LearnMichif Madness
February 22, 2008 - A month already
Howdy.
Well, I can't believe it has been over a month since I have last
updated this. My apoligies to those who are checking in regularly.
Things have been going great out on this end here. I've been busy with
a couple projects lately which has kept things pretty busy. We also
took a ski trip to Whistler a coupld weekends back which was excellent.
We got to ski the Blackcomb Glacier with knee deep powder. Pretty
lucky...
A large part of my business in the last bit surrounds a
project I am working on. One of the areas that I have done a lot of
work in over the years is Aboriginal Language Revitalization. It is a
long story how I became involved in the work but I have been fortunate
to work with a number of speakers and on a number of large projects.
Aboriginal languages in Canada and the world are in decline. Some bands
or communities are at crisis level with only one or two speakers
remaining, most have suffered a very significant loss of their
language. For many years now, I have worked hard to contribute in
whatever way I can to combat this continued loss. At the moment, I am
working on a project to preserve and revitalize the Metis language
which is called Michif.
On a music note, somehow I just
managed to discover the song Four Strong Winds. I know, probably one of
the most famous songs ever and one which I should know but it just
seemed to skip by me until now. What a great song. I've been scratching
away at some new material lately and songs like Four Strong Winds sure
are inspirational. It really is a simply story and told completely
truthfully. It's also written around three chords which to me just goes
to show that you don't need a lot to create a timeless song...you just
need the heart and the story.
Thanks for reading. I hope to see some of you in Toronto or Waterloo for the shows we'll be playing there!