Finding their beat

Aliyah Yellowback wants a seat at the drum circle.

There are differing Indigenous teachings and perspectives on whether women should join in, but the 16 year old has found a spot around a big drum inside a welcoming community at St. John’s High School.

“I automatically get goosebumps and shivers in me — it’s such an empowering feeling,” Aliyah said as she described what it’s like to perform her favourite song with drum group Leading Lynx (Niighani Bezhew in Anishinaabemowin).

“Strong Woman Song really resonates with our drum group because we are strong women. We are resilient, we are powerful and when people hear our voices, I feel like they can feel that, too.”

Strong Woman Song is believed to have originated in the 1970s in a Kingston, Ont., prison where Indigenous women sang to comfort one another as they endured harsh punishment.

It is typically performed in rounds to celebrate resilience, sisterhood and solidarity among First Nations, Métis and Inuit women.

Teacher Victoria Normand called it “a perfect fit” for the students who make up the all-girl group in the Winnipeg School Division.

Leading Lynx has learned nearly 10 songs since a handful of girls started drumming inside the St. John’s lodge room at the start of the school year. They cemented their status as a group by the spring, equipped with matching T-shirts and ribbon skirts.

Normand said she hadn’t planned to use the elk hide-covered drum, now affectionately known as Grandmother Drum, when she began facilitating cultural programming at the school.

She started a new role as an Indigenous graduation coach in September, not long after the high school’s big drum was created.

Its large frame, a woodshop project built by two girls, was outfitted with a playing surface in May 2025.

The instrument proved to have a magnetic quality that drew girls to sit around it, Normand said, noting they started to teach each other songs, which led to learning music from other community members and online videos.

“We’ve shared tears. We’ve shared laughter. We’ve shared a lot of different emotions around Grandmother Drum and all these girls, we feel like family,” said the teacher, who has Métis and Ojibwa ancestry.

As videos of their songs have circulated online and word of mouth has spread, Leading Lynx has been invited to perform at assemblies, elementary schools and divisional events, including a spring conference and graduation powwow.

“I feel a sense of belonging when I’m around the drum. It’s a purpose. I feel like I have a purpose and I’m sharing my voice and sharing my gifts with people,” Alexis Ironwing said.

The 19-year-old said it’s been special to meet and spend time with other Indigenous women and learn more about their shared cultural traditions. She said she only recently began to learn about her Lakota identity after moving to Manitoba from Arizona in her mid-teens.

“I feel a sense of belonging when I’m around the drum. It’s a purpose.”

Before Grandmother Drum was placed in storage for summer break, the members of Leading Lynx gathered to create their own hand drums so they could practise when classes were dismissed.

Vice-principal Jeremy Haines called the sound that echoed throughout the school — the lodge room door is generally kept open — “good medicine.”

“We’ve seen these young women connect with each other that normally would probably pass each other in the hallway. They take care of each other. They look out for each other,” Haines said.

The group has a self-imposed mandate to inspire other Indigenous girls and boys to start drumming and take pride in their culture.

They have faced some backlash on social media from people with concerns about women playing a big drum, but school staff and elders have encouraged them to focus on their own beliefs while respecting others with differing ones.

Haines, who is Cree, noted that multiple elders have shared teachings with him about the big drum being a gift from women to men “to heal themselves and work together.”

The vice-principal said some people believe women aren’t supposed to be at the big drum, but he isn’t one of them.

He said he’d like to see Indigenous women take on a more central role in leadership at St. John’s, a nod to their traditional roles as matriarchs.

The girls chose their name, Leading Lynx, because there isn’t a word for tiger, their high school’s mascot, in Anishinaabemowin.

“I tell them they’re all leaders,” said Normand. “The drum is circular. No one’s behind anyone, no one’s above anyone, no one’s under anyone.”

Aliyah said she’s been both inspired and motivated by her father, who is a Cree drummer. Her mother is Ojibwa.

Paityn Wilson said Leading Lynx has brought “pure joy” into her life. “Whenever I’m singing, I get into a trance of calmness,” the 15 year old said.

Next year, she’s transferring from St. John’s to Tec-Voc High School, home of the Good Heart Elk Singers. The drum group currently only accepts young men, so Paityn plans to start her own.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca