Music, culture and history come together with park project in Kahnawà:ke

Ka’nhehsí:io Deer

When artist Owisó:kon La‐ hache retired from teach‐ ing three years ago, she wanted to find a way to bring music, art, and his‐ tory to her community in a fun and interactive way.

Now, her idea is coming to life with a musical park in Kahnawà:ke, south of Mon‐ treal.

The project, which has yet to find a permanent outdoor home in the Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) community, will feature several themed sculptures and a nine-metre steel pergola styled as a tra‐ ditional longhouse that will help both residents and visi‐ tors connect to music with in‐ teractive instruments.

"One of the things that I thought would be fabulous, especially for the young peo‐ ple and visitors alike, is to learn about us but at the same time, be an outlet for the young people to come and just jam," said Lahache, who taught art to high schoolers for 35 years at Kahnawà:ke Survival School.

The percussion instru‐ ments featured in the park include a vertical amadinda, xylophone, cymbals, mushroom bells, pipe drums, steel drums, and cowbells. The base of each instrument is made of wooden sculp‐ tures painted by Lahache with visual representations of the Ohén:ton Karihwatéhk‐ wen, or Haudenosaunee thanksgiving address.

"It's the words that come before everything else, so whenever we have any kind of event or places where we need to remind each other of how we're supposed to walk the Earth, we do this thanks‐ giving address," said La‐ hache.

"It's very important for us to acknowledge that creation is still doing everything that it's supposed to."

Collaboration with Kah‐ nawà:ke Tourism

The project is a collaboration between Kahnawà:ke Tourism and is funded by Canada Economic Develop‐ ment for Quebec Regions, which provided a non-re‐ payable contribution of $193,000 under the Tourism Relief Fund.

Soraya Martinez Ferrada, minister of Tourism and min‐ ister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, said in a statement that the project is "a unique opportunity to showcase the living Kah‐ nawà:ke culture, at the heart of our incredible cultural her‐ itage that is so diverse."

"Thanks to projects such as this one, we can move for‐ ward together into the future with more strength and re‐ silience."

Kimberly Cross, Kah‐ nawà:ke Tourism's develop‐ ment manager, hopes it be‐ comes a space for both com‐ munity members and visitors to learn about Kanien'ke‐ há:ka culture and history. The park will include QR codes to direct visitors to learn about Haudenosaunee history, hear

Haudenosaunee social songs and the thanksgiving ad‐ dress.

A temporary installation of the sculptures is on dis‐ play and open to the public this week at the Kahnawà:ke Youth Center. Cross said it's an opportunity for commu‐ nity members to try out the instruments, and give feed‐ back on where the park should be located.

"When we were doing our set up, I was watching my lit‐ tle boy play with all of the dif‐ ferent instruments and for me, that was kind of the best part," said Cross.

"When we started talking about this project, I didn't know that he liked music .... It meant so much more when I saw him playing the instru‐ ments yesterday. He enjoyed himself. I hope that more kids are going to have that."