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Sep 24, 2021 –
Akwesasne singer-songwriter Theresa Bear Fox has been making music in Mohawk and English for twenty years. She says melodies started coming to her when she was young, but didn’t start using them to write songs until her early twenties. Now Fox says she feels called to share her music to uplift her community and encourage more people to learn Mohawk.
Fox started singing and writing songs in 2001. She has since released four CDs, which she sells online and in the community. She also writes songs for a song group of Mohawk women, Kontiwennenhawi, which means “carriers of words”. Fox says she puts a lot of positive messages into her songs, which she hopes will inspire others to learn Mohawk.
“The songs that come to me, it’s almost like someone, a spirit or something, is pushing me”
Fox says melodies often come to her first, and she puts words to them. One example is a song she did from the opening speech, which gives thanks for everything in the creation.
“I heard a lot of little ones, all the children’s voices singing this song, they were all saying ‘kwah io ianereh, kwah io ianereh’, and then something told me that this is the melody of the song that I am supposed to make for the younger ones to learn the opening speech. ”
Fox didn’t speak much Mohawk growing up, which she said was a source of shame. She says she continuously worked to improve her language and sent her children to Akwesasne Freedom School to make sure they spoke Mohawk as well. Fox’s songs often touch on personal topics, which she says helps people connect to her music.
“Sometimes I will sing and a lot of people will cry because it opens their hearts.”
Fox says she feels like singing opens her heart to everyone, a level of vulnerability that sometimes scares her.
“I like it, after singing, if someone gives me a hug, because I feel like it helps me mend again. But I feel like I have to… it’s why they come to me, because they need me to share them. ”
Major support for North Country at Work comes from the Wyncote Foundation, Humanities New York, and the National Archives.
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