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Fond du Lac Arts is a series exploring the stories, creative expression, and craftsmanship of Fond du Lac artists from a range of disciplines.
This project is produced by AMPERS, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities in partnership with WGZS, the Radio Voice of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
INTRO: You are listening to Fond du Lac Arts: Community through the Creative Arts.
LYZ JAAKOLA: There's a lot to the dream, and I don't usually share everything, but I was singing with a hand drum, and also standing with a number of women singing.
HOST: Lya Jaakola had been singing her whole life.
LYZ JAAKOLA: I don't really care what I sing, I just love to sing.
HOST: She got a bachelor's and master's in music. She wrote songs. She had a band. She taught music. Singing was her passion and her norm, but it was almost always men singing with drums she saw at powwows and elsewhere. Her dream showed women in that space.
LYZ JAAKOLA: So, my dream, when we were singing, there was this light that came off our drums and it washed over the people that we were singing in front of.
HOST: The dream stuck with her. Should she form a women's hand drum singing group? She put out an offering. She talked to elders. But one big problem remained: she didn't have a drum.
LYZ JAAKOLA: In my teachings, I wasn't supposed to just go get a drum for myself. I had to be given a drum.
HOST: But in time one was. Then she found the singers.
LYZ JAAKOLA: I heard about some other ladies who sang with drums, or who wanted to sing with drums. And so we started a really small, like four of us, started singing together in like 2006. And then we built up to maybe like 10-12 people. We were called like the Fond du Lac Area Women's Hand Drum Group or something.
HOST: They later decided on a new name for themselves.
LYZ JAAKOLA: Oshkii Giizhik Singers.
HOST: Meaning a new day, one that is still spreading its light 20 years on.
OUTRO: Fond du Lac Arts is produced by AMPERS and WGZS, the radio voice of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.