EDMONTON -- A Cree version of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" was recently recorded in Alberta in order to help connect Indigenous students with the Cree language, but this version is striking a chord with a wider audience.

The music is familiar but the lyrics are noticeably different, a challenge Tammy Lamouche was eager to tackle.

"We had to really stretch out the vowels a bit just to hit those riffs, those Mariah Carey riffs," said Lamouche.

Lamouche took the Mariah Carey hit song, had it translated into Cree with the help of an elder, then called on rapper and producer MC RedCloud to help record the song.

"It just had to happen," said MC RedCloud.

Lamouche and MC RedCloud use the song to help students learn Cree at the school they teach at in Enoch.

"I'm realizing more that I have to do my part in keeping the language alive," said Lamouche.

And since the song has been released it's taken on a life of its own.

"We're getting really good feedback from other communities, even non-Cree speaking communities," said MC RedCloud.

He says that this number one holiday song, performed in Cree, is a good example of music being a universal language.

"It touches those Native heart stings in everybody, even non-Natives are just like, 'This is it, I feel something from it,'" said MC RedCloud.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Graham Neil.