Zoey Roy, who is based in Ottawa, will be delivering the workshops via Zoom. (Submitted photo/Zoey Roy)

By Derek Cornet

developing skills

All ages welcome to join songwriting workshops

May 30, 2024 | 5:00 PM

Zoey Roy is bringing her Medicine Song Project to Air Ronge over five sessions in the next month.

Roy, who is a member of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation and who has roots in Black Lake and Green Lake, will be delivering four song writing sessions via Zoom, as well as a final performance. The first session will occur May 30 with following sessions on June 6, 13 and 20 between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

The sessions, which are free and open to all ages, can be attended at Air Ronge’s Pahkisimon Nuyeʔáh Library System or online. The performance will be held June 27 at Marker 47 Cafe.

“Our focus is on building kinship ties,” Roy explained.

“I would love to see people come out together. My workshops are interactive and they are really high energy and what we are doing is we are writing songs, we are writing poetry, we are producing an anthem for Air Ronge. What I want to hear is people’s real life experience and what I can teach them is song writing structure. They will see themselves co-creating a song and I will show that back to them, and I am going to teach them rhythm and rhyme.”

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Roy noted every workshop will be different, adding this evening’s session will focus on getting to know one another and seeing what people are into. She will also be teaching basic song writing skills, as well as sharing some of her songs, poems and music videos.

A poster with details about the Medicine Song Project. (Lacey Eninew/Facebook)

“I am really interested in working with multigenerational groups of people, so I can instill a sense of pride and have fun with people in the community while writing songs together,” Roy mentioned.

“I will also see what they are interested in, so it really depends on the group of people where things go, but I have a bunch of tricks up my sleeve. I am a trained teacher and this is my life’s work.”

Registration is being handled through the Multicultural Society of Saskatchewan and Roy said if those interested happen to miss the first session, they are free to join the workshops in June.

Roy is based in Ottawa and she is she is currently completing a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at Toronto’s York University.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com