Gath and K’iyh: Listen to Heal

A gorgeous short film transports us to Alaska – to the birch trees, salmon swimming upstream, and the humans that care for them. Gath & K’iyh: Listen to Heal documents a community gathering on Lower Tanana Dene lands in Fairbanks, Alaska. Yo-Yo Ma plays cello as a group gathers together to grieve climate change and honor the land.  

Gath & K’iyh’s director Princess Daazhraii Johnson (Neets'aii Gwich'in) listens back on the film and shares her reflections about “how critical it is to find that time to listen so that we can protect our ways of life.” 

Learn more about Gath & K’iyh

Sonic Journeys is presented by 4th World Media, a matriarch-led organization dedicated to media justice, narrative sovereignty and the holistic care of underserved filmmakers.

Host and Creator: Stina Thomas Hamlin

Supervising Producer: Jenny Asarnow

Executive Producer: Tracy Rector

Theme song: Tooh Nílíní by Kino Benally

Consulting Graphic Designer: Joel Schomberg

Cover art: Mer Young

Connect with us on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Sonic Journeys is an independent podcast. You can find it on Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts.

Transcript

Gath & K’iyh

Sonic Journeys

Season 1 Episode 2

Release Date:  September 25, 2025

Fred John: I just don’t know how to explain it, but it seems like something opened up to us that we didn’t know was there. But it's out there.

[Soundscape plays]

Tracy Rector: Welcome to Sonic Journeys.

[Music plays: Tooh Nílíní by Kino Benally]

Stina Thomas Hamlin: Hey what’s up? I’m Stina Thomas Hamlin. I’m a lover of soundscapes and film audio of all kinds. 

Sonic journeys is a podcast where we listen to cinematic sound, and we get to nerd out with filmmakers about how they craft soundtracks for their films, and open our ears to what audio can do and how it can make us feel.

Today we’re gonna listen to a gorgeous short film. It transports us to Alaska, to the Birch trees and salmon and the humans that care for them. In the film we listen in on a community gathering to honor the land, to grieve climate change, and to make music together – with Yo Yo Ma joining on the cello.  

This film is part of the 4th World Media family - that’s the media justice organization that I run  with my friend Tracy Rector. And it’s directed by Princess Daazrhai Johnson.

Princess: [Introduces herself in language]. My name is Princess Daazrhai Johnson and I’m Neets’aii Gwich’in, and we’re about to listen to a film that I directed and my community helped make called Gath & K’iyh: Listen to Heal, and I'm excited to go on this Sonic Journey with you all. Mahsi' choo. 

[Theme music continues]

Stina:  I asked Princess to listen along to the film and send us some voice memos about what came up for her as she was listening, so we’re going to hear those and then after we hear from Princess we’re going to listen to the entire eight minute film with no interruptions. So get comfortable and grab your headphones.

[Sound of cello]

Stina:  Gath and K’iyh starts with the sound of Yo Yo Ma playing the cello. Here’s Princess…

Princess: Just listening to that bit of cello in the opening brings back this incredible time together in Fairbanks, here on Lower Tanana Dené lands.  And then the sounds of the wind…

[hear sound of wind] 

Stina: The film is narrated by Fred John, an Ahtna Elder

Fred John: Our ears start opening to a different sound. We start hearing a different sound of wind, we start seeing different things.

Princess: Which is actually speaking to what happens when you really listen to the elements [giggles] and ultimately how when you really listen you can hear them blessing us. 

Fred John: They're blessing us and telling us - we’re here. 

[sound of cello]

Princess: I just love hearing the cello and then just that sound of water coming in the river.

[sound of water]

Princess: It’s really incredible how Fred John’s narration and storytelling compliment the cello just so beautifully, and I feel that kind of excitement of the spirit of the salmon swimming upstream. 

[sound of water]

[Fred John speaking for salmon in film]

Stina: The film documents a gathering on this beautiful land - that came together over a couple of days. 

Princess: It was really challenging to try to take clips of what we had filmed to relay to the audience how special and incredible it was to come together as a community, and we had 48 hours to compose and create this piece together! 

[clip of film] 

Stina: Princess wrote a poem about the salmon returning to the river, and during those 48 hours when they made the film, she and her collaborators arranged the film and the music - around the poem.  And then they gathered community to share music and knowledge with each other.

