of the performance, with its unique tonal properties and inflection, instru mental timbre, and the subtleties of expression and sentiment in the narra tive delivery. The performance is a fascinating mixture of musical ideas organized to impart a distinct sense of Native essence, generally, and Mi'kmaq essence, specifically. Its instrumentation features the characteristic timbre and scale qualities of the Sioux courting flute9 that can in certain uses
7. Marie Battiste's (1994) rendition and explanation of the Mi'kmaq creation story is a fine example of symbolism and interpretation in storytelling, and Franziska von RnL', analysis (1994) of Big Cove artist Michael Francis' storming ^ustlkmg 1 cesses reveals the intricate art of performance and the interweaving of oration^ mSkCd onomatopoeftc symbolism in the contemporary art of Mi'kmaq stor^ellmg 8. I use the term'land consciousness'to suggest that therp is 0 ^,1*. n J- • standing or "consciousness" of landscape (aS Stiverf? * ^S?^^nrt under" Mi'kmlq cosmology. * C°gmtlVe places Wlthm *) » traditional MUSIC-MAKING OF THOMAS GEORGE POULETTE 5 sound stereotypically Native. Recordings and performances of various tribal repertoires have heightened popular recognition of the Sioux court ing flutea s distinctly (and, perhaps, generically) Native American (Nakai & DeMars 1996). The second instrument in the performance is a hand held frame drum. As one of the most widespread instruments in tradi tional Native American music-making, this instrument's image and sound has obvious and immediate symbolic value. Another layer of musical symbolism is also manifest in the melody that Eugene Denny plays on the flute.10 Known in Eskasoni as "I'ko," this is generally regarded as a tradi tional song of Mohawk origin. The origins of the tune and its accompany ing text are unclear; the text is not recognized as Mi'kmaq, and I have heard speculation that it was brought to the Mi'kmaq as a gift song from the Mohawk.11 Regardless of the specific historical and cultural origins, it has symbolic value to the Eskasoni Mi'kmaq as an invocation of Mi'kmaq traditional music culture, and perhaps as an allusion to historical ties between the Mi'kmaq and Mohawk nations. Much "traditional" Native music - music of the Plains, Great Basin, and Eastern Woodlands - uses non-lexical sounds in its melodic/text structures (e.g., hey-hey, yo-ho, we-ya, hey-ya). Vocables such as these serve a structural, mnemonic and symbolic function within traditional 1 ^ singing. In much contemporary Native songwriting, vocables are used as a distinct marker of Native identity (McAllester 1996:84). Several of
9. Nakai & DeMars (1996) use the term 'Native American flute.' 10. The Sioux courting fluteha s recently generated interest among the traditional musi cians of Eskasoni, who have experimented with its timbres alone, and have combined it variously with spoken and sung vocalizations (Mi'kmaq and English), and with traditional and contemporary Western instruments. McAllester (1981-82:433-446; 1996:79) suggests that interest in combining Euro- American and Native traditional instruments is characteristic of the genre he identifies as 'Indian message music' In this style, musicians communicate 'traditional' Native values in a musical fabric that features recognizably Native characteristics such as vocables, tra ditional drumming, and Native-sounding pitch intervals. These musical styles are esoteric, unique, and to use McAllester's description - "strikingly individual" (1996:79). 11. The actual language of the original text - neither Mi'kmaq nor Mohawk - is unknown. Though believed by singers to be Mohawk, and long considered part of the Mi'kmaq repertoire, its text may well have evolved in the course of oral transmission. This melody has also had at least two incarnations with text in English (including one by Rita Joe). 12. See for example, McAllester's assessment (2002:48) of the Navajo "call of the Yei" in the Navajo Yeibechai song. 6 KEVIN M. ALSTRUP
