Phew! That one took a long time. My website is back to Hannah Burgé .com and I couldn’t be happier. Names are important – especially chosen ones!
A few years back my website hannahburge.ca was hacked and offered back to me for sale for the low, low price of USD 1,000; a veritable fortune for a gigging musician spending $50 a week on baby diapers. Sadly, I let it go.
Burgé is my name. My family’s legacy has always been important to me. I remember asking my mother about our family history when I was a kid, maybe eight or so. “Who is our family?” “When you have the church, you don’t need more family,” was her answer. She probably didn’t think more about it, and possibly wouldn’t agree with that statement any longer, but at the time, I was crushed!
My family comes from the Drummond Island Voyageurs, a group of Indigenous folk and French settlers who resided on Drummond Island in the mid-1800s. They were forced off the Island, and folks like my ancestral grandmother travelled to Penetanguishene (Canada) where they were “resettled.” Some Indigenous folks who made homes in the Penetang, Georgian Bay, and Orillia regions are represented by Métis Nation Ontario, me included. Naturally, this story is a simplification of a complex legacy and living history.
Over a fifty-or-so-year period, the family name Berger changed to Burgie, changed (by me) to Burgé. I wanted to keep my mother’s name in circulation, seeing as the women in my family are the storytellers and the story keepers. When I undertook this website redesign with Lucie, we joyfully discovered that my name was available again! Ta-da!
Hence, I got my name back and I’m thrilled to have it. Welcome to the new hannahburge.ca site, where you’ll find info on gigs, hear music and watch videos. There’s a new section about the teaching, workshops, and lectures, I offer as an artist and ethnomusicologist. Please drop me a line and sign up for my newsletter to stay up to date. And, if you want me to visit your city or town – send us a message here!