Cree cellist and composer showcases Orchestral Powwow in Vancouver

Cree cellist and composerCris Derksensays Canada needs more of the music she makes.

AUBCgraduate and former Vancouver resident, Derksenis performingmusic from her albumOrchestral Powwow, the first album to showcase the unique music genre Derksen created, at Vancouver's PuShFestival.

Her music combines traditional Indigenous songswith an orchestral score.

"With this project I went back to my roots as a classicaltrained human but also as an Indigenous human," said Derksenin a conversation during CBC's North by Northwest.

Classical music around powwow

When Derksenwas firstcreatingthe albumshe worked closely with the record labelTribal Spirit Music, the label behindCanadiangroupA Tribe Called Red.

After establishing a relationship with the label, they allowed her to usetheir extensive library of Indigenous music for her album.

Howeverunlike A Tribe Called Red, whichmixes powwow songs withdance beats, Derksenused the songs in their entirety and composed classical music around them.

The result is an album of atmospheric scores unlike anything else.

Listen to the music of Orchestral Powwow:

Derksensays the powwow songs are new, but were written inadherence withtraditional powwow music forms.Her small orchestra paired with the powwow groupsNorthern Voice, Black Bear, and the Chippewa Travellers.

"These powwow groups are alive and working and work all summer long on the powwow trail," said Derksen."The songs sound old, but they're still being made today."

Derksensaid in the classical music scene, there is a desire to bring more Indigenous songs to the genre. However often Aboriginal artists aren'tincluded in the compositionprocess.

"What often is the case, is that a mostly-white composer will be commissioned and they will work with an elder," she said."Which is one way of creation, but I think to be fully inclusive we need to be working with Indigenous artists."

An orchestra with no conductor

For Derksen, Orchestral Powwow was a way for her to put Indigenous artists front and centre and allow them "to be the stars."

In keeping with that sentiment, Derksen'sorchestra performs without a conductor.

Instead the European classical players follow the beat of the powwow drum a practice she said can be used a metaphor for Canada's relationship with Indigenous people as a whole.

"That's what Canada needs to do a little bit more," she said. "Actually follow and listen and work together, as opposed to imposing what they think Indigenous art or what Indigenous people are."

Derksenplays the PuShfestival Feb. 4.

With files from North by Northwest