DOWNLOAD: Siren Call - "Lastone"

From a network of new emerging, electronic artists that includes Black Hands and Stone Mathers, this week's featured artist is Siren Call, of Wasauksing Nation.

Trevor Tabodandung, aka Siren Call, grew up taking in rap, rock and metal music, but it was an album by German elecro-house Digitalism that set him on path to exploring and creating his own house tracks. "I'm still learning lots about how to make music, but I like to make sounds I want to hear" says the young artist from Parry Sound, Ontario. Well Siren, we like the sounds too. Download this track to sweeten up your summer listening.

DOWNLOAD: Siren Call - "Lastone"

Willie Lowery's Plant and See Album to be Reissued

Lumbee musician, songwriter, mentor and visual artist Willie Lowery passed away two months ago after a career of over four decades in art, music and community involvement. The psychedelic swamp rock, eponymous LP from his 1969 band Plant and See, is now set for reissue by Paradise of Bachelors.

From Indian Country Today Lumbee Rocker Willie French Lowery’s 1969 Psychedelic Album to Be Reissued:

...some music experts consider [Plants and See] a lost (or at least hard-to-find) classic of psychedelic swamp-rock. On July 3, Carrboro, NC-based record label Paradise of Bachelors will give the album its first proper re-issue, on vinyl, in a limited edition of 1000 copies. Plant and See dissolved soon after the album came out, then largely reformed as Lumbee, which also put out just one album, Overdose.

Interviewed for an article in Indyweek.com written soon after Lowery’s death, Brendan Greaves of Paradise of Bachelors offered his thoughts. “What’s really fascinating about him,” said Greaves, “is that he put out these two LPs that are classic to the canon of psychedelic music, if little known beyond that, but then turned his career into a vehicle for articulating American Indian identity and politics.”

The band Lumbee also was short-lived as Lowery's muse took him in varied directions. Lowery published over 500 songs that have been recorded by acts as diverse as gospel, country and R&B artists.

Paradise of Bachelors has not only reissued Plant and See but has plans to release more of Lowery's catalogue, including recordings from Lumbee, his later solo work and previoulsy unreleased recordings.

So if you weren't tuned into the work of Willie Lowery before now, there will be opportunity to delve into more! You can order Plant and See here, and stream the track  below. Dig it.

STREAM: Plant and See - "Put Out My Fire"

DOWNLOAD: Rex Smallboy - "Children Of God"

Here is new music from hip-hop veteran Rex Smallboy, his track Children Of God. Keeping along the lines of his pure hip-hop style, this track hits the ears and heart with real energy and focus.

Rex Smallboy is no newcomer to the art of hip-hop here in Turtle Island country. From the pioneering rap group War Party, Rex has been influencing and trailblazing Indigenous hip-hoppers here in Canada and beyond for years, and now shares with us a new track entitled Children Of God, which takes us on a real journey through the eyes of an observer of life and love.

DOWNLOAD: Rex Smallboy - "Children Of God"

Artist Call: APTN First Tracks

Each year, APTN First Tracks produces up to six music video for emerging Indigenous artists or groups in Canada. Join the ranks of First Tracks artists like Derek Miller, Joey Stylez, George Leach, Cris Derksen and Kristi Lane Sinclair and apply now.From APTN First Tracks:

APTN is providing an opportunity for up to six emerging Canadian Aboriginal musicians or musical groups to have a music video produced. APTN First Tracks will provide a contribution toward the production of a music video to be filmed in the spring/summer of 2012. All genres of music videos in English, French or any Aboriginal language are accepted and requests may come from Canadian record companies, record producers, managers or artists. The criteria for selected songs will be based on the overall quality of the submission, with consideration given to music, lyrics, quality of performance and production, and market potential. Applicants must submit a master of the song (only one song per artist or group) to be considered. Please refer to the Application Form for a full list of requirements.

To submit your song for consideration download, and complete in full, the APTN First Tracks Application Form before 5:00 PM Central Standard Time on July 31, 2012. Incomplete applications are automatically deemed ineligible. Be sure to read the Rules and Regulations before submitting your application.

Apply now! For more information, visit: aptn.ca/pages/firsttracks.

