Name: Hand Drum Singing and Song Trading with Elisa Harkins
Start: 2026-02-28T15:00:00-06:00
Location: 102 Spadina Cres East, Saskatoon, SK, Canada, Saskatchewan S7K 0L3

Hand Drum Singing and Song Trading with Elisa Harkins

Saturday, February 28, 3 PM. Performance in the Riverview Room, Level 2, followed by tea and bannock.
As part of the exhibition Great Plains Series (GPS): Points of Return / Spaces of Departure, artist and composer Elisa Harkins will lead an Indigenous hand drum singing and drumming workshop, followed by an acoustic performance at Remai Modern. This gathering extends her ongoing project Teach Me a Song, in which Indigenous people share songs in a spirit of reciprocity, care, and cultural continuity.
For this event, Harkins will collaborate with Indigenous community members in Saskatoon to revive the practice of song trading—a tradition her language teacher describes as central to how Indigenous songs once traveled across regions and nations. Together, participants will exchange teachings, learn from one another, and prepare songs to share publicly. The workshop will include songs taught to Harkins by local Indigenous singers, as well as songs she offers in return, including hand drum songs and Muscogee (Creek) hymns.
The culminating performance will take place acoustically at Remai Modern. Centering voice, drum, and the relationships built through the workshops, the event highlights the living presence of Indigenous song and the ways it continues to evolve through exchange, community, and embodied memory.
This performance honours past traditions while creating new pathways for Indigenous futurity, connection, and shared sound.
Photo by Melissa Lukenbaugh
Elisa Harkins (bio): Elisa Harkins (b. 1978, Cherokee, Muscogee) is an artist, singer, electronic music composer, and curator. Her work is concerned with the body, language revitalization, and Indigenous music. She has exhibited and performed at Crystal Bridges, The Getty, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, MoMA, Spoleto Festival, and REDCAT. Harkins has received awards from Creative Capital, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Harpo Foundation, and the Mid-America Arts Alliance. In addition to her artistic practice, she serves as a visiting lecturer at various institutions, fostering dialogue around Indigenous music and arts. Harkins is an enrolled member of the Muscogee Nation and lives and works on the Muscogee Reservation.