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One season, two occasions, one movement
For the grand celebration that is the Montreal First Peoples Festival, 2010 marks not only its 20th anniversary, but also a paradigm shift involving considerable modifications to the festival's dates, programming, and location, all of which will propel the event into the ranks of first-rate cultural and touristic happenings. For the first time this year the exterior portion of the festival will take place in a new location, the Place des Festivals, from August 4 to 8, considerably reinforcing the visibility of the activities of the 20th edition of the event.
In 2010, the Montreal First Peoples Festival returns with élan, featuring a multidisciplinary program that encompasses visual arts, film and video, performing arts, and traditional arts and crafts. The grand opening will take place on June 17 with the programming of a special live show in collaboration with CBC Radio 2, and on June 18 with the presentation of the world première of XAJOLTUN Rabinal Achi (At the heart of the sky, at the heart of the earth), a production theatrically staged by Ondinnok and its founder Yves Sioui-Durand. The work is inspired by the ritual drama of Rabinal Achi, and is performed in the language Maya Achi, accompanied by music and dance.
Nomades/Matshinanu, an exhibition of archival photographs, will be displayed for 16 months at la Grande Bibliothèque.
The mission of Land InSights, the originator of the First Peoples Festival, goes well beyond simply promoting First Peoples' arts in the Montreal region; it is in fact a commitment to encourage the emergence of a space in which new practices may manifest, enabling First Nations artists to take their place in the city and, through their irreplaceable contributions, weave the fabric of the social imagination.
It is in this spirit that Land InSights invites the artists to loudly proclaim Montreal's place within the Amerindian universe, and the indigeneity of the site.
As the summer solstice approaches, Montreal reveals her colours once again. Be part of the celebration!
Full programming will be available at http://www.nativelynx.qc.ca as of June 1.
Information : IXION Communications (514) 495-8176
XAJOLTUN Rabinal Achi
Contemporary version of the great Mayan ceremonial dance theatre piece
June 18 - 27 at 8 pm
eXcentris
Ondinnok is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary by presenting XAJOJ TUN RABINAL ACHI, a colourful spectacle based on the ancient sacred texts of the Mayan people. Drawing upon the roots of Indigenous theatre and combining theatre and dance, XAJOJ TUN RABINAL ACHI immerses us in the Amerindian universe, its codes and its rites. The production, featuring nine performers of diverse origins in the Americas, and different every night, aims to summon the ancestors and hear their words in the purest Mayan tradition. A date not to miss to mark the summer solstice!
RABINAL ACHI is a ritual drama in the form of dance theatre, protected and kept alive since the Spanish conquest of Guatemala in 1547. It is a fragment of the great Pre-Columbian theatre and a remnant of the classical era of Mayan culture that has resisted cultural annihilation. Originally passed on orally, it was first transcribed in French around 1862, then in Spanish and once again in French in 1994 from the original text. In 2005, UNESCO declared the work Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
XAJOJ TUN RABINAL ACHI is the outcome of an artistic partnership between Ondinnok and El Baile Danza Rabinal Achi, a Mayan troupe from Guatemala, holder of the Pre-Columbian drama Rabinal Achi. Don José Léon Coloch and his family are the latest in a long line of Mayan families who have safeguarded and passed along this great ritual theatre and its performance codes for generations.
Our challenge is to have confidence in the ancient divinatory Mayan theatrical method. We are permeated by the story that wants to be told. It will reveal itself to us differently every night through precise elements: stones, bones, masks, costumes, musical instruments, lightings and the text. All of these are bearers of ancestral memory and of the magical foundations of all Amerindian cultures.
In co-production with First Peoples' Festival
Directed by Yves Sioui Durand
Choreography Patricia Iraola
Cast
Charles Bender, Marco Collin, Nicoletta Dolce, Yves Sioui Durand, Hélène Ducharme, Patricia Iraola, Catherine Joncas, Lara Kramer, Rodrigo Ramis, Mireya Bayancela Ordonnez, Leticia Vera.
Creators
Lighting: Guy Simard, Costumes: Linda Brunelle, Sets: Jonas Veroff Bouchard, Sound: Nicolas Grou.
June 18 - 27, 8 pm
eXcentris (Fellini room)
3536 St. Lawrence Blvd
Tickets and reservations: (514) 814-8100
Ticket prices
28$ general admission
23$ students and elders
21$ group (15 and more)
Ondinnok, the first professional Indigenous theatre company established in Quebec, was founded in Montreal in 1985 by Yves Sioui Durand, Catherine Joncas and the late John Blondin. Ondinnok is a company respected by its peers and the theatrical community for the authenticity of its approach, the strength of its artistic direction, and the role it plays in the development of artists in the Indigenous theatre scene.
