Northern Saskatchewan high schoolers collaborate on music video

High school students from the Northern Saskatchewan communities of Stanley Mission and La Ronge have come together to create a song and music video.

Lock The Door is the name of the track by collaborative band Capybara Mission, which features students from Churchill Community School in La Ronge and Rhoda Hardlotte Memorial Keethanow High School in Stanley Mission.

The idea for the collaboration came after Eliza Doyle, a music teacher in Stanley Mission, came across a call for applications from the Saskatchewan Festival of Words for schools in the north to engage in a lyrical workshop.

Doyle contacted Collin Jolly, a music teacher in La Ronge, and together they began to work on the project.

Doyle said the students were thrilled when she shared the idea with them initially and have been hands-on throughout the creative process.

"They were all very excited about having another music program going on in La Ronge," she said. "It was so close but yet so far away. They had never jammed together in person, but being able to do this virtually was very exciting for them."

Spoken word poet and hip hop artist Zoey Roy helped guide the students through two online songwriting sessions. After that, audio engineers Micah Erinberg and Riley Burr helped co-ordinate the students as they recorded instrumentation and vocals from their communities.

Once the recording was done, Brandon White went to both communities to film the music video.

Doyle said the song is about being misunderstood, but also realizing that "you can lock the door, but sometimes you need to open it to let people in."

The music video for the song also symbolizes the troubles teenagers are going through and the sacrifices needed to make art during the pandemic.

The students involved are Carys McLeod, Eugene Ballantyne, Brittany McLeod, Zack McKenzie, Tayson McLeod, Dominque Ross, Jonah Badger, Karis Oscienny, Andrew Parsons, Pesim Searson and Derykah Friesen.

Oscienny, a Grade 11 student from from Churchill Community School, said the experience allowed her to express herself and inspire hope in others.

"I want people to know that even when it feels like you're alone and isolated and no one is around, there are people who want you around and want you to join them in life," Oscienny said. "There are people who are happy that you are here."

Since being uploaded on Monday, the music video has garnered more than 1,000 views.