You might not have heard the name Noel Abrahams, but if you live by the Marpole Midden along southwest Marine Drive, theres a good chance youve heard his music. Hes spent the past two weeks there, both day and night, drumming and singing his message along with other drummers as part of a Musqueam protest of a proposed condo development on an aboriginal burial site.
Just sometimes I sleep, he said. But usually Im just watching over the grounds and the people who come for the food, making sure everything is alright, no violence, no nothing.
Though he had a hint of a tired look in his eyes, the early-middle aged, long-haired Abrahams smiled Tuesday as he sat on a chair by the road and cheered at cars as the drivers honked in support while driving by. When not cheering at the cars or having a bite to eat, Abrahams drumsa skill hes developed the past 15 years after learning it from the Friendship Centre at Hastings Street and Commercial Drive.
Born in Haida Gwaii, Abrahams has lived with the Musqueam First Nations since 1972, and his relationship with them compelled him to borrow drums from friends to sing and play music in support of the protest. The Musqueam want the development halted and the burial site preserved. I come here for the ancestors, I come here for the children, the elders of Musqueam in support, he said. To honour them for allowing me to grow up on their land the majority of my life.
The meaning of the songs that Abrahams and the other drummers play around the clock varies.
In the morning they sing a coming of day song, which says good morning to life, trees, bushes. And in the city, cars, I dont know, said Abrahams with a laugh. A lot of the songs are probably thousands of years old. Theyve been shared for so long that the majority of the songs are for celebration of life.
Some songs called coming into the house songs are meant to intimidate. The drummers at Marpole protest sing a Haida version of the song used during an anti-logging protest at Lyell Island on the northwest coast of B.C. Its now known as the victory song.
Its a celebration for winning the protests over the land and it ended up turning into the anthem, Abrahams said. Imagine four or five hundred people singing it in the strongest singing you could ever have.
Although Abrahams is using a borrowed drum, he said he has a strong connection to his own, which was given to him by his uncle during a canoe journey. He got my cousin to draw out a design and he got my other uncle to paint it. He calls it the four-Haida collaboration drum because Im the one plays it.
Abrahams credits Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, introduced to him by his foster brother while growing up, for the development of his voice. I started singing along with it and it made my voice stronger and stronger. By the time I started learning the Haida songs my voice was really strong.
He says hell keep drumming and singing at the protest for as long as it takes to win their cause. I try hardest to keep us out of the negative and stay in the positive, and make sure that I continue to set an example for the next generation, he said.
Twitter: mickicowan