From the 2011 First Tracks, watch: Cris Derksen - "Pow Wow Wow", directed by Lisa Jackson:

VIDEO: Silver Jackson - "Elliot"

This beautifully shot video follows French and Chilean artists Johanna Tagada and Camila León in Berlin, set to the sweet sounds of Silver Jackson.

WATCH: Silver Jackon - "Elliot"

Artist Call: Manifesto and ORIGINS Calling All Native MCs

ORIGINS: Breaking Beats & Boundaries is calling Native MCs to compete for a chance at a paid performance spot at the Manifesto Festival 2012.

Compete on June 30th in front of a panel of industry judges in Toronto, Ontario, for your chance to win the grand prize of paid performance spot at Manifesto 2012!

Submissions can be made online at: themanifesto.ca/submissions/origins.

And then stick around, as the event is being followed by performances from Kinnie Starr, Iskwé and A Tribe Called Red, hosted by Wab Kinew. Get the details on that on Facebook.

Good luck!

Indigenous Summer Music Festival Guide 2012

It's summer 2012 and RPM has another guide to Indigenous musicians representing at music festivals this year.

It's the first week of summer and festival season has already kicked off in some places, but there are still many to check out all over Turtle Island. We've mined through the festival line-ups and compiled a list of festivals including Indigenous musicians.

Adäka Cultural Festival, Whitehorse, YT, June 22-28 - Murray Porter, Wayne Lavallee, Reddnation

Alianait Arts Festival, Iqaluit, NU, June 29 - July 2nd - Artcirq, William Tagoona, the Métis Fiddler Quartet and more.

Boonstock Music & Arts Festival, Gibsons, AB, June 28 - July 1 - Gutta Musik

Little Lake Music Festival, Peterborough, ON, June 30 - August 25 - Tom Jackson

Ottawa Blues Fest, Ottawa, ON, July 4-15 - A Tribe Called Red

Winnipeg Folk Festival, Winnipeg, MB, July 4-8 - Asani, Ozomatli, Sonia Eidse

Harrison Festival of the Arts, Harrison, BC, July 6-15 - Murray Porter, Inez, Jason Burnstick, Pura Fe, Kalan Wi

Atlin Arts and Music Festival, Atlin, BC, July 6-8 - Don Amero

All Folked up in Montmartre, Montmartre, SK, July 6-8 - Christa Couture, Carol Morin

Mariposa Folk Fest, Orillia, ON, July 6-8 - Florent Vollant, Shane Koyczan and the Short Story Long

Vancouver Island Music Festival, Comox Valley, BC, July 6-8 - Buffy Sainte-Marie, Wab Kinew, Lorenzo

Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, Okemah, OK, July 11-15 - Samantha Crain

Craven Country Jamboree, Qu'Appelle Valley, SK, July 12-15 - Terri Clarke

Homeskillet Festival, Sitka, AK, July 13-14 - Silver Jackson, Strummin' Dog, D-Script

Montana Folk Festival, Butte, MT, July 13-15 - Little Southern Cree, Dallas Chief Eagle

Vancouver Folk Festival, Vancouver, BC, July 13-15 - Leela Gilday, Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, Alejandra Robles

Folk On The Rocks, Yellowknife, NWT, July 19-22 - Pura Fe, William Greenland, Wesley Hardisty, The Jerry Cans, Timangia Petaulassie & Qauna Mikkigaq, Yellowknives Dene Drummers

Brandon Folk Festival, Brandon, MB, July 19-22 - Kinnie Starr

Dawson City Music Festival, Dawson, YK, July 20-22 - Cris Derksen, Dakhká Khwáan Dancers

Starbelly Jam, Crawford Bay, BC, July 20-22 - Glen Henry Michel Family w/ Sara Cadeau

Discovery Coast Music Festival, Bella Coola, BC, July 20-22 - The Caley Watts Band, Digawolf

LA Skins Fest, LA, CA, July 21 - Beck Black, Cockamammie Jamie, Arigon Starr, Shawn Michael Perry & Only The Brave

Lowell Folk Festival, Lowell, MA, July 27-29 - Jones Benally Family Dancers

MetisFest - Killarny, MB, July 27-29 - Darren Lavallee, Donny Parenteau, JJ Lavallee and Ryan Keplin.

