'Keeping the Song Alive': A Layered Exhibit of History, Tradition and Song

Event hosted by: Friends of the BC Archives

Guest Speaker: Michael Schwartz

• Online only: Attendees are required to register    

In 1947, amidst the repressions of the Potlatch Ban, an unlikely trio was formed to document and preserve Kwakwaka’wakw culture. That year, Chiefs Billy Assu and Mungo Martin began working with Dr. Ida Halpern—an ethnomusicologist who had fled Nazi-occupied Austria—to record their sacred songs and traditions. The decades-long collaboration ultimately produced hundreds of invaluable recordings (today preserved in the BC Archives) and is the subject of a new exhibit jointly developed by the Bill Reid Gallery and Jewish Museum and Archives of BC. In this talk, co-curator Michael Schwartz will discuss Chiefs Assu and Martin’s partnership with Dr. Halpern, explain the significance of the recordings they produced, and share how this innovative new exhibit came to be. Join us as we reflect on the legacy of an unlikely collaboration that remains relevant and vital to this day.

Michael Schwartz is past Director of Community Engagement at the Jewish Museum and Archives, where he oversaw the development of all exhibits and public programming. He is now Director of Development, Corporate and Government Support
at Ballet BC. 

Contact: info@friendsbcarchives.ca