TILM.COM, The Indigenous Literacy Manufacturing Company

 Monsieur Côté in a Haunting kihcihkaw askî (Sacred Earth)
A film and musical work by Donald Alfred Morin

“Monsieur Côté” began in 1993, while I was playing Eddy LaRoche in Robert Morin’s film later released as Windigo. During the production, I stayed at Pointe-à-David on Lac Baskatong, Québec. I borrowed a guitar and began singing from my lyrics and screenplay to learn a long scene in French and English. In that scene, Eddy addressed a federal government representative. I wanted to know the words exactly and understand what I was saying through them. The practice became a song.

Monsieur Côté represents government authority in the film. The question behind his name has stayed with me: who claims to protect our heritage, and who is actually heard when decisions are made about our people and the land? I have returned to this music in different forms over the years, from its beginnings with a borrowed guitar through electronic work and the later addition of strings.

The related score, Monsieur Côté in the 21st Century: String Support Version, is a four-part study for Violin I, Violin II, viola and violoncello. It identifies a D minor tonal centre and a 4/4 working pulse of about 123 beats per minute. The upper strings carry and answer musical lines; the viola gives the harmony its inner tension, while the cello holds its lower weight. Repeated figures make the music feel insistent. Changes in pitch and harmony keep that repetition unsettled. In the score, the force of the opening eventually gives way to a much quieter ending. I hear that movement as a question that cannot simply be put aside.

That score was made from a separate recording of the string support, approximately 3 minutes and 21 seconds long. It is a working transcription of the audible parts, useful for studying and rehearsing the arrangement. The film presented here runs approximately 5 minutes and 16 seconds and brings the music into a wider visual story.

The film begins with performance, then moves toward women gathering in red, marching and drumming. Signs, faces, places and public spaces take their turn on screen. The images bring me back to missing and murdered Indigenous women, the harm done to women, and the families living with grief and unanswered questions. That sadness is part of this work. So is the strength of the women we see coming together and making themselves heard.

The later images slow the film into reflection, ending with books and the Bible. For me, faith belongs beside the hard questions in this piece. I cannot give every family an answer through a song or a film. I can remember, listen, and ask that women and families be treated with care and respect.

I offer this work with gratitude to all grandmothers and grandfathers, past and present. I ask the Great Creator and His Son, Jesus Christ, my Lord, for protection, peace and strength for the women, their families and all of us.

Hi hi. Miigwech. Amen.

Donald Alfred Morin

#MonsieurCote #SacredEarth #DonaldAlfredMorin #MMIWG #IndigenousFilm #IndigenousMusic #SaulteauxMetis