A new album rooted in Treaty One territory is continuing to add to the history of the Métis people through the sharing of stories and song.
Histories des Métis: The Freedom Songs is the latest work by Treaty One-born composer T. Pat Carrabré, with words by celebrated Metis lawyer and author Jean Teillet. It was recorded by the Vancouver Chamber Choir conducted by Kari Turunen.
“The meaning of how and why these people came to the territory is not really well known,” Carrabré explains, speaking to Morning Light’s Nolan Kehler from his home in Vancouver where he runs the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia.
“Louis Riel prophesied that the Métis people would sleep for some time, but it would be the artists that would wake us up in the future. I think this is our little contribution to helping to bring some of these truths to the foreground.”
Carrabré and Teillet collaborated to set five of Teillet’s poems to music, which were not only rooted in her previous work as an author, but also in her work as a lawyer that helped to bring justice to the Métis community. The songs not only explored the connection of the Métis with the prairies, but also the resilience of the community when faced with existential battles and disappearing resources. These poems are paired with two traditional Métis songs, “La Montagne Tortue” (“Turtle Mountain”), and “Chanson de la Gornouillèr” by Pierre Falcon, widely considered to be the first Metis composer.
“We’re blending all these things together... to give an idea of not just the history of the Métis, but also the love of the territory and dreams for the future,” Carrabré says.
One element of the process of making the album that Carrabré enjoyed was the amount of engagement that the Vancouver Chamber Choir had with the repertoire. An ensemble primarily composed of settler artists, he notes that the artists were willing to engage and learn from the difficult stories of the Métis. “Everybody has their own feelings about Canada and the pros and cons of it,” Carrabré explains, “so I think that it’s good for us to share these stories and to have settlers, wherever they’re from and however long they've been here, engaging with the history of this country and trying to figure out, ‘Okay how do we think about making it an even better place?’”
Ultimately, Carrabré says that embodying the songs and experiences are what make this recording and this new work so special. “The song is something that is very physical,” he notes. “The Métis are famous for our fiddles, but singing is really important as well. There’s a richness and a physicality to the medium that really allows people to connect with the ideas.”
“It’s an opportunity to sit and think about these things for twenty minutes, half an hour, and take some time, and hopefully, let it touch your soul.”