Forbidden Music is a powerful documentary exploring the extraordinary partnership between Kwakwaka’wakw Chief Mungo Martin and Jewish ethno-musicologist Dr. Ida Halpern. Nearly 75 years ago, they preserved hundreds of Indigenous songs at risk of being lost to cultural genocide. Both had endured devastating cultural suppression: Dr. Halpern fled Nazi-occupied Austria, where her parents were killed, while Chief Martin faced Canada’s Potlatch Ban and the enduring trauma of residential schools. 

Defying laws prohibiting First Nations cultural practices, Dr. Halpern immigrated to Canada to document Indigenous music. She gained the trust of singers from the Kwakwaka’wakw, Haida, Nuu-chah-nulth, and Coast Salish communities, and in 1951, she joined forces with Chief Martin to record 124 traditional songs, preserving his rich musical heritage. 

Directed by Barbara Todd Hager, the Forbidden Music follows the journey of these recordings from their origins to archival collections and back to Fort Rupert. It highlights how Chief Martin’s legacy continues to inspire the revitalization of Kwak’wala songs and language today.