How Leela Gilday wrote her 1st children's song for the Canadian Music Class Challenge

CBC Music'sCanadian Music Class Challenge2023 is officially open: you can nowregister here.

The songs for this year's Canadian Music Class Challenge have been revealed, and the 2023 Indigenous language song is "Mhsi ts'enw," a Dene Kede piece by Juno-winning singer Leela Gilday, co-written with her cousin, Gloria Gaudet.

The brand-new song was commissioned thanks to the CBC Library Partnerships program. The top performance of the song will win the Indigenous Language Prize of $1,000 in musical instruments.

"The Government of Canada issued [94 calls to action] through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and one of those was about the arts," Gilday said. "And so it's nice to see crown corporations responding to those calls to action by spreading the word about the importance of Indigenous languages and making the effort to include an Indigenous language song in the CBC Canadian Music Class Challenge, where thousands of kids will hear it."

"And it means a lot to me that there'll be hundreds of kids singing in Dene Kede," she added.

Gilday saidthat the song is also a way to help preserve the language according to the government of Canada, there has been a 4.3 per cent decline in Indigenous language speakers as of 2021 as she began learning to speak Dene Kede three years ago.

"Language is such a powerful form of cultural reclamation and is a big part of as an Indigenous person my own healing journey," she said.

Gaudet, who is a junior kindergarten teacher, is fluent in Dene Kede and is teachingit to Gilday. She was "really, really excited" to help write "Mhsi ts'enw," because it's Gilday's first-ever song for children.

"Mhsi ts'enw" is a counting song, because counting to five was one of the first things Gilday learned to do in Dene Kede. Each of the items listed in the song one drum, two fires, three tents, four handkerchiefsand five animals has cultural significance. Gilday saidthey selected a drum because it represents the Dene cultural heartbeat;the fires symbolize warmth;the tents are tied to the history of harvesting and living off the land;the handkerchiefs are used in traditional dances; and the five animals represent the importance of wildlife.

For teachers who might feel intimidated to learn the song, Gilday saidthat it's OK to make mistakes.

"I want them to choose the song because it's a really fun and lovely way to do your part for reconciliation and build understanding in non-Indigenous kids, especially about our language and about our worldview," she said. "Even for me, I pronounce things incorrectly myself as a language learner, which was very intimidating at first."

"It's a beautiful thing to participate in this kind of language reclamation exercise, and I think it's a really great song," she added. "Have fun with it."

The sheet music for "Mhsi ts'enw" can be viewed below: