11 Ways to Spend the Summer Solstice and National Aboriginal Day

June 21st is National Aboriginal Day in Canada. What will you be doing to celebrate?

Although we're not totally sold on the idea of the federal government designating one day a year to celebrate Indigenous culture, at least it's an opportunity to check out some amazing performances by Indigenous artists.

And, as June 21st also marks the summer solstice, there are more than enough reasons to get out of the house and show your love for all things NDN, First Nations, Aboriginal, Native, Métis, Inuit, and Indigenous.

There are many different events being planned across the country (here, here, and here, for example), so we were hard pressed to narrow things down.

But here are eleven decidedly great ways to spend the solstice and National Aboriginal Day this year.

11. Learn about Métis culture at the National Aboriginal Day Celebration at Métis Crossing

The Métis Nation of Alberta and their affiliate organization, Métis Crossing, will be hosting a celebration for National Aboriginal Day on June 21st. Located at the Métis Crossing Historic Site (south of Smokey Lake, Alberta), between 11:00 AM and 6:00 PM, the day's events will include an open stage jam, cultural interpretation, a genealogy exhibit, games, on-site concession, and an elder’s lounge. For more info click here.

10. See Kinnie Starr, Cris Derksen, and Binaeshee-Quae perform at the Luminato Festival in Toronto

Acclaimed Mohawk singer-songwriter and hip-hop artist Kinnie Starr, Métis cellist and experimenter Cris Derksen, and jazzy alterna-folk artist Binaeshee-Quae will perform on June 20th and 21st respectively, as part of the Luminato Festival's New Canadian Music Series which runs daily at the Festival Garden Stage in Toronto. For more info, check out: https://luminatofestival.com/festival/2015/new-canadian-music-series

9. Watch Kaha:wi Dance Theatre at the Aboriginal Cultural Festival and Competition Powwow in Ottawa

Led by founding Artistic Director Tekaronhiáhkhwa Santee Smith, Kaha:wi Dance Theatre (pronounced Ga-Ha-Wee) is an artist-based dance company known for their energetic and innovative performances that blend traditional and contemporary styles. KDT will be performing as part of Ottawa's Summer Solstice events at Vincent Massey Park. On Saturday, June 20th at 1pm, KDT will perform the piece Medicine Bear, which weaves a magical narrative of traditional Iroquoian stories: how the Bear Clan came to be known as the “Keeper of the Medicines” and the hunter who discovered the gift of healing. Plus, don't forget about the full traditional powwow going on all weekend too. For more info, visit: http://www.ottawasummersolstice.ca/

8. Bring your family for a pancake breakfast at Trout Lake on Coast Salish Territories in Vancouver

The Annual National Aboriginal Day Celebration on Coast Salish Territories will once again be held at Trout Lake on Sunday, June 21st. It’s a community-based full day of events that celebrates the diversity of Indigenous Peoples from across Canada. First Nations, Métis & Inuit peoples gather to share their experiences, stories, songs, traditional games, dances & spirit with each other & the general community. All events are FREE, all Aboriginal community members & supporters are welcome; and it's a family-friendly event, with no alcohol or drugs permitted. There's a full day of activities, but get there early before the pancakes run out! For more information visit: http://www.vafcs.org/events/aboriginalday/

7. Start implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's recommendations in Halifax

Celebrate National Aboriginal Day with justice in Halifax: by joining other like-minded people to support the Mi'kmaq Nation in Nova Scotia, and taking up national calls by Indigenous and allied organizers to implement the 94 recommendations put forth by Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The work of reconciliation belongs to all of us, and Halifax organizers are taking the lead. But no matter where you live, why not start learning more about how you can bring more truth and more justice into this colonial world of ours. Here's more information on how Nova Scotian organizers are gathering and getting started for NAD: http://solidarityhalifax.ca/2015/06/statement-celebrate-national-aboriginal-day-with-justice/

6. Catch Leonard Sumner at the Indigenous Arts Festival in Fort York

Anishinaabe MC/singer/songwriter Leonard Sumner will be one of many performers taking part in the Indigenous Arts Festival at Fort York in Toronto. Fusing elements of hip-hop, country, and rhythm & blues, his music appeal cuts across age lines, allowing his style to be enjoyed by people who typically 'aren't into rap'. Sumner will be rocking the festival mainstage on Saturday, June 20th at 5:30pm. For more information, click here.

