ST. PAUL – The floor throbbed with a deep rumble and a steady low hum bounced against the building’s walls, followed by the gentle sound of the plucking of a guitar, as the musician on-stage tuned an instrument.
Then the musician paused, and expertly struck the strings, inviting the crowd to sing and dance.
On March 13, the Mannawanis Native Friendship Centre (MNFC) hosted “A Night of Music,” a live music show introducing an ensemble of over 10 local musicians. Songs both old and new, along with a diverse array of music, were performed.
Hinano Rosa, executive director of the MNFC, says the night was proof that everyone, no matter their colour or creed, could come together in a single space and share an activity. The night was meant “to have fun.”
It was an opportunity to connect with each other, while showcasing the local talents in the region and community, says Rosa.
He also recognizes that there are various ethnic groups in the community, and he hopes more of them will utilize the MNFC as a tool to share their culture.
“Anytime we can build relationships, and bring people together, then it puts us more at ease.”
It is with those strongly built relationships he hopes to see built, that “We can start having that serious conversation,” he says. “This is a form of reconciliation that we all bring people together to heal... sit on the same space... and be OK.”
Rosa thanked all the business and community organizations in the area who made the event possible.
A guest from abroad
Rosa also brought in a special guest from afar. Joining the ensemble of musicians was Luka Maria Walgrave from Belgium, a songstress who seeks the true value and meaning of music for herself.
“That’s what brought me here [to Canada],” she says.
Walgrave is studying music at PXL-Music back in Belgium. She’s in her last year and now must do her bachelor's thesis. As someone who has always been interested in the “healing power of music,” the notion became an inspiration for her thesis.
She got in contact with Priscilla Desmoulin, an Indigenous woman from Manitoba.
“She explained to me about... how music is seen as a form of healing here... a thing to connect,” says Walgrave. “That brought me a few months later to Canada for the first time.”
PXL-Music funded her trip, and she has been in Canada for over a month, first arriving in Manitoba where she performed at a gala concert, before making a trip to Alberta.
In this journey far from home, she also aims to make a comparison on the differences of what music may mean and how it is experienced in both Belgium and Canada.
There was obvious excitement in her eyes as she spoke. She says the music in Canada is “very pure... in a way that really comes from the heart.”
Walgrave says she will release her first album this year, which will include songs she wrote while in Canada.
Asked if she had found what she was looking for yet – the true meaning of music for herself - she shook her head with a grin. “I’m still looking.”
But music, no matter where it may be, “connects people,” says Walgrave. “Which you see tonight.”
Walgrave will continue her journey in Canada. She will head to Edmonton for the next couple of weeks before going back to Manitoba. She will be travelling back to Belgium in late April.
