Concert brings tale of Nanabush and the Giant Beaver to life
Anishinaabe storyteller will narrate Waterloo Chamber Players production
KITCHENER — The tale of “Nanabush and the Giant Beaver” will be brought to life Feb. 10 at a pay-what-you-can concert at Kitchener City Hall’s Rotunda, presented by the Waterloo Chamber Players.
“Two years ago I heard it and thought it was fantastic,” said the Players’ principal conductor, Ben Bolt-Martin.
A character in numerous Ojibwe legends, Nanabush is half spirit and half human, and his weaknesses are a reflection of his human side — getting him into trouble whether he’s being curious or selfish, cowardly or brave.
In this particular tale, Nanabush is battling with the giant beaver, Waub-Ameek, who flees from his pursuer then builds a huge dam where he can hide in the deep water. But then Nanabush’s devoted grandmother grabs him by the tail. To escape, Waub-Ameek chews through his freshly made dam, sending a torrent of sticks and mud racing down the lake. The resulting debris creates the maze of islands on Georgian Bay’s Eastern Shore, a chain known as Thirty Thousand Islands.
Nanabush’s story was inspiration for composer Richard Mascall, Georgian Bay Symphony’s former composer-in-residence. But the legends and stories of Nanabush are part of First Nations oral tradition, not written, and the only place he could find the story was in books published by large publishing houses. He had to ask: how authentic was the story?
Mascall understood that he was writing music for stories that are not part of his culture. He was introduced to Anishinaabe storyteller John Rice, who will narrate the story at Sunday’s performance. Rice has been telling the tale for decades.
Mascall spoke about the distinction between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. His intention is the latter: telling a First Nations story through music that is simply there as an enhancement to the story.
“The music is designed not to take anything away from the culture but to honour it,” he said. “It’s the story of how the Thirty Thousand Islands were formed.”
There was another issue. “A lot of the stories are dramatic but they very often have very violent or distasteful endings,” said Mascall. “There’s a lot of nature stories where animals get killed. It’s not for young children.”
The story of Nanabush and Waub-Ameek, however, is both dramatic and has a happy ending. No one dies.
“It’s the first piece I’ve written for kids,” he said. “I found it tremendously liberating.”
Writing for adults, composers must find the nuances in the music, the building in drama and softening in tone. But kids need to have their attention grabbed from the beginning and hung on to for dear life.
His score, he said, “had to capture the attention of a five-yearold, but what I discovered is it appeals to the child in all of us.”
The concert will also feature First Nations dancer Rachel-lee Wilson Cousineau.
The original orchestration was written for seven musicians, so Bolt-Martin approached the composer and asked if it could be reworked for a larger orchestra and stretched to a full concert length. The newly adapted work will be performed by the 35-member orchestra made up of both semi-professional and skilled amateur musicians.
“I’ve always wanted to do something of Richard’s,” said Bolt-Martin.
This particular piece was of interest to Bolt-Martin and it will appeal to all ages with its “little vignettes of little woodland creatures.”
Bolt-Martin said the music describes the “plucky porcupine and the ponderous moose and the owl is all whispery and hooting.”
“The narrative structure is action adventure,” said BoltMartin. “It’s also a creation story: the dismantling of the great dam gave creation of the Thirty Thousand Islands.”