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What makes music Métis, and who gets to decide? Complex dynamics of recognition, non-recognition, and erasure have played out over a history of Métis music-making, from the Red River Resistance all the way to the present day.
Monique Giroux argues that Métis music reflects broader social relationships, in particular the politics of recognition. Drawing on newspaper articles, archival documents, interviews with Métis and non-Métis musicians, and over a decade of research at cultural festivals, she charts a history of reframings: a changing but problematic relationship whereby settlers define the boundaries of acceptance to assert control over Métis identity and culture. Complicating this narrative, Giroux points to the many ways Métis have resisted settler recognition and erasure – both within mainstream old-time fiddling and at Métis-run events where people have continued to gather, tell stories, and draw on music to rebuild relationships in a time of resurgence.
Métis Music critically examines music as a shifting site of encounter, showing its readers what to listen for, how to learn by listening, and the importance of acting intentionally with the learning gained through listening.
"Giroux contends that Metis music reflects broader social relationships and she illustrates, with copious historical content, how a reframing of identity is both problematic and essential to maintaining a valuable heritage, especially via community gatherings focusing on fiddling and dance traditions that convey the kind of stories that can repair relationships." Embodied Meanings, Donald Brackett
"[Giroux's] informative and entertaining book acknowledges the integral collaborative nature of the scholarship employed, which almost seems to echo the collaborative nature of the music itself. It is precisely the commitment to a vital cultural continuum that makes Métis Music: Stories of Recognition and Resurgence such a welcome contribution to this uniquely First Nations/Canadian art form." Critics at Large