[hear clip of film with poem]

Princess: Now I'm just seeing the audience and I just remember that - how healing it was for us to be together. And then here we have Yo Yo just complimenting us on being able to pull it off [laughs].

Yo Yo Ma: When you have a safe place, creativity happens.

Stina: The end of the film takes us back to the elements.

[sound of river]

Princess: And again here we have the sound of the water coming back in, and the water just always reminds me of how we are able to really cleanse our spirits. [sigh] How critical it is to find that time to listen so that we can protect our ways of life. You know, we are in this human form for a short amount of time and we have this heartbeat. I don’t think the heartbeat ever ends, it just transforms into something else. 

[cawing]

Princess: We hear Deetryaa, we hear Raven, his caw, his song, taking us into a little sunset on our time together but also the start of a lot of new beginnings. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to reflect and listen back on this and my heart is filled with gratitude right now. Mahsi' choo.

Stina: Now, let’s listen to the entire film - Gath and K’iyh. 

[Film plays]

Our ears start opening to a different sound.

We start hearing a different sound of wind,

we start seeing different things.

It's just, I just don't know how to explain it,

but it seems like something

opened up to us that we never thought it was there.

But it's out there...

it's there, it's there,

and it seems like they're, they’re blessing us and telling us

we're here.

We welcome you, everybody from far and near.

Thank you for being here, sharing this time and space with us,

I hope you take something good from this.

You always want to come to a space and leave with something good.

So each and every one of your hearts,

be open to this experience in good ways.

When we were salmon,

Yukon

Copper

Kuskokwim

Nushagak

Susitna

Kenai

Tanana

Slana

Oceans and rivers

once teeming with life.

The first salmon, it came...

“Hi yo, hi yo, hi yo, hee!” Ya know...

He’d yell around the village and we all know the salmon coming.

And when they catch a first salmon...

...they’d let that salmon go back into the water.

There are structures and ways that we we honor salmon.

I'm going to turn to the audience and ask people to stand...

...and join. Yeah, so that we don't have to move.

Right? Yeah.

So, the idea is that the three cards you have will sound different from the other ones.

You know, ‘bottom trawlers scraping’ ...

that sound will probably be a different sound than

‘tails thrash in anguish.’

We use our voice,

an expression of our love,

for one another,

human and salmon,

where water meets land.

Let us make ceremony.

Let us sing back light.

Let us breathe together.

Let us honor what is left,

so that we might see once again.

Full nets and busy fish camps!

This is the way it used to be.

This is the way it could be.

Again.

When you have a safe place,

creativity happens.

You need safety,

and you provided that safety...

...in a very short period of time.

You made all of our hearts beat together.

In the spirit of Katie John,

we will protect...

...our way of life.

Our way of life.

Our way of life.

I'm glad I heard it,

and I'm glad I see it, and I’m glad I...

...I seen something that our ancestors probably enjoy.

I think it's what they fought for, for us through our kids...

to see something so that we would love, you know,

and take care of what was given to us or handed down to us.

[Gath & K’iyh:  Listen to Heal ends]

[wind transition]

[theme music]

Stina:  Gath & K’iyh is Directed by Princess Daazhraii Johnson. The Executive Producer is Tracy Rector. Featuring Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and composers; Mato Wayuhi and Eli Wasserman. Singing and drumming by Sunny Luke of Dot Lake (Tanacross Region). Narration by Fred John, Jr. of Mentasta. Additional Music by Lutes Jennings. Production Sound by James C Johnson III. Sound design & re-recording mixer is Matt Gundy.

This podcast is Sonic Journeys. It’s produced by 4th World Media. We are a matriarch led organization dedicated to media justice, narrative sovereignty and the holistic care of underserved storytellers. 

Come say hi on Instagram or find us on LinkedIn. We’re always @ 4thWorldMedia.

And we’re just starting out–  so if you could give us 5 stars and a review that would be amazing! 

Our Supervising Producer is Jenny Asarnow. Our Executive Producer is Tracy Rector.

Our Theme song is Tooh Nílíní, by Kino Benally. Consulting Graphic Designer, Joel Schomberg. Cover art by Mer Young. Sonic Journeys is created and hosted by me. I’m Stina Thomas Hamlin. Thanks so much for listening.

[Music ends]