Russländers reunite

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This article was published 14/07/2023 (1200 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One hundred years ago, 21,000 Mennonites made their way from the Soviet Union to Canada in search of refuge and shelter.

Leaving behind all that was familiar, more than 6,000 of the Russländers, as they were then known, chose to make Manitoba their home.

On Saturday, to honour the centennial of the historic migration and to celebrate a deeply rooted culture of worship through music, a multilingual performance of 20 songs takes place at 7 p.m. at the Winnipeg Centennial Concert Hall.

Singing Our Journey: Sängerfest 2023 is the culmination of 2 1/2 years of work, and features three choirs: a 230-strong adult choir conducted by choral director Henry Engbrecht; a youth choir with 22 singers conducted by Kristel Peters; and a treble choir of 20 singers conducted by Millie Hildebrand.

Engbrecht, who directed his first Sängerfest — “singer festival” — 60 years ago, says while this centennial event is deeply meaningful, he is also mindful of the history of the immigration and the great cost that was borne by the Indigenous people of Canada.

“I think of Singing Our Journey more as a commemoration than a celebration,” he says. “I feel so grateful to my grandparents for having given up everything they had to start all over again. They paid a high price for our freedom; the freedom to teach and exercise our faith, to develop meaningful relationships in trust in all walks of life.

“I am also mindful that room was made for us by the Canadian government at the expense of Canada’s Indigenous people.”

He says the repertoire for the event is very specific to the theme of commemoration.

“We came to Canada, they made room for us, but what happened? Some were pushed aside, some were pushed back and that history is very unfortunate.”

It’s a sentiment echoed by Peters, whose grandparents, like those of Engbrecht and Hildebrand, arrived in Canada in the mid-1920s. She grapples with the weight of history, acknowledging the questions surrounding the celebration of the immigration.

“Celebrating this milestone event is a huge excitement for me,” she says. “I love looking at our history and why and how we came to Canada. It is important to acknowledge and celebrate the past, but also move forward in harmony with wrongdoings.

“I personally feel pulled in many directions by this event. We are celebrating an immigration to this country, but whose land are we on? This is an important element we must study and do our part in helping [to implement] the truth and reconciliation recommendations. We are all living in this beautiful province and country. We need to acknowledge the ancestors that first lived on this land before we arrived.”

The program includes choral pieces from the distant past along with newly commissioned pieces by Leonard Enns and Michael Janzen and features songs in Latin, Swahili, English and German.

The first piece the audience hears, Ambe, is by Andrew Balfour, a Winnipeg composer of Cree descent. It is sung in Ojibwe and will be performed by the youth choir.

Engbrecht says the organizers took the name of the event to heart when coming up with the selection of pieces.

“It was clear to me immediately that the contents of this program would have to say something about where we came from to where we have come, and hopefully, make a statement about where our singing may lead.”

For Hildebrand, the occasion is also an opportunity to recognize the trials and tribulations the Russländers experienced as they made their journey towards liberation.

“This event has been two years in the making and its significance to those of us who know the Russländer story has grown exponentially over the months,” she says. “To be part of this now has brought back the solemnity of this history, but it has also been a reminder of the gratitude that was a daily prompt in the households of my grandparents.

“‘Kinder, ihr sollen dankbar sein’ was the mantra of my Tante Liese: ‘Children, you should be thankful.’ She said it kindly, but we could sense there was no place for complaining by any kind from us, whose life of free-and-easy living would have been the stuff of dreams in the early 1920s in the country that she was forced to flee.”

The concert ends with a particularly poignant number, a mass choir piece with all voices singing Now Thank We All Our God, a hymn the Russländer sang at various points as they made their way to Canada and the first thing they sang when they arrived in their new country.

“In many ways this Sängerfest calls us to keep the spirit of thankfulness alive,” Hildebrand says. “I think is very easy for all that to suddenly just dissipate. I am really grateful to be able to participate in this event in light of that memory.”

av.kitching@winnipegfreepress.com