Sensational native American musicians to pay a visit to Lislea

THE people of South Armagh will soon be afforded the first-hand opportunity to experience the majestically marvelous and spiritually uplifting music of native American culture thanks to the upcoming arrival of the Sullivan Squad to Lislea.

The Squad, which is comprised of a family of traditional Ojibwe Anishinaabe/Ho-Chunk singers from the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe reservation in Wisconsin made up of Michael Migizi Sullivan Sr, his sons Niizhoo Sullivan (19-years-old), Preston Sullivan (15-years-old), Lennox Sullivan (9-years-old), and daughter Lexie Sullivan (14-years-old), are set to perform at the Lislea Community centre on March 22.

The event promises to be an exciting evening of music, spirituality and exceptional entertainment which can be appreciated by all, with organiser, Fergal O’Brien from the Traditional Arts Partnership (TAP) emphasising the fact there is growing excitement about the Sullivan Squad making their Irish debuts in both Lislea and at the Imagine Belfast Festival.

Dr Michael Migizi Sullivan (PhD.) the lead of the group is an Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) linguist from the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe reservation in northern Wisconsin. He is currently the Native American Studies Faculty Director at Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University and previously served as the resident linguist for the Waadookodaading Ojibwe Language Immersion School.

Dr Sullivan

Dr Sullivan has travelled extensively across Ojibwe country exploring regional language variation and works closely with elders and tribes in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and Ontario.

Dr Sullivan is no stranger to TAP, having taught 32 bodhrán players a round dance beat during COVID-19 in preparation for the Kindred Spirits- Anamchairde project in 2021.

Anamchairde is a term from the Irish language and means soul friends which has been used to describe the deep understanding that gave rise to the Choctaw Nation donating $170 to help the Irish people devastated by the Famine in 1847. This was a huge sum at the time worth tens of thousands of dollars today.

It was this historical episode which inspired native Whitecross musician Finbar Magee to compose the song entitled ‘Ima’ which he will also be performing on the night in question, an opportunity that the South Armagh native states he is looking forward to.

Ima

“There was a connection between the Irish famine and the Choctaw. The Choctaw sent over whatever money they had to the Irish during the famine even though they had nothing. Fergal O'Brien asked me if I could compose a song in relation to this. We did and recorded it and the song Ima was played over at their meetings in America and used in an educational capacity.

“Ima means to give and it was based on the whole story of the famine The time of the famine correlated with a period of time in which the U.S Army pushed the Choctaw and several other tribes out of their native homes out in the middle of the winter to kill as many of them as possible without directly killing them.

“ They drove the Chcotaw about 600 miles up to Minnesota. This is where they live now. By the time the Choctaw arrived there was about half of them died.

“However some of the American soldiers were Irish who escaped the famine and even though the Choctaw were hard done by they listened to the soldiers telling their story about what they knew about the famine and they saw a bond. So whenever the Choctaw arrived at Minnosota they gathered up whatever they had which was not very much, amounting to only about £20'000 and sent it over through the Quakers to Ireland as the quakers were the only ones they would trust to get the money to Ireland.

“This is the story and I used it to compose the song and they seemed to like it. I was looking at it for a while before I got the right angle to it. I didn't realise how strong the bond was and the more I read of there story the more I realised that they were fantastic people who had big hearts and they had nothing to give but they gave everything that they had. It was hard to capture this sense of complete selflessness.

“I will performing Ima whenever the Sullivans come over in March The event is something that I am looking forward to and I am looking forward to meeting them.”

A unique partnership in 2021 between the Celtic Junction Arts Centre, St Paul Minnesota, Aonach Mhacha Cultural Centre and TAP culminated in the production of a curated, hour long on-line production exploring areas of common experience and shared humanity, music, song and spoken word. Contributions to this programme included the previously listed song ‘Ima’ from Finbar to recount the Choctaw story and a Gaelic version from Piaras O Lorcain translated by Gael Linn CEO, Réamonn Ó’Ciaráin. TAP fiddle tutor, Aodh Mac Mhurchaidh composed a piece ‘Kindred Spirits’ for the on- line production which has been performed in Armagh and Minnesota. All of these artists now look forward to performing alongside the Sullivans in Lislea.Thanks to funding from the Ho Chunk and Ojibwe tribes, the Ring of Gullion Landscape Partnership, Imagine Belfast and Gael Linn a dream has come true for Michael to perform in Northern Ireland and visit the country of his grandfather’s ancestors. Asked if had he any special requests in Ireland, a wish for a round of golf was readily granted by the manager of Cloverhill Golf Club, Mullaghbawn who offered three!

Further information

Tickets and further details of the event in Belfast taking place at the Imagine Belfast Festival of Ideas and Politics on 20 March are available on this link: https://imaginebelfast.com/event/ojibwe-stories-and-music-with-the-sullivan-squad/

Details of the event in Lislea Community Centre on 22 March will be available from the Traditional Arts Partnership - South Armagh Facebook Page