Thunder Mountain Singers perform at Magnus Theatre

The Thunder Mountain Singers pounded out a different drumbeat during a two-day concert at Magnus Theatre in Thunder Bay.
“It was a great way to showcase the Aboriginal culture, the traditions — the content was awesome,” said Gary Gustafson during a break in the Oct. 16 performance of A Celebration of One Voice One Nation at the Thunder Bay theatre.
He said the more the group performs, the more it can bring awareness to the general public about who Aboriginal people really are.
The Thunder Mountain Singers held the Oct. 15 and 16 performances to celebrate their latest album, One Voice, One Nation, by featuring traditional drumming, hand drumming, fluting and dancing by members of the drum group and family and friends.
“It features songs and dances from our album and from past work we have done,” said David Simard, a founding member of the Thunder Mountain Singers and one of the organizers of the performance.
“We have friends and family who have come out to showcase the dancing and we have a narrator, Nathan Moses, who is providing story lines with the songs and dances and explaining the history of the drum group.”
The drum group received their drum from the late Margaret Pierre as part of her vision that First Nations youth would return to their traditional culture through the drum.
The drummers, who originate from Ojibwe, Saulteaux-Ojibwe, Oji-Cree and Northern Cree communities in the Treaty 9, Treaty 3 and 1850 Robinson Superior Treaty areas, have performed across North America over the past 20 years and have recorded numerous albums.
Simard said the performance was a learning experience for both the audience and the performers.
“There is still a large cultural gap, even within our own society,” Simard said.
The performance featured eight drummers and 10-12 dancers, including jingle dress dancers, women’s traditional dancers, original style fancy dancers, fancy shawl dancers, chicken dancers, woodland style dancers, grass dancers and men’s traditional dancers.
“In the first set the songs and dances are to honour the women, so we’re doing all the songs associated with the different styles of dancing and songs that are to pay tribute to the women,” Simard said.
“The second set is about the men and it showcases the original style of dance, the woodland style dance, the grass dance, the chicken dance, as well as the northern traditional style dance and at the end we have all the dancers coming in for one of the closing songs.”
Simard developed the idea for the performance along with Mario Crudo, Magnus Theatre’s artistic director, as a means to bring family and friends together to celebrate with the theatre.
Simard said the Thunder Mountain Singers have been nominated for the 2010 Aboriginal People’s Choice Music Award, the Native American Music Awards and the Aboriginal Music Awards.
“The album has done really well. It’s nice to be recognized by our peers,” he said.