Violinist Geneviève Salamone reflects on her past to bring 'A Night of Resilience' to xBk Live

Geneviève Salamone put her fear of heights at bay when she climbed Colorado's Quandary Peak to record a music video. She uses that climb as a symbol of overcoming an obstacle, something she covers in her "Resilience" video.

"Overcoming trauma, overcoming abuse was my largest obstacle and I wanted to symbolize that by having climbed a 14,000-foot mountain," Salamone said.

This weekend, Salamone will hold a multi-purpose, multimedia event that acknowledges personal trauma, institutional abuse and — most importantly — resilience in the face of such tragedies.

This Saturday at 7 p.m., xBk Live, 1159 24th St., will be hosting "A Night of Resilience with Geneviève Salamone." The event gives Salamone a chance to celebrate a year since she released her debut album, "Catharsis: The Journey," and to showcase the work she's done for the Iowa Arts & Culture Resilience Grant she received last year.

Salamone, a Des Moines area violinist and performer, is of Huron-Wendat heritage. Her mother grew up on the Wendake reservation outside of Quebec City in Canada.

Her indigenous lineage inspired her to raise awareness by creating new videos, two of which are “Les Petits Mocs” (the small moccasins) and “The Unforgotten."

"It’s been a really big mission of mine to raise awareness about Indigenous issues," she said. "Even though it’s pretty widely known in indigenous communities — we know what happened to us — but a lot of people have no idea.”

"Les Petits Mocs" reveals how boarding schools for Native Americans in the U.S. or residential schools for First Nation citizens in Canada inflicted abuse and cultural erosion against indigenous people.

These schools, which operated until the 1960s, were supported by the federal government and aimed to eliminate attendees' ties to their traditions and beliefs. A report from the U.S. Department of the Interior noted that at least 500 deaths had so far been uncovered at 19 schools and that number is expected to increase as the study continues.

More: West Des Moines violinist's album a product of coming to terms with childhood sex abuse

“They were trying to eliminate indigenous culture because they thought it was a threat to Western society," Salamone said. “If you were caught speaking your indigenous language, they would stick needles in your tongue.”

Salamone made mention of The Meskwaki Settlement School in Tama, one of the institutions built by the federal government in Iowa during the 19th century.

In "The Unforgotten," Salamone investigates missing and murdered indigenous women. “Murder's the third leading cause of death in indigenous women," Salamone said. "We’re such a small percentage of the population and yet we’re in the highest number of sexual assaults.”

Salamone recalled the statistics that Native women are murdered at rates 10 times the national average and that roughly a third are victims of rape. In her video, “The Unforgotten," Salamone pays tribute to the missing and murdered indigenous women.

This weekend's performance will not only feature Salamone's unveiling of these two videos but includes performances from singer-songwriter Sara Routh, aerialist Felicia Coe and traditional indigenous dancer Josée Gros-Louis, among others.

“It’s a really great way to start a conversation about the issue," Salamone said of the upcoming event. "It’s an educational experience, but it’s also a really profound musical experience too.”

The xBk website notes that the event "includes topics of childhood sexual abuse, Indian Residential Schools and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women."

Tickets for the evening will be $20 in advance or $25 at the door and can be purchased through xbklive.com.

Isaac Hamlet covers arts, entertainment and culture at the Des Moines Register. Reach him at ihamlet@gannett.com or 319-600-2124, follow him on Twitter @IsaacHamlet.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Geneviève Salamone brings 'A Night of Resilience' to xBk Live