Poulette's texts incorporate vocable chanting as refrains, cho » ^ part of the principal melody; in fact, he equates chanting with the p use of certain vocables. In Poulette's repertoire the songs that ™cln<* chanting focus on issues of Native/Mi 'kmaq tribal practice and tradition alism. The song text often articulates some kind of teaching or explana tion of an issue. Unlike texts, vocables are purely symbolic. When I asked Poulette about his use of chant in his songwriting, he observed (interview, 27 October 2001): I think that's something that we always seem to be recognizing as Native, anytime you throw in the chant, I suppose. It's just something that I do. His awareness of the symbolic power of chant, however, is much more refined than this short excerpt might suggest. In fact, as our conver sation developed, Poulette distinguished between what scholars and tradi tional drummers describe as the North Dakota (Plains) style and his understanding of what traditional Mi'kmaq chanting might have sounded like early in the 17th century, around the time of the baptism of Member- tou in 1610. His own interest in Mi'kmaq traditional singing has been influenced by the accounts of Mi'kmaq customs by Denys (1672), LeClercq (1691) and Lescarbot (1618). Poulette suggested to me that since the early Mi'kmaq chants were transcribed with the syllables, "he, he, he" (Whitehead 1991:26), it was reasonable to devise chants based on these vocables. The complete text of 'Hey young man - old man' appears in the Appendix, along with its musical transcription. Used in this way, chanting subverts contemporary Western pop music conventions by inserting a musical marker of Native/Mi'kmaq musical style over its usual chordal/melodic structures. Chant balances and appropriates the organization of modern pop song for Native use by contrasting English language text and vocable chanting. These effects work together to produce a musical expression that is strikingly original, yet anchored in well-defined Mi'kmaq and Native musical traditions. Contemporary musical expression is a continually evolving creative process. Songwriters like Thomas George Poulette can elevate that expression from the mundane to the sublime. His expressive/artistic prac tice incorporates stylistic and thematic elements of the Mi'kmaq Atuk waqann into poetic and musical narratives that are both contemporary expressions of tribal identity and expressive re-creations of ancient prac MUSIC-MAKING OF THOMAS GEORGE POULETTE 7 tice. By invoking Mi'kmaq and pan-Indian musical tradition, contempo rary Native songwriters practice creative and imaginative modern music- making in ways that preserve notions of authenticity and cultural integ rity.
REFERENCES Alstrup, Kevin M. 2003. "The song - that's the monument:" Eskasoni Mi'kmaw tribal culture in the music-making of Rita Joe and Thomas George Poulette. Ph. D. disser tation, Brown University. Battiste, Marie. 1994. People of the dawn: The Keepers of the Eastern Door. Mi'kmaq Resource Centre Report 212, University of College of Cape Breton. Denys, Nicholas. 1908. The description and natural history of the coasts of North America (Acadia) [1672], ed. & tr. by William F. Ganong. Champlain Society Publications 2. Toronto. LeClercq, Chrestien.1910. New relation ofGaspesia, with the customs and religion of the Gaspesian Indians [1691], ed. & tr. by William F. Ganong. Champlain Society Publi cations 5. Toronto. Lescarbot, Marc. 1907-14. The history of New France [1618], ed. & tr. by W.L. Grant. Champlain Society Publications 1,7, 11. Toronto. McAllester, David P. 1981-82. New perspectives in Native American music. Perspectives of new music 20.1-2:433-446. McAllester, David P. 1996. The beginnings of a new genre. The art of the Native Ameri can flute, by R. Carlos Nakai & James DeMars, pp. 79-107. Phoenix: Canyon Records Productions. McAllester, David P. 2002. North America/Native America. Worlds of music: An intro duction to the music of the world's people, 4th edition, ed. by Jeff Todd Titon, pp. 35- 85. Stamford, Connecticut: Schirmer Thomson Learning. Nakai, R Carlos & James DeMars. 1996. The art of the Native American flute. Phoenix: Canyon Records Productions. Shelemay, Kay Kaufman. 2001. Soundscapes: Exploring music in a changing world. New York: W.W. Norton. von Rosen, Franziska. 1994. 'Thunder, that's our ancestors drumming:' Music as experi enced by a Micmac Elder. Canadian music: Issues of hegemony and identity, ed. by Beverley Diamond & Robert Witmer, pp. 557-578. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press. Whitehead, Ruth Holmes. 1991. The old man told us: Excerpts from Micmac history 1500-1950. Halifax: Nimbus. 8 KEVIN M. ALSTRUP
APPENDIX: TWO SONGS OF THOMAS GEORGE POULETTE Here On Our Land-I'ko (Friendship song) Mi'kmaw/Mohawk traditional Text copyright Thomas George Poulette performance copyrightT. Poulette and s metre/ad lib. E.Denny
Here! on our land! [drum continues...]
