Nigamon/Tunai

Nigamon and Tunai mean song in Anishinaabemowin and Inga. In a polyphonic manifesto forged by friendship, Émilie Monnet and Waira Nina amplify the songs of the overlooked. Standing with the fight against extractivism and the mining companies that are devasting their lands, they unite their communities’ knowledge and resistance strategies. Voices and languages that would otherwise not be heard make their way to us at last, from South to North.

In the sound forest to which we are invited by Monnet and Nina, trees, water, stones, and copper sing. Besides the instruments playing this unexpected music before our eyes, we also hear words gathered from the Colombian Amazon and the boreal forest. Linked by the figure of the turtle central to both their cosmogonies, the two women form an effective alliance advocating the protection of water, land, stars, and ancestral knowledge.

Produced by Productions Onishka
Written, directed and performed by Émilie Monnet + Waira Nina
Associate Director Sarah Williams
Dramaturgy Yohayna Hernández
Assistant Director and Stage Manager Wanderson Santos
Video Design Mélanie O’bomsawin
Set Design Julie-Christina Piché
Props Assistant Mayumi Ide-Bergeron
Lighting Design Chantal Labonté
Sound Design Leonel Vasquez
Music and Sound Design Frannie Holder
Sound Frédéric Auger
Singing Coach Esmeralda Vasquez
Costume Design Yso
 Make-up and Hair Julie Cusson
Technical Director and Sound Manager Samuel Thériault
Production Director Cynthia Gosselin-Bouchard
Outside Eye and Protocol Consultants Floyd Favel (North) + Luciano Mutumbajoy (South)
With the recorded voices of taita Luciano Mutumbajoy + Sonia Mutumbajoy + Yolanda + Jacanamijoy Mutumbajoy + Charito Chikunque + Amanda Roy + Sharon Day + Eudosia + Anik Sioui + Alanis O’Bomsawin-Galand + Élouan O’Bomsawin-Galand + Aja-Eyal Ferron + Sophie Gionet-Santos
Translation Cleo da Fonseca (into Portuguese) + Elisabet Rafols (into French, English, Spanish)
Research Véronik Picard
Administration Director Onishka Kimberly Guillaume 
Communications Director Onishka Jean-Matthieu Barraud
Booking Cusson Management & La Magnanerie MAG.I.C

Co-produced by Festival TransAmériques
With the support of ESPACE GO
Developed with the support of National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund (Ottawa) + Cole Foundation (Dialogues interculturels)
Créative residencies Indigenous Dramaturgies Circle – Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity + Kokolampoe Drama Center (Saint-Laurent du Maroni) + Centro de Escucha (Sibaté)
Support for surtitling Cole Foundation

ONISHKA is supported by Canada Council for the Arts + Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec + Conseil des arts de Montréal + Cole Foundation + National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund (Ottawa)

Co-presented by ESPACE GO

Premiered at ESPACE GO, on May 14, 2024

Written by Catherine Renaud  + Yohayna Hernandez
Translated by David Dalgleish

Nigamon/Tunai was created with an eco-conception approach, and thanks to the contribution of Soverdi, Société de verdissement du Montréal métropolitain, 10 trees graciously loaned for the production will be rooted in the heart of the community at the end of the performances. They will provide shade, freshness and clean air for future generations, contributing to the objectives of the Plan Climat Montréal 2020-2030.