5. Join the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations for the Aboriginal Cultural Festival in Victoria

Featuring three days of performances on an outdoor stage in the plaza at the Royal BC Museum in the heart of downtown Victoria, BC, the Aboriginal Cultural Festival will run from June 19-21, 2015. Each day will be dedicated to a coastal nation: there's a Coast Salish Nation Day, a Nuu-Chah-Nulth Nation Day, and a Kwakwaka'wakw Nation Day. All weekend the festival will open with performances from the two local Host Nations and follow with shows from Aboriginal performers from across the province as well as a show from 3-time World Hoop Dancing Champion Alex Wells. Full schedule and info at: https://www.aboriginalbc.com/victoria-aboriginal-festival/

4. Go see Ghostkeeper, Derek Miller, and Crystal Shawanda in Edmonton

Second in size only to Winnipeg's #ADL2015 celebration, Edmonton will be putting on a full day's worth of events on June 21st, culminating in a mainstage show that will feature some incredible Indigenous performers—including the idiosyncratic experimentalism of Ghostkeeper, the full-blown, blues rock of Derek Miller, and the powerful contemporary country sounds of Crystal Shawanda. Definitely worth checking out. For more about Edmonton's 9th annual Aboriginal Day celebration, click here.

3. Rock out with Don Amero, Brett Kissel, and Lightning Cloud in Winnipeg

With his new album, Unrefined, recently released to the world, Don Amero is taking to the Aboriginal Day Live mainstage alongside his buddy Brett Kissel, and Los Angeles-based hip-hop duo Lightning Cloud, to rock The Forks in Winnipeg. Look out for a special rendition of a new song that Amero and Kissel wrote a few months back, called "Rebuild This Town". Oh, and RedCloud will be incorporating crowdsourced words and ideas into his freestyles during Lightning Cloud's set. You don't want to miss 'em. For more on #ADL2015 in Winnipeg, check out: http://www.aboriginaldaylive.ca/winnipeg/winnipeg-live-concert/

2. Get your Electric Pow Wow on with A Tribe Called Red in Vancouver

You may have seen ATCR before, but not like this. A Tribe Called Red will be bringing the electric pow-wow out of the nightclubs and into the park—Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park to be precise—for a massive, outdoor Indigenous throwdown on Saturday, June 20th. This one isn't free, but it's definitely worth the price of admission. The Tribe will rock the spot alongside Blondtron & Waspy, the amazing Git Hayetsk Dancers, and local DJ crew Klash Akt. Get down to the bass-heavy sounds of DJ NDN, Bear Witness, and 2oolman rocking a stage surrounded by the sunset, sea, and ancient cedars. An Aboriginal Day meets summer solstice taste of Indigenous dance music perfection? Sounds like it to us. More info and tickets available here: http://malkinbowl.com/a-tribe-called-red/

1. Celebrate the Midnight Sun in Inuvik, NWT

In Canada's Northwest Territories—the only place in the country where National Aboriginal Day is a statutory holiday—you can experience a summer solstice that lasts well into the night. Join other northerners in Inuvik, NWT on June 21st for a day of events celebrating the local Gwich'in, Inuvialuit and Métis people and cultures. From traditional drumming, dancing, and foods, to a Midnight Sun Run in celebration of the summer solstice's warm temperatures, experience what it's like to be out in the sunlit streets long after midnight, above the Arctic Circle. And that photo above? That was taken at 1:30am in late May. Learn more about NAD celebrations in the NWT here: https://www.facebook.com/Inuvik.NWT.Canada

Skeena Reece's Life Cycles

After recently giving birth to her first child, Skeena Reece (Tsimshian, Gitksan, Cree, Metis) reflects on her late father and his creative accomplishments. John Carver from her debut album Sweetgrass and Honey released earlier this year is an ode to all Native carvers acknowledged or unappreciated.