jo There's an old canoe by the water Where a red man came to shore He left it there as a reminder For the fish that live no more l^tTji •—«t= ^& There's an old stone axe, on an old tree (| j ° g *T I 1 1 I » ^^ ^E Left again by a red man they say He left h there for everyone to see No more do our green brothers sway ±N tumi *—•—m—o o- There's an old mine shaft on a hill On the door hangs a medicine wheel Left there by red man until The wounds on mother earth to heal There's an old Iron cross on a hill Put there by redma n ~ g * f^* SS * * * ~m ^H^ ^m — -—— • ~ * m S J Q J z3 they say Some people go there still But that religion is going away ^fe^ t-Mt^-—o zzrr. There's an island on the lake Red men don't own it today But a few days everv vear th™ m,i™ A • u- . ' cyerv year n>ey make A journey to this place to MUSIC-MAKING OF THOMAS GEORGE POULETTE 9 J.. .1 JJJJ ^mto pray There' s a cave by the water where Gluscap used to stay Leave only tobacco nothing better Talk to Him J JIT £a M* • i10 r then be on your way There are places scattered here Parcels of unwanterrd land rDrive in we rare stil l there They named us j j J J J. r\ J J «* • •—•—•—et: an Indian Band HERE ON OUR LAND (1) There's an old canoe by the water (5) There's an island on the lake Where a red man came to shore Red men don't own it today He left it there as a reminder But a few days every year they make For the fish that live no more A journey to this place to pray (2) There's an old stone axe on an old tree (6)There's a cave by the water Left again by a red man they say Where Gluscap useld] to stay He left it there for everyone to see Leave only tobacco nothing better No more do our green brothers sway Talk to Him then be on your way (3) There's an old mine shaft on a hill (7) There are places scattered here On the door hangs a medicine wheel Parcels of unwanted land Left there by a red man until Drive in we are still there The wound on mother earth to heal They named us an Indian Band (4) There's an old iron cross on a hill Put there by red men they say Some people go there still But that religion is going away 10 KEVIN M. ALSTRUP Hey Young Man-Old Man No capo COPYRIGHT THOMAS GEORGE POULETTE Am sit t ing in the heard Are the peop- le rea-dy to fight Em Am u I 19 A i li Hold- ing on to one bright light A VerseTKTSK4. 2 Dm |_o -**z %M—' _ n JU m Are they mF& »ey hey bey etc MUSIC-MAKING OF THOMAS GEORGE POULETTE 11 Zxr ^ m67 Verse 3 I i , Ii 73 ^ Hey old man rits out to- night Did you $ i i . n 97 ^ bright blue lights Verse 4 $ *e»—3 = Did you see one mold man 109 g J '* i j Car-ry ing the peop le in one hand i. njfej 1 1=3* ppj^ w*— Did be smile look at vou ± 121 Then walk a- way in sparks of blue m Chanted verse (continue to end of song] a j J s i=«*= « m- ***- Hey hey hey hey hey ^ 133 bey hemy hey hey (to fine) KEVIN M. ALSTRUP HEY YOUNG MAN - OLD MAN (1) Hey young man sitting in the woods (3) Hey old man sitting in the sweat Come and tell me what you heard Did you hear what they said Are the people ready to fight Were the spirits out tonight Holding on to one bright light Did you see bright blue lights (2) Are they now ready to see (4) Did you see one old man We own the land sea to sea Carrying the people in one hand Are they now, ready to die Did he smile and look at you Come and fight the white man's lie Then walk away in sparks of blue Hey hey hey, hey hey hey Hey hey hey, hey hey hey hey hey hey, hey hey hey (repeat) hey hey hey, hey hey hey (repeat)