Two cultures - one song: Music in the early Jesuit missions of Georgian Bay

The early encounter of the French Jesuits among the Anishinaabeg of the Lake Huron region led to adaptations in the sacred music of both the Jesuit missionaries and the Anishinaabeg people. Research findings are presented in chapters on: the training of the Jesuit missionaries and the important features of the Roman Catholic liturgical music; the traditional Ojibway music, the initial encounter between the Anishinaabeg and the Jesuits in the seventeenth century at Saint Marie Among the Hurons, and; the encounter at Wikwemikong Holy Cross Mission during the nineteenth century. It shows that the Jesuits promoted adaptability, and engaged in a humanistic framework in their music teaching and training that encouraged a diversity of interests and resulted in preparing the Anishinaabe to bring to the Island their contribution to music, through the use of their own language and musical expression.