The Lila Community Choir is offering a show entitled Sing for One Heart One Mind - Nuts’a’maat shqwaluwun on Sunday, May 27 at the Duncan United Church.
The choir, directed by Cari Burdett, with the support of the Cowichan Tribes Elders Gathering Team, will present a multi-cultural program of songs as a fundraiser for the 42nd Annual BC Elders Gathering.
The group regularly sings at community events. The choir is part of the Ubuntu Choirs Network, honouring Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Ubuntu means “I am because we are”, which is “a theme resonant with One Heart One Mind - Nuts’a’maat shqwaluwun that is so important to the Cowichan people and this community,” Burdett said.
The concert will feature the choir singing songs from Estonia, Sweden, and Ghana, well-known versions of pop songs like ‘Let the River Run’, by Carly Simon, and songs by the Wailin’ Jennys.
Special guests include the talented youth duo of Quin Etheridge-Pedden on fiddle and guitar, and Tai McGillivray on mandolin and guitar, who at the young age of 15 will perform original folk-inspired, up-tempo music, along with local multi-instrumentalist Tania Gillespie on piano.
The concert will also feature a rarely seen act of the Blue Eagle Drum Group, which plays traditional Dakota songs on a Pow Wow Drum.
“The group members are from Nanaimo and Duncan and are generously sharing their scared music with us for this special event in honour for the Elders,” said a press release.
“This is an excellent opportunity for our community to come together with our neighbours in the spirit of celebration, reconciliation and partnership,” says Cowichan Tribes’ Chief William Seymour.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the show starting at 7 p.m.
Admission is by a suggested donation of $20, children get in free. Tea and treats are for sale as well at the event.