ATLANTA, Ga. – Mvskoke citizen, composer, and soprano Dr. Kirsten Kunkle has a new project in the works. Her new eight-part acapella choral arrangement “Mvskokvlke, Este’cate” will make its debut in Atlanta with the Trey Clegg Singers (TCS) on May 5.
Dr. Kunkle joined Trey Clegg of the TCS on LiveWire on March 27 to discuss their current collaboration.
Kunkle’s piece was commissioned thanks to a recent grant awarded to the TCS from the National Endowment for the Arts. The grant covers the costs to research, study, and perform music by Indigenous Native Americans. When it premieres on May 5 the spring concert will also feature works in Cherokee, Chickasaw, Cree, Choctaw and Navajo. Clegg related, “All my singers are learning all these different languages.”
The TCS are Atlanta’s premier multicultural chorus and formed seven years ago. Clegg said, “I wanted to start a chorus seven years ago that truly represented Atlanta’s international multicultural population because we are rather diverse here. And so when I started it, it really caught on immediately.”
Clegg himself is a professional organist, church musician, and choral singer. He works with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and the Atlanta Chamber Chorus. He also conducts music in one of Atlanta’s major downtown churches, the historic First Congregational Church.
Clegg wanted to explore the music of southeastern Native Americans, specifically he wanted to learn about the Mvskoke people, the Indigenous inhabitants of Atlanta. A mutual colleague, Chickasaw composer Jerrod Tate, connected Clegg with Kunkle and work began.
Kunkle describes how Clegg gave her creative freedom, which then gave room for exploring themes of sovereignty and origins. She stated, “Trey wanted something specifically about the Mvskoke in Georgia and what that meant. So what that meant, whether it was about the origins, which I think was important, but even more so now that sovereignty is in place, what that means that we now have that flag back on Georgia lands and what that means as far as the division between Oklahoma and Georgia.”
The TCS spring concert will be a premier for Dr Kunkle’s work and will also feature Indigenous works that have been performed by the chorus all season. Clegg said that the audience has not only been open to the music but they also embrace it. He sees his art as a way to educate and make change.
Clegg stated, “Oh, they love it. It’s been overwhelming. And honestly, I mean, I’m not being funny, but a lot of it’s in the way and the spirit in which it’s presented and the quality which is presented as well, you know? And I don’t just perform and just leave it there. I educate as I go. So I share what I’ve learned in my research over the last year about the works, about the nations, about the composers, because I want audiences to know, and the only way we can make headway and make changes is to educate.”
“Mvskokvlke, Este’cate” features the Mvskoke language, which is something Dr. Kunkle has been learning for the past four years when the Covid-19 Pandemic began. From her home in Ohio she has been able to take part in online language classes taught by Mvhayv Rebecca Barnett. She started, as she said, “little by little,” learning, as students do, the alphabet and from there building vocabulary and sentence structure.
Taking as inspiration not just the Mvskoke language but the history of the language today, Dr. Kunkle related the fundamental intertwining of sovereignty and culture. She said, “We are still here, we are still here… We would not be here and be able to tell these stories if we hadn’t endured the Trail of Tears, if our mother’s mothers had held their tongues. And I meant that in two ways. You know, they kept to themselves and did what they had to do to survive. But they also kept our language, which was so important. And language is the key to culture in so many ways.
“Mvskokvlke, Este’cate” will also be performed on June 8 at the Chorus America Conference in Atlanta. The National Conference of American Choirs selected the TCS to headline the annual gathering this year.
To view video of the Trey Clegg Singers and to watch a livestream of the May 5 premiere of “Mvskokvlke, Este’cate”, visit their youtube channel. For those interested in getting a copy of the arrangement for performances purposes, reach out to Dr. Kunkle at her website. Dr. Kunkle’s choral arrangement can be found below.
“Mvskokvlke, Este’cate”
By Kirsten C. Kunkle
November 16, 2023
Our mothers’ mothers held their tongues.
The Great Removal took our home.
Death, fear, and destruction paved the path,
Along the Trail of Tears from Georgia to Oklahoma.
Hawks flew overhead.(Ayo)
Fast water flowed and was crossed. (Uewa)
Mvskokvlke, Este’cate.
Protect the children, keep them safe.
Make Oklahoma home.
From Ocmulgee to Okmulgee,
Macon to Tulsa,
Etowah to Broken Arrow…
Generations pass, full of remembering, full of legacy.
Sovereignty… finally.
The flag on Georgian land.
Mvskoke towis. I am Mvskoke. ..
In Oklahoma, Mvskoke towis.
In Georgia, Mvskoke towis.
We return home.
Mvskokvlke, Este’cate.
Removed, now returned.
We exist and remain.
We can go home… We are citizens of the world.
We are still here.
Mvskoke towis.
Mvskokvlke, Este’cate.
We are still here.
(Courtesy: Kristen Kunkle)
Thank you for the amazing privilege of singing this piece. I am a soprano with the Trey Clegg singers. It is a very powerful composition and I am honored to help shsre the Myskoke story through music.