Community Spotlight: Akwesasne
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
setName: label: See more items in
content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2024 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
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content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2024 Smithsonian Folklife Festival / Series 3: Audio
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Sound recording
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2024 June 28
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
identifier: label: Identifier
content: CFCH.SFF.2024, Item SFF2024_0628_IVA_Studio_0003
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Listening copy available
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Cristina Diaz-Carrera (Presenter); Kontiwennenha:Wi: Theresa Bear Fox (composer, singer, Mohawk Nation (Kanien'keh·:ka)); Raiwate Cook (dancer, Mohawk Nation (Kanien'keh·:ka)); Elizabeth Nanticoke (singer, Kanien'keh·:ka); Iawentas Nanticoke (dancer, singer, Kanien'keh·:ka) Sit down with members of Kontiwennenha:Wi to learn more about their community and language. Akwesasne or "land where the partridge drums" is located around the St. Lawrence River and is one of eight Kanien'keha:ka (Mohawk) communities. Kontiwennenha:Wi means "Carriers of the Words," evoking these musicians' purpose of keeping the Mohawk language alive in song in order to encourage its continued use. Formed in 1996, this community-based women's singing group from the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne, New York performs original compositions by Theresa Bear Fox in Kanien'kÈha (Mohawk language) and English. Kontiwennenha:Wi creates new verses for the New Women's Dance (Esg·nye), shared in the spring and fall at community sings hosted around the six nations of the Haudenosaunee. The group includes women and girls, mothers and daughters, aunts and nieces of multiple generations.