Eleven high school students from La Ronge and Stanley Mission have collaborated to write a song and create a music video that was released Monday.
The collaborative band, Capybara Mission, featured students in two music classes from their respective communities.
Eliza Doyle taught the class in Stanley Mission at Rhoda Hardlotte Memorial Keethanow High School while Colin Jolly taught the other half of students at Churchill Community High School in La Ronge.
Doyle said this was a way for students to express themselves.
“Being able to write a song, record it and have a music video attached to it; it’s their voices, it’s their faces (so) they’re represented,” she said. “It’s the ultimate way to be seen and heard because a lot of times, we feel invisible in this world, especially during the pandemic and as teenagers.”
The song, Lock the Door, is about how the students were feeling during the past year.
“From my interpretation, (it) was everything they’re experiencing during this pandemic and in their lives in general,” Doyle said. “The pandemic kind of amplifies different societal issues that are already going on.”
The video echoes this while following the students in their own communities fighting to get into the schools which, in the video, are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, showcasing the lengths people will go to create art.
The song was written by the students during an online song writing workshop taught by spoken word poet and hip-hop artist Zoey Roy.
Doyle said watching the students express themselves is one reason she loves teaching music.
“It was great to watch them express themselves and get excited about being able to take the song in whatever direction they wanted,” she said. “To see that freedom and see that open up for them is why I love song writing and teaching song writing.”
Doyle said another collaboration similar to this between students at Senator Myles Venne School on the Lac La Ronge Indian Band and the Keethanow Elementary School in Stanley Mission will happen soon.
(PHOTO: The 11 students were filmed and photographed in their own communities. Photograph by Brandon White.)