Indoor music festival held for Freedom School

By Elvera Sargent

An indoor music festival to benefit the Akwesasne Freedom School was held at the St. Regis Recreation Center on Saturday, Nov. 6.

The benefit brought out families and past parents to hear the Kontiwennenha:wi (aka Akwesasne Women Singers) who began the event at 7 p.m. with the Opening Song. Their belief is that they have a duty to help our language survive. The majority of their songs are written in the Mohawk language. They believe that if our language dies, we as a nation will cease to exist, for if we lose our language we will lose our culture. They share their songs with the community and use it as a means to teach the children our language and culture in an interactive way. They honor Mother Earth, Grandmother Moon, the generations before them, and the ones to come after and our dedicated teachers helping to preserve the culture.

Bear Fox was next to perform and she entertained the audience with her song “Standing Sky,” a song about her son on his 18th birthday. She then sang “Rich Girl” which is about her growing-up years as the youngest of 14 children. Bear is truly gifted with her music.

Three young women, all graduates of the Akwesasne Freedom School, each took a turn at the microphone. Tosakiateni Wakenien’thronon and Alicia Francis both sang songs that each has written. Summer Rain Herne, whose parents can remember Tekanotsiasere ken:ha saying how gifted she was in singing! Summer sang her versions of “That’ll be the Day” and “Crazy”.

Next up was our featured guest artist Darryl Tonemah, who is Kiowa, Comanche and Tuscarora. He has released six albums and is a NAMMY winner. Tonemah is a singer/songwriter who mixes rock, folk and country songs, and entertains with many stories. A special request was made to John Francis and Kati Herne to sing their version “When the Tear Becomes a Rose” to which they happily obliged!

A Big Niawen ko:wa goes out to all who came out to support the Akwesasne Freedom School, Cory Jacobs who emceed the event, John Francis and band members who provided equipment and back up to some of the singers, the Akwesasne Women Singers, Bear Fox, Tosakiateni, Alicia, and Summer, Tonemah, Kati and John for their beautiful song, and Indian Time and CKON. All was provided at no cost to the organizers of the event.