With XAJOJ TUN RABINAL ACHI, we aim to rally the current driving forces of the Aboriginal cultural community in a creative process bringing together theatre and dance to produce an event that will transcend the cultural and physical borders between the First Peoples of the Americas.
Matshinanu - Nomades: a photo exhibition at the Grande Bibliothèque
The daily life of the Innu on the Lower North Shore, Minganie and Lac-Saint-Jean was once closely linked to seasonal cycles. Drawn from the Collections of the Centre d'archives de la Côte-Nord and the Musée amérindien de Mashteuiatsh, these photographs take an unsentimental look at the close relationship tying one of the last nomadic peoples in North America to their environment.
Guided by imagery and drawing upon her own experience, Innu author Joséphine Bacon has created a sensitive, poetic text framing this striking encounter with Innu people's daily lives.
An exhibition curated by Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec and Land Insights as we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the First Peoples' Festival.
Dreaming the Earth
"Have you met any Indians, by chance?
-Yes, but certainly not by chance."
The voyage and the territory are one, woven with bloodlines and the threads of dreams. We thus require a guide, a voice with an authentic accent, a carrier of the language of the earth. Tuned to the breath of the stars and the powers of the grand rivers, Joséphine Bacon, an Innu poet, writes in the eternal language of the birth of the world. Her words have the fragile grace of a canoe's sinuous framework - a light wing that skims the water above the rocks of nostalgia.
She dreams that which she sees and she sees that which the earth dreams.
Her poetry touches the vibrant heart of the territory. She enables us to hear the songs of those who refuse banishment, the liquid whistling of the salmon who escapes the net, the simple things that have forever cadenced the daily life of the Innu.
The journey hence takes place between the past of the photographs and the present of the poem. Joséphine Bacon is of the walking poets whose footfalls are recognized by the earth, as she states so well. Her voyage is timeless. She advances, borne by the wind, humble and discreet. The mystery of an entity is a lamp that illuminates the path. Stepping into the poetry of Joséphine Bacon, we in turn become the nomads.
Michel X Côté
Matshinanu - Nomades
May 25 2010 - September 25 2011
Grande Bibliothèque
Arts and literature section, level 1
Showcases, levels 1 to 4
Information: Ixion Communications, (514) 495-8176
CBC RADIO 2 and Espace Musique team up to celebrate diversity
On June 17 at 8:30 p.m. at eXcentris, CBC Radio 2 (93.5 FM in Montreal) and Espace musique (100.7 FM in Montreal) will kick off the 2010 Montreal First Peoples Festival by presenting the opening show, in which traditional and contemporary Aboriginal music meets the Anglophone and Francophone cultures of Canada.
Hosted in French, English and Cree by Caroline Nepton-Hotte and Benjamin Masty (CBC/Radio-Canada & CBC North), this major celebration will bring together Élisapie Isaac, Michel Faubert, Samian, Robert Seven-Crows and Mary-Jane Lamond onstage at Montreal's eXcentris Complex. Listeners across the country will be able to tune into this special show on Monday, June 21 at 7 p.m. on CBC Radio 2, on Thursday June 24 at noon on CBC Radio North and on Friday, July 2 at 8 p.m. on Espace musique.
Producers: Guylaine Picard and Brigitte Lavoie (Espace musique), Kelly Rice (CBC Radio 2)
Starting June 14, Internet users will be able to access special Montreal First Peoples Festival content on the Radio-Canada.ca site. Through its partnership with Wapikoni mobile, a travelling audiovisual creation and training studio for First Nations communities, this exclusive Radio-Canada site will offer a selection of audio/video vignettes produced during the concert preparations. Recoded in its entirety by Wapikoni mobile, the opening show of the 20th edition of the Montreal First Peoples Festival will also be available online at Radio-Canada.ca/musique as of June 21, to coincide with National Aboriginal Day. VJ Pink Rubber Lady will accompany the webcast to provide site visitors with some highly original visual content.
As of Friday June 18, the public will be able to view three very special "making of" video clips of this concert on the CBC.ca/video web site. On June 21 they will also have the opportunity to read and comment on Radio 2's blog entry about the video with links to the video from the actual event at CBC.ca/video. CBC Quebec has been an overall First Peoples Festival sponsor for six years.
Proud to contribute to the rapprochement of cultures making up our great country, CBC Radio 2 and Espace musique are pleased to team up this summer for the 20th edition of the Montreal First Peoples Festival. Don't miss this exceptional line-up of programming devoted to one of Canada's rare First Nations arts festivals.
