{"id":50083,"date":"2021-08-04T14:55:41","date_gmt":"2021-08-04T18:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/?post_type=interviews&p=50083"},"modified":"2021-08-04T14:55:46","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T18:55:46","slug":"frames-of-reference-indigenous-voices-in-the-mix","status":"publish","type":"interviews","link":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/en\/interviews-panm360\/frames-of-reference-indigenous-voices-in-the-mix\/","title":{"rendered":"Frames of Reference: Indigenous Voices in the Mix"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the context of Montreal\u2019s International First Peoples’ Festival, Andrew Paul MacDonald has been recruited by Normand Forget, artistic director of the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, to create an orchestral link between the NEM, the guitar ensemble Forestare and three figures illustrating the cultural energy of the First Nations \u2013 Anachnid, Laura Niquay and Q-052 will be the soloists of a new concert, given on Wednesday August 4, 8pm, at Montrteal\u2019s Place des Festivals.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally from Guelph, the Sherbrooke resident is a trained composer and performer. He studied music theory and piano with Rosemarie Hamilton and guitar with Alexandre Lagoya, Michael Lorimer, Ray Sealey and Manuel Lopez-Ramos. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1981, where he was a student of Arsenio Gir\u00f3n and Alan Heard. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pursued graduate studies in composition at the University of Michigan, where he earned a Master of Music (1982) and a Doctor of Musical Arts (1985). At UM, he was a student of William Albright, William Bolcom, Leslie Bassett and George Balch Wilson. Returning to Canada in 1985, his teaching career took him to Manitoba and Quebec. In 1987, he became a tenured professor at Bishop’s University, where he continues to teach composition and electronic music. Among his projects as a musician is the Ensemble Musica Nova, of which he is the artistic director.  In addition to teaching and composing, he works as a classical and\/or electric guitarist and also as a conductor.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Needless to say, this cross-cultural mission represents a more than interesting challenge for Andrew Paul MacDonald.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAN M 360: How did you approach this project?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ANDREW PAUL MACDONALD:<\/strong> This is something very new for me. I have been composing for a long time, symphonies, string quartets, you name it, and I have done a lot different kinds of projects, like this piece for the Evergreen Club in Toronto, a concerto for harp and gamelan… and many  other projects from traditional to very different things, but I\u2019ve never come across something like this. What I think would be best is that I talk about it. Normand Forget approached me and I had very little time to do it. Thankfully, I was free at the time \u2013 pandemic \u2013 and I was ready for a new project. In another time it would have been impossible because my agenda would have been too busy. So Normand asked me to write a piece for these First Nation singers, Anachnid, Laura Niquay, and Q-052 (Quentin Quando) and combine this piece with NEM and Forestare. Originally, the aim was to have a very  portable piece that could pop up on a stage in any city or event. So he gave me the instrumentation, time limitations, and he had some songs from those First Nations to reimagine inside my own work. Very similar to the way the late Hans Zender reimagined Schubert\u2019s Winterreise<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAN M 360: How is it constructed?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew Paul MacDonald:<\/strong> Is it an arrangement? No it\u2019s not. It\u2019s a reimagining, it\u2019s composing, deconstructing, reassembling and coming out with something new. We also must talk about the title that I have, the lyrics  and the music itself. The original title was Transmission Connection<\/em>, the name of the NEM project, to bring NEM, Forestare, First Nation artists and a Canadian anglophone composer who lives in Quebec, so we involved different cultures in Qu\u00e9bec, and different types of music \u2013 First Nations rap, pop electronic, and folk-rock, combined with new contemporary music. Very challenging!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAN M 360: So, three songs are the basic materials of the composed reimagining. Can you explain what you did with those songs?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew Paul MacDonald:<\/strong> My piece Frames of Reference<\/em> is a part of this bringing together  in Transmission Connection<\/em> but also Frames of Reference<\/em> is a particular set of ideas or beliefs on what you base your judgement of things. Considering the artists I was working with, I felt that we must better understand what the First Nations people have experienced \u2013 residential schools, genocide crisis, etc. \u2013 and what they\u2019re currently going through, and very importantly, to stand up and speak out about injustice. So there is a kind of a political bent in this piece. We can\u2019t avoid it. One of the lines in the earlier refrain in the piece is this: \u201cSilence is violence in your ear, change up your frame of reference, don\u2019t let these terrible crimes be overlooked, stand up and speak out now.\u201d I think that is a pretty powerful refrain, imperative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAN M 360: Let\u2019s be more specific with each song.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew Paul MacDonald: <\/strong>Right. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original lyrics are done by Quentin Condo in his rap section, called \u201cQ-052\u2019s Rap Movement\u201d, an edgy rap about residential school, genocide, and more generally, problematic government relations with the First Nations. It\u2019s rapped in English and Micmac, there is a certain part of improvisation in this composition, leaving it up to the artists a little bit. In this first rap that Quentin does, we work things out properly between music and lyrics. I love his freestyle rapping section at the end of the piece, which combined with a singer’s improvisation. I will be unique each time they will be performing that piece. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also this song by the Oji-Cree singer, songwriter and producer Anachnid \u2013 her full name is Anna-Khesic Kway Harper. Her song is a pop song but\u2026 on the surface, it\u2019s a love relationship breakup, and on another level, it is an analogy of the First Nations relationship with the rest of Canada. \u201cYou got the best of me \/ Trapped in your lies and your disgards \/ Stop it, don’t waste my time \/ Set me free, release me \/ Stop playing games with me…\u201d So you\u2019ve got to read it in both ways, and that fits very very well in the aesthetic of this whole work.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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