Community Spotlight: Membertou
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 29
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
identifier: label: Identifier
content: CFCH.SFF.2024, Item SFF2024_0629_IVA_Studio_0001
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: Marcia Ostashewski (Presenter); Austin Christmas (drums, vocals, Membertou Mi'kmaw†Nation/Kuntewiktuk); Graham Marshall (drummer, Membertou Mi'kmaw†Nation/Kuntewiktuk) Sit down with members of the Sons of Membertou to learn more about their community. Membertou is an urban Mi'kmaq community located on Unama'ki ñ Cape Breton Island. Membertou, named after Grand Chief Membertou (1510-1611), is one of five Mi'kmaq communities in Cape Breton and one of thirteen Mi'kmaq communities within the province of Nova Scotia.
The Sons of Membertou are a traditional group that performs Mi'kmaw music and channels the spirit of the powwow by celebrating life, rejuvenating the spirit, and by dancing and praying with the ancestors. The group began in 1993, when elders gave a drum to Darrell and Sharon Bernard, asking them to return it to their community. With the guidance of numerous elders, they recorded some of George Paul's songs. This culminated in their first album, Wapna'kik, "The People of the Dawn," which combines traditional drums with the contemporary sounds of some of Cape Breton's finest musicians. As Smithsonian Folkways Recordings artists, Sons of Membertou performs throughout Canada and Europe, preserving their culture and language by sharing their music with young people and recruiting new members.