Skeena Reece's water broke with her first child a year to the day since the passing of her late father,  master carver Victor Reece. As she welcomes the arrival of her son (not yet named) she shares her reflections on his path as a traditional west coast carver in a post colonial world.

RPM: You once did a performance piece about one of your father’s masks; can you talk a little about that?

Skeena Reece: Sure. I did a piece at the Grunt Gallery in 95 as a launch for Redwire Media’s Awaken100.com. I wanted to share the experience of having to sell a piece. I wanted people to know how it felt to lose a piece of your memory or your culture. I wanted them to experience what it was like to be colonized.

The mask was a central part of it. I told them how much it would retail for, I talked to people about it’s value in the community, and the value it had in the past. Some of the stories I have heard are that if you ever sold a mask, before contact, you would have been killed for it. It was that important to our people. Masks had spirits, they had names, they had homes, and they had guardians.

I had some friends make music, Jason Burnstick was there and Jerrilynn Webster (JB the 1st Lady) read some writing that I wrote. I integrated a slide show.  I hired a photographer to take pictures of me and the mask around the city.  I wanted to introduce them to the story of the mask. They were able to touch it, whoever was wearing plastic gloves, which I had handed out. I wanted that feeling of a museum kind of mentality of handling this sacred and expensive item.  And when it returned to me I broke it. Everyone was so shocked because they had come to understand it in their own way. I showed the photos again and they had a different experience the second time because now it was gone and essentially it was a memory.

So it was really intense and a lot of people wept and I wept too. I think it really struck people to the core of the meaning, for me, of having to lose something. A lot of native people have experienced this but it’s so hard to share. I think you can put that into the context of loss of culture, loss of parents, loss of home, loss of land, loss of government, loss of justice, loss of familial love. I wanted to share with them the feeling of loss and also triumph because we burned masks, we broke masks and my father has told me he has broken many masks either by accident and on purpose. And I feel that it is an action or gesture of reclamation. Of knowing that it’s not in the item that the worth lies, it’s in the people, in the culture. It’s something that never dies.

RPM: Tell me about the song John Carver.

SR: I wrote John Carver in a night. After recorded all the songs on the CD (Sweetgrass and Honey), there was room for one more.  The musicians created the music and I took it away and I wrote the song as an ode to my father who is a master carver that passed away last year. I wrote it 6 months before he passed so he was able to hear it. He really enjoyed it.

RPM: What did you want to express to him when you wrote it?

SR: I wanted to express it to all carvers, I feel like there is a lot of unsung heroes in the carving world that don’t get a lot of press.  As a daughter of a carver I wanted to share how I felt about my dad, the long hours that he put in and the experience of having to see him sell these precious things to non-native people for their entertainment. To put on their walls and not really knowing the passion that goes into it and not really understanding the cultural significance. I wanted to personalize that so that he knew that I knew that he was really special and that what he shared with the world is more than what they could know.

I also wanted to honour the death of the Nuu-chah-nulth carver in Seattle. I felt like that was indicative of other disrespect and absolute neglect of a lot of carvers who are forced to just pace the streets with their work. There is no place for them and they are very vulnerable to the point where one guy, John T. Williams,  was murdered for carrying his carving knife by a police officer. Living in Port Alberni I heard about it and it just really struck me. My dad wanted to do something about it. He wanted to have a march or a memorial of some kind. It was always a part of him to acknowledge injustice and other artists who don’t get the same treatment as someone like him or somebody who has a bigger name.

I wanted to sing a song to let him know that I am connected to his self and I am a reflection of him and his pieces that go out into the world aren’t just the only pieces that he has. I am one of his pieces that go out into the world and I always come back. I am something he can never lose.

