Local artist Ida Mae Specker performs alongside Yo-Yo Ma, indigenous musicians

HANOVER, N.H. — "We Are Water: A Northeast Celebration," began early on a mid-October morning with an iteration of a traditional Wabanaki sunrise ceremony at the bank of the Connecticut River in Hanover, New Hampshire.

As mist clung to the cold air, renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Jeremy Dutcher, a Wolastoqiyik (also known as Maliseet) tenor and member of the Wabanaki Confederacy, performed Honor Song, a Mi'kmaq song about unity and the importance of people coming together.

The audience, made up of Dartmouth students, Upper Valley residents, and Indigenous community members who sang their own traditional welcome songs, were treated to performances by Indigenous and local musicians, including Ida Mae Specker, a fiddler raised in Andover.

“It was really powerful to be invited into real livi