November 7, 2004: Interview with Eddie Robinson
Interviewer: Franziska von Rosen (FvR)
Interviewee: Eddie Robinson, Lead Singer, Morningstar River Singers
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Filmed by: Pinegrove Productions, Lanark, ON
FvR:
I noticed that you take special care in setting up the drum. Tell me what people should understand about that process.
Eddie Robinson:
Well it just basically needs to be cleansed, the environment needs to be safe, especially for something as sacred as singing. The way we sing is really an important part of our culture so you can’t just put the drum anywhere. A certain amount of pride is taken in setting it up appropriately.
FvR:
Would you talk a bit about the process of smudging yourselves and the drum?
Eddie:
Well sage is one of the four medicines that we use. The specific purpose for sage, especially around the drum, is just to cleanse the spirit, to cleanse the area of any negativity, to have an all-around good feeling for the singers, for the dancers. Just making sure the atmosphere is good. That reflects on everyone who’s around; who’s hearing the music.
FvR:
Talk to me just briefly about caring for the drum.
Eddie:
Well the drum is seen as a living spirit. It is fed seasonally. It is cared for; it is talked to like a living being. We let it know which gathering or celebration we are going to exactly as if we are talking to a person. We pray with it before we actually start singing. We just treat it like a respected elder or grandparent. And so we have to be careful how it is taken care of and we have to be really responsible with that.
FvR:
You are the lead singer for your group. What is involved in being a lead singer?
Eddie:
Being lead singer for a drum group is a lot of responsibility, and takes a lot of dedication, a lot of loyalty, and a lot of patience. It is being passionate about what we are doing and what my goals are as a singer and what the culture means and making sure that is carried across in the proper way by my singers and by the drum. So there is a lot that’s entailed in that. It is organizing and coordinating and making sure that everybody knows the songs, and everybody’s beat is right on. Everybody has to be in sync so it’s my job, my responsibility to make sure that they are trained.
FvR:
In your opinion what makes a good singer?
Eddie:
In becoming a good singer, you’re always practising. It depends on how passionate you are, but it takes a lot of practice, a lot of work, a lot of dedication, a lot of responsibility. There is a lot of effort put into your voice and perfecting it. So it is something to be taken seriously, especially when singing around a drum with a drum group and doing this style.
FvR:
Can anybody become a singer and join a drum group?
Eddie:
The way you become a singer is based on which community or Nation you are brought up in or your family comes from. You have to follow the protocols for that specific group usually. For our drum specifically, it’s like a family, a family of men, together with our spouses. We have to come together like a team, put so much effort into our music, so much time, so much hard work. If our heart is in the right place then we can only make good music.
There is so much to becoming a good singer. Some are just naturally gifted with good vocals, some have to work at it. It is basically just persistence and wanting to achieve that goal of wanting to sound good, not only for yourself but for the people who are hearing your music. That’s basically what it is all about, pleasing the community. It is like a way of prayer. When we sing, we sing hard and we sing good. It’s like the communication with the spirits. And when we know that we feel good, we’re pumped over a song, then it just reflects on the people that are around and they feel that.
FvR:
Tell me a bit about the kinds of hand signals you use to communicate around the drum.
Eddie:
The hand signals are just for communication around the drum – clarity just so that everybody knows where we are at, at what point of the song. Are we going to stop or pick it up. If I am passing leads to different singers they need to know I am passing them the lead because sometimes people are so concentrated on the song, focused, lost in the music, they need to be reminded that their lead is coming up. Also if people are going off beat, I kind of give a signal that they are going off beat. And that is something I have to listen for.
FvR:
What about the communication between the drum and the dancers?
Eddie:
With any drum there has to be the proper beat and the right song. You cannot sing inappropriate songs for different dancers because they will get upset. It is out of protocol. There are very structured songs, very specific songs with specific beats and it has to be followed. If you are going to be a singer you have to make sure you know those things, especially for the dancers. That is a big part of why we sing; it is for those dancers.
