This trailer reveals the imagined competitive tension at the Arizona State Frybread Championships. The cast includes Arapaho twin r&b artists Dey & Nite!
We can't wait to see it.
After a full day of incredible Indigenous films, those in Vancity can stretch their legs while listening to the original womp womps of DJ Deano (Dean Hunt) from the Heiltsuk Nation. Usually preoccupied with a life dedicated to wood chips and the form lines of his ancestors, he is taking his earlier music projects out of storage for the momentous return of west coast film festivals.
He's had a do-it-yourself process of sampling everything from vinyl he rummaged out of thrift stores to cheesy pop tunes, mixing a little bit from here with a little bit from there to create the beats he could hear in his head. He explains he started to see the ceiling coming with what he could accomplish until he finds the time to further his music training. "I decided to take a break to focus on my carving and painting work until I had the time to seriously take up an instrument." And his visual work has been flourishing because of it. "I started to realize that the way that made beats, cutting and pasting, was affecting my creative process with my other artwork. I would do the same thing when I made a box. Throw a lot at it and then get to a point and start editing back. "
The Friday night show will give DJ Deano a chance to get back into his music. He will be playing a mix of his older tunes still fresh to most show-goers. Csetkwe will be adding some vocals to certain tracks and her partner Bracken Hanuse Corlette will be adding his and Deano's visual art to the mix.
Check it out after the screening of The Other Side Of Hip-Hop: The Sixth Element - a film about the life of Ernie Paniccioli. With a performance by RPM's own Ostwelve to top it all off. Not to be missed!
Friday Nov 11 | 8:30pm – Late | W2 Media Cafe – 111 W Hastings | $10 VIMAF 2011 The Other Side of Hip-Hop w/ Late Evening Music Program
w/ RPM.fm Presents: Indigenous Music Culture Visions Music Video Program
Check out the full Vancouver Indigenous Media Arts Festival program here.
DOWNLOAD: DJ Deano - "Alligator Tears" DJ Deano - "Alligator Tears" by RPMfm
This exclusive preview off of Silver Jackson's upcoming album It's Glimmering Now features production by OC Notes. Silver Jackson, aka multi-disciplinary Tlingit/Aleut artist Nicholas Galanin who's other musical project is Indian Nick, travels through both sparse and richly dense experimental psych-folk soundscapes.This track mixes a spacey sound effects with a plucking banjo line and layered vocals - a glimpse of the eclectic sound the new album is bound to explore. Download it, love it, get ready for more. DOWNLOAD: Silver Jackson - "Our Love"
Benefit Concert Thursday November 10 - A benefit to establish a trust fund for 2 year old Kaiden Anderson who's father Eddie passed away last month. Wab Kinew, JJ Lavallee, D1, Da Skelpa Squad, Unity, Hellnback, Foreign Objekts, and The Mosquitoz will perform at The Pyramid Club in Winnipeg, MB. More info: Benefit Concert for Baby Kaiden Anderson.
Vancouver Indigenous Media Arts Festival (VIMAF) November 10-13 - The inaugural festival takes place at W2 in Vancouver, BC, with films, panel discussions and featured guest speaker Ernie Paniccioli. DJ Deano performs, and RPM presents select music videos in Indigenous Music Culture Visions, on the 11th. Get the complete festival guide and schedule at vimaf.com and Vancouver Indigenous Media Arts Festival.
Janet Panic November 10 - Janet is the featured artist at this week's Poetry Slam at the Heritage Grill in New Westminster, BC. More info: SLAM CENTRAL Featuring BLYTHE JANET PANIC!.
CerAmony November 10 - Indigenous rockers CerAmony take the stage at Théâtre Plaza in Montreal, QC. More info: CerAmony Live in Montreal.
Native Rhythms Festival November 11-13 - This 3 day celebration of Indigenous music, especially the Native American flute, takes place in Melbourne, FL, and features Arvel Bird, Robert Mirabal, Mark Holland and others. More information at: nativerhythmsfestival.com.
