Salish Karaoke

The Salish Karaoke Contest was one of the highlights of the 2011 Celebrating Salish Conference convened at the Northern Quest Casino and Hotel. 

Of course, now that it's done, I can look back and say how exciting and wonderful it was to sing before an audience of 350 people, but at the time, I was a nervous wreck. For my part, I sang "Love Me Tender" by Elvis Presley. The song did not translate easily into Salish, so I re-branded the song with new lyrics: kʷi swinum̓ti, kʷin x̣menč (you are my beauty, you are my love). I can honestly say this was not my finest vocal performance, but I earned a few cheers and a 4th place prize of $90. Those who placed higher absolutely deserved their winnings.

Everyone gave a phenomenal performance. 

A video of my song and several other photographs appear below:

I translated the lyrics as follows:

kʷi swinum'ti, kʷin x̣menč,
ta nem x̣ʷelncn.
qʷamqʷmt x̣est łu in x̣ʷlx̣ʷilt
nełi kʷin x̣menč.


kʷi swinum'ti, kʷin x̣menč,
nem unexʷ łu i sqeys.
čnunxʷene l' anwi,
yoyot kʷin x̣menč.


tl' qsipi, kʷin x̣menč,
x̣ʷl a snx̣pew's.
tl' nišut tl' i spuʔus,
yoyot kʷin x̣menč.


kʷi swinum'ti, kʷin x̣menč,
nem unexʷ łu i sqeys.
čnunxʷene l' anwi,
yoyot kʷin x̣menč.


kʷi swinum'ti, kʷin x̣menč,
nk'ʷuʔ łu qe spuʔus.
mił čyec lemti x̣ʷl anwi,
nem qe kʷntwexʷ.


kʷi swinum'ti, kʷin x̣menč,
nem unexʷ łu i sqeys.
čnunxʷene l' anwi,
yoyot kʷin x̣menč.

It is easy to become discouraged when we consider the potential extinction of our Salish languages, but this conference renewed my faith in the future. In particular, the karaoke contest helped us all embrace the language in a way that was light-hearted and fun. I am proud of everyone who put themselves out there in support of the language.