Long Lake drum group getting ready to travel with new songs

By Rick Garrick

Long Lake #58’s Young Crew drum group of nine young drummers are enjoying the opportunity to learn new songs and travel to Pow Wows around the Northern Superior Region.

“I like drumming,” says Rival Abraham, one of the youth drummers. “(I like) to drum and travel around.”

Abraham says the Young Crew have participated in two Pow Wows in Thunder Bay so far, the River of Tears Pow Wow on Dec. 30 and the Nishnawbe Aski Nation To Have Hope Youth Gathering Pow Wow on Feb. 9.

“And we’re going to Sault Ste. Marie on March 2,” Abraham says, noting that the drummers plans to perform at Algoma University’s 13th Annual Gathering at the Rapids Pow Wow, from March 3-4 at the George Leach Centre.

Logan Desmoulin, another youth drummer, says it’s fun to drum with the Young Crew drum group, which usually meets for a couple of hours every week on Thursday evenings.

“I went drumming with them one day and they said I could just keep drumming with them,” Desmoulin says, noting that they are currently learning a Crow Hop song. “It’s fun and I like it.”

Tyson Ossivens, another member of Young Crew, also enjoys drumming with the drum group.

“It feels amazing,” Ossivens says. “I like being around them. They’re really close, like family to me.”

JJ Abraham, another youth drummer, says he loves drumming.

“When I started drumming two years ago, I just started loving drumming and singing,” JJ says. “It’s cool singing. We’re going to learn lots of songs.”

Waylon Legarde, another member of Young Crew, says his friend JJ got him involved in the drumming.

“It’s going good,” Legarde says.

Peter Shebagabow, a member of the Battle Nation drum group who has been teaching the Young Crew youth drummers, says they usually learn new songs and practice the songs they already know during their Thursday evening drumming sessions.

“I’m always sharing stuff with them too,” Shebagabow says. “I myself starting singing when I was about 11 or 12-years-old. And I can still say today that those were probably my best teenage years — singing on the Pow Wow trail, going travelling all over Ontario and a few times out of the country.”

Shebagabow adds that he shares the importance of looking after the drum with the youth singers.

“I always tell them: ‘If you take care of the drum, the drum will take care of you,’” Shebagabow says.

Shebagabow says the youth drummers are currently learning a variety of traditional songs, such as the Bear song, the Eagle song, the Turtle song, the Hummingbird song and the Sobriety song.

“We’re not really there in terms of learning the contemporary songs,” Shebagabow says. “The boys, being that they see these big drum groups, Northern Cree, Blackstone and more of the well-known drum groups, they kind of want to sing that contemporary style and I’m sure we’re eventually going to go in that direction. But my wife and I always try to tell them (to) learn those traditional songs before we move on to contemporary singing.”

Pam Hardy, Shebagabow’s partner, says the youth drummers are also taught traditional teachings on the land.

“We take them in the bush on the weekends and teach them land-based teachings, mental health and how to show gratitude and be positive and develop goals,” Hardy says. “And all the while teaching them those land-based (skills), scraping hides and trapping and just being connected and looking at the land as our brothers and sisters.”