The KICC Anishinaabe Music Circle

media release: Learn about Anishinaabe musical instruments with Dawn and Rob Moneyhan. Included will be hand drums, flutes, and different types of shakers. Participants will have an opportunity to play along and learn how the instruments are made, the history behind them, how they are played, and any other audience questions. Rob Moneyhan, personal flute maker, will explain and show the different stages of making a Native American flute. Dawn will teach a few simple Anishinaabe songs to the audience as everyone learns and sings together. Some of these songs will be water songs, and Dawn will explain the significance and responsibility that Anishinaabe kwewag/women have to the water. All instruments will be provided during the program and MUST be returned to their box at the end of the program.

About the presenter: Dawn Moneyhan is the spiritual leader of The Kwewag Indigenous Culture Church, a newly published author, and teacher of Indigenous history, culture, & tradition. Dawn is also a staunch advocate for Mother Earth and teaches about the climate crisis and the solutions found within Indigenous cultural knowledge and lifestyles. With 30+ years of public speaking and charity work, a career in aquatic medicine, and a deeply held bond with the natural world, Dawn is working hard to effect change in our society to save our planet and ourselves by association. Dawn is always reminding those around her, "We are all connected and the knowledge we seek is buried within us all. It's an ancestral knowledge that every human has within their DNA, buried by hundreds of years of capitalism, religion, and politics. Now is the time to reconnect to the natural world, learn to see life with a new perspective. We have the power to save ourselves if we apply what we know."

Part of the Teejop and Beyond: Celebrating Native Nations series in partnership with Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison and made possible thanks to the Friends of Madison Public Library(link is external). Visit madpl.org/teejopandbeyond for more info.

Each fall, Madison Public Library and Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison welcome a variety of Native artists, storytellers, and community leaders for a series of programs celebrating Indigenous people in and beyond Teejop (pronounced day-JOPE, meaning Four Lakes, or Madison). Beginning on Indigenous Peoples' Day each year, Native folks from different nations lead programs highlighting both traditional and contemporary practices, stories, and community relationships.

This year, six presenters representing different Native tribes in Wisconsin will lead programs throughout October and November on a wide range of topics, including Native citizenship and participation in the electoral process, the recent discovery of canoes in Lake Mendota, the history and process of making musical instruments, and more. 

Program participants will also have the opportunity to try hands-on crafts like beading and basket-weaving and understand how techniques and approaches vary depending on the tribal traditions guiding them. This year, presenters represent the Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Ottawa, and Choctaw nations. Meet the presenters and sign up for programs below.

If you have questions, please contact community@madisonpubliclibrary.org.