Ukrainian dance troop perform at CUMFI Cultural Days (NC Raine/EFN)

By NC Raine/Eagle Feather News

CUMFI Métis Cultural Days

Annual Métis celebration was all about having fun and sharing culture

Sep 12, 2024 | 12:03 PM

During the 7th Annual CUMFI Métis Cultural Days, the focus was on celebrating diversity while also recognizing the common threads between cultures.

Métis performers shared the stage with a Ukrainian dance group in the spirit of Reconciliation.

“It’s just such a good fit,” said Shirley Isbister, president of the Central Urban Métis Foundation Inc. (CUMFI) board of directors. “I think their dance and music is quite similar to ours.”

One of the foundations of Métis musical culture is the fiddle, which is a combination of European, First Nation, and French-Canadian influences, but with a unique Métis rhythm and style.

Early connections to the fiddle date back to the 17th Century when Hudson Bay fur traders brought over their fiddles and dances. Métis musicians evolved the sound by tuning the bottom string from a G to an A.

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Centuries ago, on the other side of the world Ukrainian people developed their own folk-dance style. It became a ritual to communicate between nature and the divine. Its popularity can be attributed to a choreographer named Vasyl Verkhovynets’, who started a theatre troupe and began combining dance and theatre with folk themes.

This year, CUMFI brought the music and dance of the two cultures together on Sunday.

“It’s all about building relationships and knowing each others’ cultures,” she said. “We all go to school together, work together, play together [and] so it’s important that we learn and share with each other.”

To read the rest of this story and others relating to Indigenous and Métis news and features, click here for the Eagle Feather News portal.

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