MEDIATHEK

Continued from above:The libretto was written by the gifted Indigenous playwright and filmmaker Marie Clements. Right from the beginning, it was tremendously important that all materials relating to Indigenous language and culture were treated with absolute sensitivity.
 I was grateful that our producers began the entire process, by consulting widely within the Indigenous community. About a 3rd of the opera is sung in Gitsxan, the language spoken by the Indigenous community up the West Coast of British Columbia. This is the region of the so-called Highway of Tears, where many of the women were kidnapped and where much of the opera takes place. Gitsxan is a wonderfully beautiful language, with popping high consonants and vowels made completely of air sounds. It was a real pleasure to make recordings of Elder Vince Gogag speaking in this language and then spend several weeks painstakingly transcribing them into musical notation, all with his kind permission.  Melodies and rhythms were created to preserve Vince’s speech patterns.  We also used Indigenous drumming in consultation with our Indigenous collaborators (4 out of the 7 singers are of Indigenous background).The premiere performance was a closed-door presentation only for the families of the victims, with no tickets or press. This was the most important and intense of all the performances. Their feedback was nothing short of heartbreaking.
 A more comprehensive description can be found at:http://www.briancurrent.com/blog