ArtsWells, Wells, BC, August 3-6 - Benny Walker, Christa Couture

Electric Eclectics Festival, Meaford, ON, August 3-5 - Melody McKiver

Edmonton Folk Music Fest, Edmonton, AB, August 9-12 - Joanne Shenandoah, Treme, George Kahumoku Jr.

Lunenburg Folk Harbour Fest, Lunenburg, NS, August 9-12 - Iskwew, Leela Gilday

Edge Of The World Festival, Haida Gwaii, BC, August 10-12 - Road Engine Dreams

TroutFest, Ear Falls, Ontario, August 10-12 - Christa Couture, Shy-Anne Hovorka

Boots and Hearts Music Festival, Bowmanville, ON, August 10-12 - Terri Clarke, Shane Yellowbird, Derek Miller, Crystal Shawanda

Voices Of The Valley Music and Art Festival, Spence's  Bridge, BC August 11 - Skookum Sound System, Blackout Artists, Gitwaalk Jeremy, Niska

Robson Valley Music Festival, Dunster, BC, August 17-19 - Niska

Desert Daze, Spences Bridge, BC, August 17-19 - Christa Couture

Hopscotch Music Festival, Raleigh, NC, September 6-8 - Samantha Crain

If there's any dates we've missed or to be updated let us know and we'll add them to the list.  Happy Festival Season!

DOWNLOAD: Jace Martin - "Falling Stars"

Falling Stars is the title track from the upcoming album by Mohawk Six Nations Jace Martin. Produced by Crystal Shawanda, the track is just what you'd want out of a Nashville pop-country song - catchy, sweet and danceable. So grab your partner and download it now.

Following his years in blues band The WolfPack, Jace Martin developed his solo style with his 2008 APCMA "Best Blues Album" nominated eponymous album. Now signed to NewSun Records, and with country-star Crystal Shawanda in the producer's seat, Jace is branching out into new musical territory.

DOWNLOAD: Jace Martin - "Falling Stars"

Buffy Sainte-Marie Interviews on Democracy Now and CBC Radio

Gemini and Juno award-winning Cree singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie recently sat down with Democracy Now to talk about the origins of her love for music, her early family life, and her life as an activist. CBC Music documentary maker Philip Coulter also recently honored Sainte-Marie and her nearly 50 year-long career with a piece created from over 30 years of archived interviews with the singer, songwriter, visual artist and activist.

Originally from the Piapot Cree Indian reserve in the Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada, she was raised in Wakefield, Massachusetts, before being welcomed back to the Piapot Cree during a Pow Wow ceremony in 1964. During the course of her career, Buffy Sainte-Marie has received honorary Doctor of Laws and Letters degrees from a variety of reputable institutions such as the University of Regina in her home territory of Saskatchewan, and Emily Carr University and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, among others. In the last 48 years she has put out eighteen albums. Buffy Sainte-Marie has been covered by Donovan, Joe Cocker, Neil Diamond, Giovanni, Janis Joplin, Courtney Love and many others.

During these two interviews, Ms. Sainte-Marie recalls memories from the 1960's era of grassroots social movements, when she was just beginning her career as a traveling singer-songwriter. At that time, Ms. Sainte-Marie was traveling to cafes and campuses around North America, writing and performing songs that weren't typically found in mainstream music which, as she describes them, were "original to me, but an absorption and a reflection of what I was seeing on the streets and in college campuses."

It was a time when reactionary political activism in resistance to the Vietnam War and other political injustices had spread throughout student unions and subcultures across North America. Many artists had taken stances on political issues - John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Bob Dylan, and many others began using music to speak out against corruption and human rights violations being perpetrated by both foreign and domestic governments. On the show, Ms. Sainte-Marie performs her 1964 anthem Universal Soldier, a song portraying anti-war sentiment sewn through and through which speaks to the political climate at that time. "I wrote Universal Soldier in the basement of The Purple Onion coffee house in Toronto in the early sixties. It's about individual responsibility for war and how the old feudal thinking kills us all."

