{"id":1396,"date":"2024-06-27T12:21:19","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T12:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bruceruddell.com\/?page_id=1396"},"modified":"2025-10-22T19:02:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T19:02:29","slug":"the-healing-heart-of-lushootseed-the-first-people-of-this-land","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bruceruddell.com\/?page_id=1396","title":{"rendered":"The Healing Heart of Lushootseed\/The First People Of This Land"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Performances:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Upcoming- University Of Washington Orchestra February 6 2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Seattle Symphony-March 7 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Windham Philharmonic-Vermont- October 14 2024<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Western Washington Orchestra-November 9 2022<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Seattle Symphony- 1996<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

SYNOPSIS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Healing Heart of the First People of this Land<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Healing Heart of the First People of this Land is a revelatory symphonic work that lifts and expands our conventional understanding of music and redefines the boundaries that categorize it into type, style, or genre. Although composed in Western classical style and form, it is not in the most traditional sense a Western expression. It is a symphonic hybrid whereby the sacred healing power of Coast Salish culture is transformed, not through assimilation or conformity from one culture to another, but rather a collaborative veneration of humanity and the spirit that binds us all. It strips away our inclination to see otherness and opens the heart to the notions of unconditional empathy, love and compassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For millennia, the Puget Coast Salish peoples were able to harness a spiritual healing power that emanates from Mother Earth through acts of love, empathy, and compassion. The Healing Heart of the First People of this Land is the conduit through which this healing power of spirit is transformed into a symphonic inflorescence that can be received and celebrated around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PROVENANCE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heartbroken by the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, Vi \u201ctaqw\u0161\u01ddblu\u201d Hilbert, an 83 year old elder from the Upper Skagit Tribe in Washington state\u2019s northern Puget Sound, asked the spirit, \u201cWhat can<\/p>\n\n\n\n

one person do to help heal a sick and wounded world?\u201d The answer she received set into motion her most ambitious endeavor yet, to hear the heart of the world through music. Her mission: find a composer, commission a unique symphonic work that embodies the healing spirit of her culture, convince the Seattle Symphony, under the leadership of Maestro Gerard Schwarz, to perform it, then have it performed around the world. Armed with an unwavering passion and faith that her ancestral culture could heal the world, Vi commissioned non-Native Canadian composer, Bruce Ruddell, to write a symphony that would not only interpret and translate select spiritual healing songs from her culture, but rather transform them into a symphonic work that embodies their healing power, all the while maintaining authenticity to western roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Healing Heart of the First People of this Land is unique in that it is not a Native-American interpretation of a western musical genre, which would be tantamount to cultural appropriation. Rather, The Healing Heart is a transformative extension of the healing spiritual power of the Coast Salish peoples to the entire world made accessible through a universally recognized genre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information contact Jill@lushootseed.org or visit healingheartproject.org<\/p>\n\n\n\n