FSIN "Spirit of Our Nations" Powwow November 11-13 - The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations hosts this powwow at the Credit Union Centre in Saskatoon, SK. More info at sicc.sk.ca and 2011 "Spirit of Our Nations" FSIN Cultural Celebration & Powwow.
Derek Miller November 11 - Derek performs at the American Indian Motion Picture Awards Ceremony in San Francisco, CA. More info: americanindianfilminstitute.com.
Sierra Noble November 12 - Dedicating songs to the Daniel Pearl World Music Days, Sierra performs at Barbés, in Brooklyn, NY. More info: Sierra Noble band @ Barbés Brooklyn and danielpearlmusicdays.org.
Electric Powwow November 12 - A Tribe Called Red is back in their hometown for the monthly electric powwow at Babylon in Ottawa, ON. This month features special guest Iskwé. More info: Electric Pow Wow.
The 4th annual event will feature 5 nights of concerts in downtown Winnipeg, from October 30 - November 4, 2012. Recording artists can apply now for performance spots.
From Call for Submissions - Aboriginal Music Week 2012:
To be considered for a performance spot, you must: • Have a current or upcoming professional release (EP / full-length) • Have at least two professional print resolution photographs • Have a professional website • Have a music video on YouTube or a quality video of yourself performing on YouTube
Please submit the following in person or by mail: • One-page biography in Microsoft Word format (.doc) on CD • Two print resolution digital photos on CD • A performance history with dates, venues, city/community and venue capacity for the last 12 months in Microsoft Word format (.doc) on CD • One copy of your current professional release on CD • Your website address • Links to your video(s) on YouTube • Your contact information (full name, mailing address, phone number, email, website)
Please send submissions to: Aboriginal Music Manitoba Inc. C/O AMW2012 Programming Committee 1-376 Donald Street Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3B 2J2
Please feel free to contact alan@ammb.ca for more information about our Call for Submissions.
Submission deadline: Wednesday, January 2012.
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"
VIMAF In Association With W2 Media Arts Society Presents.... VANCOUVER INDIGENOUS MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL WEEK DETAILS November 10-13, 2011 Vancouver, BC - W2/SFU Woodwards/NFB Pacific Region Theater **************************************************************************
Thursday Nov 10 | 7pm | W2 Media Cafe | $20 VIMAF 2011 Opening Gala and Reception Lifetime Achievement Award Presentation to Ernie Paniccioli Gordon Tootoosis Memorial Reel Music by DJ Mukluk and Garrett Tyler Stevens Film Screenings:
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Friday Nov 11 | 2pm | W2 Media Cafe - 111 W Hastings | By Donation VIMAF 2011 Decolonize Yourself Program:
Followed by Panel Discussion: Ernie Paniccioli & Ron Dean Harris aka Ostwelve
Friday Nov 11 | 4pm | W2 Media Cafe | By Donation VIMAF 2011 Students’ Reel With student works from: Gulf Island Film and Television School (GIFTS) Indigenous Independent Digital Filmmaking (IIDF)
Friday Nov 11 | 7pm | W2 Media Cafe – 111 W Hastings | $10 VIMAF 2011 Raw Sugar Program:
Friday Nov 11 | 8:30pm - Late | W2 Media Cafe – 111 W Hastings | $10 VIMAF 2011 The Other Side of Hip-Hop w/ Late Evening Music Program
Screening of The Other Side Of Hip-Hop: The Sixth Element - A film about the life of Ernie Paniccioli The Other Side of Hip-Hop tells Ernie Paniccioli’s story of Hip-Hop. He was one of the first photographers to venture into the impoverished New York City neighborhoods where people were creating their own form of artisitic expression despite being an ignored and disenfranchised demographic. For over three decades Ernie has documented the artform of Hip-Hop in it's entirety. From the graphic representations that filled the subways and handball courts to the physical manifestation of the artform in dance movement on to the musical descriptions and artists. As rappers became the reporters of the travails of ghetto life, Ernie represented their images through his photography and put a face to the words we listened to.
