The European operatic tradition begins with not one, but two journeys to the land of the dead: Jacobo Peri's Euridice (1600), followed by Monteverdi's more enduring L'Orfeo (1607), both of which celebrate the mythical Greek musician Orpheus, whose lyric gifts near reversed death itself.

This past weekend, North American native culture weighed in on the same trope, in what has been billed the "first ever Cree opera": Pimooteewin, (The Journey). Canadian author Tomson Highway (of Rez Sisters fame) wrote the libretto in Cree and English; Montreal-based composer Melissa Hui wrote the music. The piece was commissioned by Soundstreams Canada and had its world premiere Friday at the Jane Mallett Theatre under the musical direction of Lydia Adams, with Michael Greyeyes in charge of choreography and stage direction. Surtitles translate the singers' Cree texts; Cara Gee narrates in English.

Highway apparently based his libretto on a pan-North American native legend, in which Trickster and Eagle cross over to the land of the dead, stuff a load of souls into a basket and bring them back to the land of the living.

But the dead don't appreciate the confinement (a lovely nod to the nomadic life?) and keep trying to escape; the protagonists learn their lesson and accept the cycle of nature.

If you're expecting monsters and hellfire, The Journey's version of the afterlife will seem like a pretty good deal: The dead dance all night and rest up during the day. But if you're expecting Highway's exuberant, rollicking humour, you will be disappointed. Although less is more, it's hard to see why they needed to hire a writer of Highway's stature and gifts to produce such a skeletal (pardon the pun) libretto. Lines such as "I am walking" and "I am flying" seemed pretty thin - at least in translation - and inspired a self-conscious musical setting.

Soundstreams wisely chose a composer who would not curry favour through ingratiatingly popular idioms, or resort to cliché. Hui's finely-wrought score for seven instrumentalists, choir (the Elmer Iseler Singers), tenor and soprano started off with a thrilling section that evokes ancient chant without being culturally specific (though I was pleasantly reminded of medieval European polyphony).

The double bass's plucked syncopations ground the piece in a playful yet mysterious heartbeat, like the pulse of the earth. But Hui's choral writing was a tad generic; her inspiration ran thin in the dance of the dead, where she crossed regular aboriginal drumming with jazz.

Although a Cree-speaker might appreciate qualities that went over my head, to me both the libretto and music suffer from emotional coolness - even the moment where the protagonists recognize spouses and friends among the dead was a throwaway that prompted giggles in the audience at Friday's premiere.

Bud Roach was superb as Weesageechak (Trickster) - this oboist-turned-singer not only has a beautiful lyric tenor, but is a natural on stage. Soprano Xin Wang (Migisoo, the Eagle) was not her usual sparkling self - perhaps she was under the weather.

Stronger choreography and dancing, both of which are readily available in Toronto, would strengthen the piece considerably. But as the saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day. Soundstreams is to be congratulated for bringing native language and mythology onto the new music-drama stage. Let's hope there will be more, and perhaps further development of this piece.

Special to The Globe and Mail 

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