Spring is the time of the Anishinaabe New Year and the time to recognize the gifts we have been given. This song was created by the Swamp Singers after several of us spent time gathering and boiling sap in 2013. Pictured here are Fionna Noori and Marlie Libs at Andy and Mike Jackson’s sugar camp in Indian Lake, Michigan.

As Pat Northrup reminded us in 2021, “there is something about sugar bush that just welcomes warm weather and all things living waking up from winter and stretching out to enjoy another spring.”

Sung by Margaret Noodin. Musical score by Sheila J. Feay-Shaw.

Sugarbush Song

Apii ziigwan ozhiga’angwaa ininatigoog
(When it is spring we tap the maples)

Apii ziigwan iskigamizigeyaang
(When it is spring we sugar bush)

Ininatigaboo minwaagamin
(Maple sap tastes good)

Ziinzibaakwad minopagwad
(Sugar tastes good)

Zhiiwaagamizigan giminwendaamin
(Maple syrup we like it)

This music and video by Chris Oravec combines the Native American flute with the vocal and shaker of the original track above. Chris says, “I tried to replicate Margaret’s singing with the flute accompaniment to familiarize myself with Ojibwe music. I played in a Western Woodlands style that appears frequently in early ethnographic recordings of Ojibwe (Chippewa) singers and flute players. Like traditional Plains music the melody repeatedly descends from a high note down to the fundamental and includes chirps and flips for emphasis. The Woodlands style is somewhat smoother, however, featuring the flow of the melody and using only occasional embellishments. The beat in quarter time is driven by the shaker and the crisp enunciation of the vocal, capturing the energy of collecting and “sugaring off” maple sap in the early spring.”