Enjoy John Carver from the album Sweetgrass & Honey by Mama Skeena Reece:

STREAM: Skeena Reece - "John Carver"

Skeena Reece - "John Carver" by RPMfm

Songs of Resistance at 2011 Indigenous Assembly Against Mining and Pipelines

From November 4-7, 2011, representatives from many Indigenous communities, including the Secwepemc, Wet'suwet'en, St'at'mic, Tsimshian, Dakelh and Carrier from the Yinka Dene Alliance, Tla-o-qui-aht, Ahousaht, Cheam and Fort Chipeywan--will meet to discuss resistance strategies at the Indigenous Assembly Against Mining and Pipelines in Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories.

In response to the "Meeting Minds, Making Mines" conference being held by the Canadian Aboriginal Minerals Association at the Pan Pacific Hotel from November 6-8th, a strategy session will be hosted in East Vancouver with various affected communities in attendance.

British Columbia Premier Christy Clark recently pledged to speed up approvals and snip the red tape for the creation of 8 new mines and the expansion of 9 existing mining projects in BC. The plan also includes "10 new non-treaty agreements with First Nations by 2015 to improve economic certainty." It's clear that the current provincial agenda is to override Aboriginal Rights and Title to guarantee economic security to the mining companies.

In a public letter sent out on September 23rd, Secwepemc activist Arthur Manuel called on Aboriginal leaders to resist the further exploitation of Indigenous homelands:

We need to not let this opportunity pass us by, we need to believe in our Aboriginal Title and Rights.  The onus or burden to make the economy in our territory serve our children and grandchildren is our job.  Follow this story and get involved in meetings about mining and other economic issues.  You own the land... Be careful out there in your traditional territory, some little people in the future are depending on you.

On Sunday November 6th there will be a public demonstration starting at 3pm at the Vancouver Art Gallery. A public panel will also be held on November 7th at 6:30pm at 1803 East 1st Ave (just east of Commercial Drive) in which impacted Indigenous communities will be speaking out against mining.

Songs of Resistance

During a rally held in May 2011 against a proposed open-pit copper mine on Chitapii (Catface Mountain) in Ahousaht Territory, Kalilah Rampanen - the 11-year-old daughter of Nitanis Desjarlais and John Rampanen - shared her song More Than Copper to Me.

Rampanen, who is Nuu-chah-nulth from Ahousaht, wrote and performed the song at the Imperial Metals AGM to protest a proposed mine where they have been exploring for copper.

The Ahousaht band council is one of the only First Nations working with Imperial Metals; and they have approved exploratory drilling in their territory.

Check out her performance below:

VIDEO: Kalilah Rampanen - "More Than Copper to Me"

New 'Potlatch Music' Blog Shares Cultural Videos

The Potlatch Music blog has brought together a great compilation of west coast potlatch videos from a large group of nations within the 'Potlatch Coast'.

Just across our desk here today at RPM.fm, the Potlatch Music blog is a new blog site that compiles a large number of amazing potlatch videos from nations like the Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Nisga'a, Kwakwaka'wakw and Coast Salish peoples.

The potlatch is a ceremonial gift-giving festival that has been practiced since time immemorial on the northwest coast of Canada and the United States. In 1884, the potlatch ceremony was banned in Canada and became a criminal act until the 1950's when it started to make a resurgence in the northwest coast Indigenous cultures.

Now thriving within this resurgence, videos and other media have been circulating on the internet and the culture grows as the population of Indigenous nations grow as well. Like the powwow videos that hit YouTube on the Sunday night of the powwow, potlatch videos are showing the strong energy of co-creation through music and culture in these ceremonies.

A lot has changed in societ'y since the early to mid 1900's when Indigenous cultures were illegal and Indigenous people couldn't gather in more than a group of three without intervention of the authorities. Now Indigenous people can enjoy their gatherings as well as invite their loved ones remotely through the comfort of the internet.

The Potlatch Music blog features videos old and new, some from archival footage and more from the newer potlatches of today.

Here's a video from the 2010 Hobiyee Nisga'a New Year celebration's Chiefs entrance:

Hychga to Manik for letting us know about this blog site.

Do you have an Indigenous music blog or website you'd like to share?

Drop us a line at info@rpm.fm or leave us a comment below.