Uploaded on Apr 14, 2011 "the water is sick...and people need to really fight for that water, to speak for that water, to love that water" (Josephine Mandamin, Mother Earth Water Walk)
Performed by Dorene Day, Waubanewquay, Marten Clan Produced by Stephen Lang
The story of the Nibi (Water) Song told by Beatrice Menase Kwe Jackson, Migizi Clan.
This song was written by Doreen Day at the request of her grandson. She attended a conference about the water in which the internationally known speaker, Dr. Masaru Emoto said, the very least we should do every day, is to speak to the water:
Water, we love you. We thank you. We respect you.
So she did this. Every day on their drive to drop Mashkoonce (Little Elk) to school, they passed a body of water. And every day they said these words to the water as they drove by. They made games by saying it in different voices and then would say it as fast as they could. Then one day Mashkoonce, said, "Nokomis why can't we say this in our language?" So, Dorene asked her daughter's language teacher to write it in Ojibwemowin. Dorene had the words taped to the car visor as they learned the words.
One day this grandson Mashkoonce said, "Nokomis why don't we sing the words, don't you think the water would like it to be sung?" So she thought about it and came up with the tune. They sang this song to the water every morning on their drive to school.
It is sung like a lullaby and we don't use shakers or drums.
Doreen and her grandson, Mashkoonce, give permission for everyone to share this song... sing it to the water every day.