RPM.fm Presents: Indigenous Music Culture Visions Music Video Program
Music from DJ Deano w/ Csetkwe + Installations from Bracken Hanuse Corlett, Jeneen Frei Njootli, Adrienne Greyeyes and Jennifer Chong Performance by Ostwelve
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Saturday Nov 12 | 2pm | W2 Media Cafe – 111 W Hastings | By Donation VIMAF 2011 Vancouver 125 Panel Discussion:
Loretta Todd, Sid Tan and Odessa Shuquaya on NDN Portrayal in Mainstream Media w/ Siwash Rock, Dead Ground, The Last Family, Encroaching Vancouver, Oppenheimer Park, A Proud Lineage
Saturday Nov 12 | 4pm | W2 Media Cafe – 111 W Hastings | $10 VIMAF 2011 Shortcuts Program:
Saturday Nov 12 | 5pm | W2 Media Cafe – 111 W Hastings | By Donation Panel Discussion: Dana Claxton on The Future Of Indigenous Media
Saturday Nov 12 | 6pm | Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema, SFU Woodwards | $10 Up Heartbreak Hill 2010, USA, 80mins Directed by Erica Scharf
In the brilliantly vast and stark landscape of New Mexico, three Native American teenagers, Thomas, Tamara and Gabby, are at the crossroads of life as seniors in their Navajo Reservation high school. Thomas has a bright future as an athlete, Tamara as a natural leader and Gabby as an emotional role model. But as graduation nears, they must decide whether to stay in their community – a place inextricably woven into the fibre of their beings – or leave in pursuit of opportunities elsewhere. With a per capita income under $4,600, the town has few prospects. Thomas, Tamara and Gabby’s inner struggles and outward attitudes from adolescence into adulthood shape their identities as contemporary Native American youth. With stunning and sensitive cinematography, filmmaker Erica Sharf’s intimate documentary profile is a raw and inspiring film reflecting the challenges of young life on the reserve in the USA.
Saturday Nov 12 | 7:25pm | Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema, SFU Woodwards | $10 Barking Water 2009, USA, 85min By Sterlin Harjo
Frankie is dying. Refusing to do so in an impersonal hospital, he convinces Irene, an old flame with lingering resentment, to spring him out and drive him across Oklahoma to see his daughter one last time. Their journey becomes about more than just going home as they meet strangers and old friends and confront their past. Barking Water examines the ties that bind people together. It’s a tale of home . . . and what it takes to get there.
Saturday Nov 12 | 9:15pm | Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema, SFU Woodwards | $10 On The Ice 2008, USA, 90min Directed by Andrew Okpeaha Mclean
On the Ice is the story of Apuna (Brad Weyiouanna), an Inuit hunter, who drives his dog team out on the frozen Arctic Ocean in search of seals and inadvertently becomes a witness to murder. In the microscopic communities of Arctic Alaska there is no anonymity, thus the hunter knows both the victim and the murderer. The murderer, Miqu (tony Bryant), claims self-defense and desperate to avoid punishment, tries to persuade his friend to forget what he has seen, and help dispose of the body and memory of one friend and destroying the life of another.
**************************************************************************** Sunday Nov 13 | 12:00pm - 1:30pm - W2 Media Cafe | By Donation Media Democracy Day Group dialogue on multiplatform and interactive productions and strategies - Irwin Oostindie Sunday Nov 13 | 2pm | NFB Pacific Region Theatre | $10 | Free for Children VIMAF 2011 Lil Bear Paws Program
Sunday Nov 13 | 2pm | NFB Pacific Region Theatre | $10 VIMAF 2011 NFB Showcase
NFB W2 Installation Kanehsatake, Cesar’s Bark Canoe, Bill Reid W2 Media Cafe – 111 W Hastings
Sunday Nov 13 | 7pm | W2 Media Cafe | $10 VIMAF 2011 Closing Ceremony
**Times subject to minor changes - Keep checking back for final revisions!
FOLLOW ON TWITTER @VIMAF
WEBSITE: vimaf.com
Front woman for Rocky Mountain Rebel Music, Niska has been working on some solo projects too and we are all waiting for her first release. Well known singer-songwriter Kinnie Starr raves:
Since I began mentoring over the last five years, I occasionally encounter very developed songwriters with an intensity that stands out. Niska Napoleon has a rare gift for composing and delivering “classic” original material. I firmly believe she is one of Canada’s undiscovered gems.
