Indigenous high school students and July Talk collaborate on new song

Sitting in the art room at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School in Thunder Bay, Ont., 15-year-old Alexis Angeconeb and 18-year-old Lester Gliddy are listening to the final version of a song they started working on close to a year ago.

They're still surprised by what they hear.

"It sounds really professional," said Angeconeb, who helped with the writing of the songand also lent her voice.

"I was really shy when they were making it, so I was singing pretty quietso you could barely hear me. But it still felt like I made a big contribution."

Angeconeb and Gliddy are among a group of students who contributed to the new song Mourning Comes Back, the result of a collaboration between the teensand celebrated musicians including Toronto-based July Talk and Broken Social Scene.

New Constellations leads to new connections

It started last Novemberwhen the New Constellations Tour was making its way across the country. The tour, which brought Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists to cities, towns and First Nations to perform, also included a mentorship program for Indigenous youth.

While in Thunder Bay, the visiting artists chose to visit Dennis Franklin Cromarty, a high school that serves Indigenous teens from Ontario's far northwho are forced to leave their home communitiesin order to continue their education.

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Among the workshops offered was one on songwritingled by Peter Dreimanis and Leah Fay-Goldsteinof Juno Award-winning July Talk, along withsinger-songwriter Nick Ferrio.

They started by passing around paperand asking students to write down just a wordor a lineto incorporate into a song, and werestruck by what the students had to say.

"I think immediately it became about their common experience in moving away from home into a really foreign environment and there weresome pretty remarkable lyrics that kind of came out of nowhere," saidDreimanis.

Theyrecorded a scratch demoof the songand left the workshop.

"During the workshop we weren't thinking about recording the song, we were more interested in creating a safe space for the students to share their ideas and collaborate," said Ferrio.

But something had struck a chord with the musicians, who couldn't get the song off their minds.

"It was a really cool, sort of catchy song so I think we wanted to kind of rekindle that andcontinue that process," said Ferrio,

They contacted the school and asked to come back.

Musicians return for recording session

The trio consulted with Indigenous musician Leanne Betasamosake Simpson on how to go about continuing work on the song.

"She shared with us what her approach would be and encouraged us to keep the students' needs and interests at the core of every creative decision," said Fay-Goldstein.

Before returning to Thunder Bay in Marchto spend several more days working with the students in the school's recording studio, they also recorded a musical bed for the trackwith the help of Broken Social Scene.

Then they began recording vocal and instrumental performances by students. It took some coaxing to get some students to overcome their shynessbut once they did, the professionalswere blown away.

• Listen to Mourning Comes Back on CBCMusic

"It was just so remarkable to see these performances come out of the students within a number of hours over a few afternoons," said Fay-Goldstein.

DFCteacher Greg Chomut was also struck by the bond that formed between the musicians and studentsand their ability to help the students have the courage to write and perform.

"I think it helped a lot with confidence," he said.

"Writing music is a great way to wrestle with all those ideas of homesickness and the fear [of] the city and that all comes out in the song."

Song about homesickness and living in the city

The final product is a song that's slickly producedbut it also conveys a telling story about thelives of First Nations students in Thunder Bay, how they feel about the cityand their school.

The song is "about [how] students get sent out for high school, and racism," said Lester Gliddy, who comes from Wunnumin Lake First Nation. "But I have friends to be around with and feel safe being with them."

Angeconeb, 15, from Sachigo Lake First Nation, said it's "about being homesick and us having to leave for Thunder Bay every time for school and leaving our families behind. That's us mourning leaving home."

While the challenges the teens face are front and centre in the song, Angeconeb said she hopes that when people hear it, what they'll think aboutis what the students are capable of achieving.

Perhaps, she said, the song will also draw attention to the ongoing push to replace Dennis Franklin Cromarty'saging building with a new school and living centre, so that students will no longer have to live in boarding homes while staying in Thunder Bay.

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The song is being released on iTunes, Spotify,on a website and is being featured on CBCMusic. And while the project is complete, the musicians who made it happen say they hope it won't be their last interaction with students at DFC.

"We just feel really lucky that maybe this could be the start of a longer-term relationship," said Dreimanis.

Nathan Meekis, 17, from Deer Lake First Nation, said the whole process was a lot of fun.

"I want to hear that song again," he said.

"It's a pretty good song."