When I first met with Andrée about this project and asked her if there was a Wendat word that could provide insight into a different way of seeing things she immediately spoke to me of their standard greeting, ahskennon’nia...literally translated, when you ask someone "ahskennon’nia ihchie’s" it means "do you go in peace?" or "are you in peace?"
The idea that upon greeting someone we might inquire as to their level of inner peace - creating an environment in which people are encouraged to regularly check-in with themselves about how peaceful they feel - is one that strikes me as potentially highly transformative if integrated into a cultures awareness. You could say this song is about peace as an essential element of life & existence, one of the original seeds of creation & the key to personal & collective freedom.
lyrics
In the beginning there was the word,
Then came the light and the water and the world
Was called in to existence
From the echo, from the echo, from the echo
From the echo from the echo from the echo
From the echo from the echo from echo
Of silence
And the music that made this first sound
Left its imprint in the bodies that have handed it down and so
Everyday the world is called into being
In the chords and the harmonies we seek to find freedom and it is
Calling out our names
It is calling out our names
It is calling out our names
It is calling out our names...
from La Rencontre,
released February 16, 2020
paroles: kyra shaughnessy, andrée levesque sioui
musique: kyra shaughnessy
voix: kyra shaughnessy, andrée levesque sioui
ngoni, percussions: cédric dind-lavoie
arrangements: kyra shaughnessy, cédric dind-lavoie
recorded by cédric dind-lavoie
*voice of andrée levesque sioui recorded by noel habel
mixed by cédric dind-lavoie & louis morneau
mastered by louis morneau
Kyra Shaughnessy’s music and writing invoke presence and awakening. Of mixed heritage, born, raised and unschooled in
Québec, composing in multiple languages across genres, Kyra’s work represents a unifying vision of humanity through an artistic practice grounded in a holistic perspective of healing and respect for the interconnectedness of all life....more
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