New video Again from singer/songwriter Niska Napoleon is an anthem to fresh starts. Her soulful rhythms remind us about what keeps us going through struggle and heartbreak. Have a listen!
Babes 4 Breasts (B4B) has been raising money for breast cancer research since 2003, founded by Ana Miura and Amanda Rheaume, they have made this year their biggest year of touring including 21 shows in 26 days across Canada. To date they have raising over $45,000 for a variety of charities by creating intimate performance spaces.
B4B will be donating the proceeds from their last benefit show in Ottawa to the Maplesoft Centre music program:
It is our core belief that everyone experiences cancer in their own way and no one journey is the same as another. Music therapy adheres to this belief and is individualized to meet peoples own therapeutic and musical needs. The Maplesoft Centre intends on having group sessions which will include playing music, listening to music, performing movements to music, writing songs and discussing lyrics. Many issues common to cancer, such as family disruption, loss of health, fear, and coping with treatment, are often difficult to express verbally. Music therapy can be used to encourage emotional expression, promote social interaction, and address issues in a non-verbal way.
Here is a video of Dene singer-songwriter Leela Gilday at a B4B show in Duncan, BC. Perhaps not the best video work but you can feel the incredible energy in the room and the powerful stage presence of Ms.Leela! They have recently released a compilation CD of 17 songs which includes Leela's Listen Sister as track 1. The CD is available online at babesforbreasts.com, support the cause and enjoy the music.
The debut single, Bare Feet on the Blacktop, is on U.S. radio stations now and Shane is sure to win hearts and ears in the south as much as he has in the north.
It's About Time tracklisting:
Watch the official video for Bare Feet on the Blacktop:
Haida brother and sister duo Robert and Gillian Thonmson, aka Sister Says, weave a delicious blend of pop and soul, with Gillian's striking alto vocals at the forefront.This title track from their debut album, has a smooth, dance-able vibe and a hook that you'll find yourself singing after just one listen. Sister Says strikes that artful balance of sound and meaning - they'll grab your attention with fine tuned, well crafted production but keep you coming back for more with their intelligent, thoughtful lyrics and passionate delivery. DOWNLOAD: Sister Says - "The Only Way"
It's great to see the festival get the coverage. The article is also great south-of-the-border exposure for the artists mentioned - A Tribe Called Red, Leela Gilday, Derek Miller and Cassidy Mann to name a few.
Kerry Dexter writes in Native music celebration in Canada: Aboriginal Music Week:
“Aboriginal people want to see Aboriginal artists perform all kinds of music,” says Alan Greyeyes, festival curator forAboriginal Music Week. He selects acts to appear at the festival to meet that need, but there’s another idea in mind too. “We really want to use the festival and the music to build bridges with other communities,” he adds. “And it’s working.”
Dexter also spoke with Leela Gilday:
“I have found Aboriginal artists to be some of the most boundary-breaking, original, and refreshing artists I have ever met,” says Gilday...
So true! Read the whole story, Native music celebration in Canada: Aboriginal Music Week on usatoday.com.
Revolutions Per Minute is a global new music platform, record label, and boutique agency for Indigenous music culture. RPM’s mission is to build a visionary community of Indigenous artists and to introduce Indigenous music to new audiences across Turtle Island and around the world. Our main site, RPM.fm, has featured the work of more than 500 Indigenous artists and shared their music across our social networks of more than 275,000 followers.
RPM Records is the first of its kind: a label for contemporary, cross-genre Indigenous music, run by Indigenous people. Selected by The FADER as one of “5 New Canadian Record Labels The Entire World Should Know”, RPM Records artists include Ziibiwan, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Exquisite Ghost, and Mob Bounce.
