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VIDEOS - Mohawk students from Billings debut their music video

le vendredi 09 décembre 2022
Modifié à 11 h 02 min le 09 décembre 2022
Par Paula Dayan-Perez

pdayan-perez@gravitemedia.com

The video was shot in Kahnawake and at Howard S. Billings High School in Châteauguay. (Screenshot taken from YouTube)

Four young Mohawk artists presented the music video for their song They Fly to an amazed crowd of students at Howard S. Billings’ auditorium in Châteauguay on December 1st.

“Wow! Awesome!” exclaimed a few young spectators during a wave of applause. In the music video, singer-songwriters Lola Rosa Onekwentaraonerate Mcquaid, Katelyne Wahientha Cross, Mercadies Deer and Phoenix Teioronhiathe Lahache walk through meaningful locations in Kahnawake and their high school. They perform a traditional smudging ceremony. They play in the swings at the park and laugh.

The teens deliver their lyrics with conviction. Their message promotes strength, solidarity and love.

Sharing experiences

Each student wrote a part of the song based on their life. The theme of birds, signifying freedom, runs throughout the track, Mercadies Deer explained. The grade 11 student wanted to talk about resilience in her verses.

“It’s mainly about having a hard time with things, feeling down and having a struggle but being able to get out of it,” she said.

“[The project] means a lot to me because it put me out of my shell,” she added. “It’s something I never thought I would be able to do. It made me feel really good to be able to voice how I feel about certain things because I’m not the most outgoing person.”

From left to right : Songwriters Lola Rosa Onekwentaraonerate Mcquaid, Katelyne Wahientha Cross, Mercadies Deer and Phoenix Teioronhiathe Lahache. (Photo : Le Soleil de Châteauguay - Paula Dayan-Perez)

Phoenix Teioronhiathe Lahache, also in grade 11, said he had fun even though he was a little nervous at first. “It was outside my confirm zone,” he confided. “I don’t usually sing, so I really felt this would be a good opportunity to do it. It’s my last year.”

He said he’s proud be contributing to Indigenous representation in the media.

Katelyne Wahientha Cross, who is in her last year of high school, wanted to share her passion for Indigenous rights.

“I wanted to communicate my feelings towards being Native, and also my experience with high school because that was one of our main themes,” she explained. “I wanted to communicate that we’re strong together and that we can do hard things if we all come together.”

 

For Lola Rosa Onekwentaraonerate Mcquaid, in grade 7, the project was an enriching experience. “I felt that I can do things even at such a young age,” she said.

“I really wanted attention on Mohawk people who don’t look like a typical Indigenous person. I have very light skin and blue eyes and I wanted to shine a light on that. Not all Native people look the same,” she said of her lyrics.

A sense of community

The project was developed by the non-profit organization N'we Jinan, which provides Indigenous youth with the tools and mentorship to create music. Its mobile production studio travels through schools to give kids the opportunity “to share their voices and connect to peers within their community and beyond,” as per its website. 

The New Frontiers School Board financed the song and video’s production through a Ministry of Education fund called Support for Indigenous education in the network. 

School principal Lynn L'Esperance believes the project promotes a sense of community.

“It’s how they present their community and how intermingles with the Châteauguay community. It makes us all one. It’s really nice,” she said. “It showcases their experiences, but they’re teenagers. It’s experiences about teenagers. So, there’s a nice commonality there for everybody.”

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