Ni-aazhawa’am-minis, 'Crossing Over the Bay Island’

-Anishinaabemowin language

Rabbit Island/Traverse Island, Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan

In late September, 2021, we crossed the waters of Gichigami/Lake Superior and stepped onto the island. We sat with the moss, the waves, the age old rocks, the snowshoe hares, the stars, and the mist. We lay in silence, jumped in the cold water, and we sang with the moon. We made music with the island.

Ni-aazhawa’am-minis—this island has been a place of stopover and rest for Anishinaabe people for a long time, and surely there have been many human songs sung here before. We are grateful for the chance to join in!

For two and a half weeks, the three of us spent time in different parts of the island, listening deeply for the songs that wanted to come into being. We would gather back together and share these song seeds with each other, nurturing them, adding harmonies and instruments. Then, we would return the song to the spot on the island where it was first born - our offerings to this place that gave us immeasurable gifts.

As we crafted and sang the songs, an idea formed: to create a song map that would connect the songs that came through us with the places that inspired them, in a way people could experience. The song symbols on this map are linked to recordings of the songs being sung in their home spots. These recordings are simple and raw, filled with our voices but also with the sounds of the wind and the waves - the island singing with us.

Big thanks to Greg Chudzik for working with us and creating this online songmap, to Andrew Ranville and Rob Gorski at the Rabbit Island Foundation for welcoming us, and to all who call the island home now, in the past, and in the years to come.

-Heartwood: Willy Clemetson, Sarina Partridge, Heidi Wilson heartwoodtrio.com