Meet Me at the Kitchen Party
The Intersections of Joy and Relationality in the Persistence of the Red River Métis Nation
Ste. Madeleine: Community Without a Town: Métis Elders in Interview by Victoria Zeilig and Ken Zeilig
Opening Image by Olena Sergienko
Writing by UMIH Student Intern, Lydia Gork
Wherever I go with a good size group of Red River Métis people, after the day’s work is done, someone will likely ask: “Who brought their fiddle?” Moments later, a guitar will strum, a crunchy chord is stuck by bow, and the people begin to gather around the sound. By the end of the night, the Elders are up dancing, the children are mimicking their jigs, and anyone without a set of wooden spoons to play is patting their knee along to the melody. These musical jams bring community into music through dance, playing an instrument, or singing—the “kitchen party” has a seat for you.
This summer, I attended an event hosted by the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) in Ste. Madeleine, Manitoba that commemorated the community’s wrongful displacement caused by the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act in 1939 (Zeilig and Zeilig 1987). The community members were forcibly removed from their homes, but memories of that place and the stories that go along with it remain today as hundreds of people gather to camp out for the weekend and honour Ste. Madeleine’s history. During the musical events that took place on the main stage, the MC mentioned to look out for a “kitchen party” that often took place at someone’s residence after the day’s agenda adjourned. I turned to a young lady sitting next to me: “kitchen party?” I said, “I want an invite!” She laughed and told me to come visit her family’s trailer later. Little did I realize at the time, this young lady was an extremely talented fiddle player revered by the community and that I would be in for a fine Red River Métis delicacy that evening.
“Though we were all sitting in the same conference room throughout the day, the Saturday night fiddle jam is what brought us together.”
Later that summer, I was invited to travel with a MMF’s delegacy attending Pope Francis’s visit in Maskwacis, Alberta. Within the first few hours on the road, guitars were pulled out and old country tunes carried us across the prairies. Whispers circulated about a kitchen jam later that evening. “But where?” I thought. We had been staying in hotels and talks suggested we would be meeting in the parking lot later. I could envision it, a group of us standing around the smoking bench under fluorescent streetlights, humming away. But word spread fast on the moccasin trail, and by the end of the day MMF’s organizers had secured a room at the hotel to jam in. The trip was a difficult one, Elders discussed their experiences in educational institutions and we were in conversation about past wrongs against Indigenous peoples. The emotions were varied, mixed but overall, heavy… until the music broke out.
It was not that I knew how to jig, nor play guitar, nor fiddle, but my mom had shared with me the gift of her singing throughout my childhood, and I was brought back to a story she once told me. I had asked about what it would be like when she went to visit her granny in Glenella, Manitoba as a child growing up in the city. My mom told me every time she entered her granny’s home, she would invite my mom to sit on her lap and sing to her for a shiny nickel or dime. “Well, what was her favorite song?” I asked. “Delta Dawn,” was her answer. My mom’s granny was known to take good care of her farm, her children described her as very hard-working. I couldn’t help but think of her when the Elders at these gatherings talked about music creating a sense of relief from everyday duties. Music brought them joy and felt rewarding after long days of laborious work. Likewise, during the Pope’s visit, kitchen jams were a time of reprieve after emotionally taxing days.
“Music brought them joy and felt rewarding after long days of laborious work.”
Late in the summer, the MMF held a gathering for Elders and youth in Selkirk, Manitoba. Again, we were lodging in a hotel. On my way down to the lobby one night, I noticed one of the Elders with his guitar case. “Kitchen jam?” I asked. Less than half an hour later, every seat in the lobby was filled, down to the young ones sitting on the floor looking up at the musicians. The guitar passed from one person to the next and eventually came to a woman that the crowd was yearning to hear sing. She broke out “Me and Bobby McGee” and another woman nearby asked me to videotape it on her phone. She must’ve heard my muffled sobs and sniffles while playing it back-- I was fondly reminded of my own mother singing with her guitar. I felt connected to home and family sitting on the floor of that hotel lobby. When the gathering ended, I could empathize with the feelings of my mom’s granny, eager to hear my mom sing.
Only a few short weeks ago, MMF held their Annual General Assembly. The days were filled with papers, speeches, networking, finances—all, of course, very important to our nation. Though we were all sitting in the same conference room throughout the day, the Saturday night fiddle jam is what brought us together. At this point, my feet still tripped during the Red River Jig, but I was able to dance a one step and two step in the way the Elders and other youth had taught me over the course of the summer. All politics aside, we felt community through song and dance.
During one visit with my family in Glenella last winter, my granny’s children talked about how excited she would get when my Grandpa Merv brought in his guitar from the city during visits, though she didn’t play guitar or sing herself. At my first kitchen party, I felt shy that I didn’t know how to play the fiddle or jig. A few jams later, I began to appreciate that kitchen parties have a seat for everyone. Even the mere observer is brought intimately close. A reprieve from work, politics, gruelling emotions. A sense of home, family. A sense of who we are.
When’s the next kitchen party?
References
Zeilig, Ken and Victoria Zeileg. 1987. Ste. Madeleine: Community Without a Town- Metis Elders in Interview. Winnipeg: Pemmican Publications.
October 25, 2022