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Wyandot’s Realm

Composition Details

Performed in Concert

In Collections

Program Notes:

Wyandot’s realm, by Cree composer and conductor Andrew Balfour, is based on the traditional Huron Carol. The Huron Carol is commonly known as ‘Canada’s oldest Christmas song’. It was most likely written in 1642 by Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary at Sainte-Marie among the Huron Tribe in Canada. Brébeuf wrote the lyrics in the native language of the Huron-Wendat people; the song’s original Huron title is “Jesous Ahatonhia” (“Jesus, he is born”). The melody is based on a traditional French folk song.

The complicated and controversial nature of this carol is rooted in its history as a product of colonial missionary work and the forced integration of Christianity into Indigenous culture. The English translation that has been performed for many years is, problematically, not an accurate translation of the original Wendat language.

Indigenous artists’ reimaginings of the carol, such as this evocative rendition by Balfour, that aim to honour the Wendat culture, can provide Indigenous perspectives, correct historical inaccuracies, and promote a more complete and nuanced understanding of the song and its complex legacy.

Conductor Notes:

SSAA a cappella
(also available for SATB)

Composer / Arranger Notes:

As found on the Cypress Choral Music website, Andrew Balfour writes:

Wyandot is the accurate name of the great First Nation tribe of Eastern Canada that the French called the “Huron”, a title that the Wyandot people felt was derogatory. The Wyandot were one of the greatest of the North American First Nations, numbering in hundreds of thousands. They had an Empire that spanned most of what is now Quebec and the Eastern part of the U.S. The Wyandot people are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of the present-day United States and Canada. Their Wyandot language belongs to the Iroquoian language family. In Canada, the Huron-Wendat Nation has two First Nations reserves at Wendake, Quebec.

Text:

Manitou, Manitou | Wyandot | Deo
Eh-sten-nyah-yan deh tson-weh Eesus a ha-ton-ny-ah
On nah-wah teh wah-do-kee non-wah dah ska wa-en tak.
En non-sh-yen sk-wah tree ho-tat non-wa-knee-yon rah-shat torah
Eesus A-ha-ton-ny-ah
In excelsis Gloria!

Translation:

Mysterious being | Tribe | God
Have courage, you who are humans. Jesus, he is born.
Behold, the spirit who had us as prisoners, domestic animals, has fled.
Do not listen to it, as it corrupts our minds, the spirit of our thoughts.
Jesus is born. 
Glory in the highest!