It is inspiring to hear Ms. Sainte-Marie speak of her convictions and her motivations for being onstage, as she tells Democracy Now that it was always the messaging in her music that she felt protected by and which gives her the confidence to be on stage. She describes her motivation for writing Now That The Buffalo Is Gone, a song written during the Seneca Nation's battle with the United States in its effort to build the Kinzu Dam, which would eventually flood their traditional territories and force hundreds of Seneca to relocate from 10,000 acres of land they had occupied under the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua. Ms. Sainte-Marie acknowledges the unbalanced and often biased perspectives offered by mainstream media as a motivating factor in writing the song, which speaks to the damage that misrepresentation can cause in relations between First Nations and surrounding national governments - a challenge which sounds all too familiar 50 years later.

This author has grown up hearing the songs of Buffy Sainte-Marie from the tops of kitchen tables in many family member's homes, and for that reason, it is an honor to present this article and these two interviews for RPM's readers. Enjoy.

Watch: Democracy Now's Full Length Interview with Buffy Sainte-Marie below:

In the course of creating the documentary Still This Love Goes On: The Songs of Buffy Sainte-Marie, Philip Coulter listened to literally hours and hours of the CBC Radio interviews the songwriter gave over the past 30 years. Coulter reacquainted himself with Sainte-Marie's body of work (eighteen albums since 1964) and had his own face-to-face interview with her in Calgary this past April.

To listen to Still This Love Goes On: The Songs of Buffy Sainte-Marie by Philip Coulter at CBC Music, click here.

VIDEO: Joey Stylez - "Take A Picture"

Here's a new video from Joey Stylez for his song Take A Picture directed by Laura Milliken of Big Soul Productions.

Showing his diversity as an artist, this song and video takes us into the mainstream style of production and is a great looking video by Stressed Street's most prolific artist.

Be sure to request this video on MuchMusic.

RPM Wins United Nations Gold Medal in New York

The New York Festivals Radio Program and Promotion awards, recognizing the World’s Best radio and podcast programs, took place last night in New York. We are thrilled to announce that Electric Pow Wow from the RPM podcast series has been selected as the recipient of the United Nations DPI Gold Medal as well as being awarded a Silver Medal in the Culture & The Arts, Audio Podcast category.

Holy smokes!

RPM/MBM Digital Inc.  is proud to be among this year’s winners, culled from entrants from 27 countries by an international jury of award-winning radio and podcast producers and industry experts. The United Nations Department of Public Information (UNDPI) Awards, juried separately from the festival by members of the UN, honour programming that “best exemplifies the aims and ideals of the United Nations.”

Indigenous Peoples across Turtle Island have been dancing and drumming for generations but, in the 21^st century, that rhythmic spirit is finding new forms of creative expression. In the RPM podcast episode Electric Pow Wow, the powwow gets plugged in, mashed up and remixed, through an exploration of the work of three Indigenous artists – A Tribe Called Red¸the Ottawa-based DJ collective whose eponymous debut album was long-listed for the Polaris prize last week, Cris Derksen, the classically trained, Cree electro-cellist, and Indian Nick, aka Tlingit/Aleut visual artist and musician Nicholas Galanin.

We're so proud of our team! The podcast is produced by Paolo Pietropaolo¸ hosted by Ron Dean Harris, aka Ostwelve, with executive producer Lynn Booth, creative producer Jarrett Martineau, production manager Christa Couture and the amazing team at MBM Digital Inc.

You can read the official press release here: rpm.fm/NYGold.

DOWNLOAD: RPM Podcast #010: "Electric Pow Wow"

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DOWNLOAD: Cheryl L'Hirondelle - "Wishful Heart"

In Wishful Heart, Métis award-winning, multi-disciplinary artist Cheryl L'Hirondelle speaks from her heart for those who may seem to have drifted from view.

I'm a big fan of Cheryl L'Hirondelle's work and was thrilled when she offered to share this track with RPM, and with you! This song in particular is one of my favourites - her poetry, her voice, the steady rhythm of the piano and horns that carry the otherwise delicate song with strength, move me every time.

Cheryl says of the song "Wishful Heart is my homage to all the people on the streets who, though they may seem to fall between the cracks of society and our fast paced world, are beautiful and perfect beings! While walking around Vancouver composing the songs from my songlines project, I was reminded how we all endure pain and misfortune and this is what hopefully helps us to stay compassionate so we can truly care for one another."

It's a beautiful piece. Sit, listen, and then listen again.

DOWNLOAD: Cheryl L'Hirondelle - "Wishful Heart"