Diverse as This Land: Apply Now

The Diverse As This Land program explores how land shapes voice and reveals the dynamic spectrum of Indigenous artistry today. The program enrolls 12 singers, actors, and storytellers in the performing arts each year and is currently accepting applications.

From banffcentre.ca:

Indigenous Arts at THE BANFF CENTRE offers a 10-day voice intensive which is an in-depth examination of the human voice as primary channel for communication in the performer-audience relationship. Working from the feet up, the emphasis will be on establishing a grounded, spine-breath relationship that enables free expression of creative impulse.

During the voice intensive, participants will have opportunities to: develop a deep understanding of your unique breath and voice foster a tangible awareness of your own vocal and physical habits experience and incorporate a voice warm-up progression into your artistic practice explore a wealth of tools with which to tap into your imagination build a coherent and integrated approach to physical, vocal, and text/lyrics preparation deepen your ability to be in relationship with your music or scene partners, and your audience The program is intended for anyone who works in any sound tradition with physical, emotional, and vocal freedom. Singers, actors, storytellers.

Enrolment is limited to 12 participants of Indigenous descent who are 18 years of age or older. Full scholarships are available. You only have to pay for your travel to get to Banff. Imagine 10-days in Banff working on your voice.

It's an incredible opportunity to develop your voice in the beautiful setting of The Banff Centre! Apply now - the deadline is April 18th - and tell us all about it.

More information and application form available here.

APCMA 2014 Submissions Now Open

Attention all artists! The 2014 Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards has opened its doors to submissions. 

The Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards, aka the annual celebration of Aboriginal music and musicians, as voted by the public, will take place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, September 11th and 12th later this year. Now is the time to submit work in consideration for nomination.

The awards honours the best blues, country, gospel, rock, pop and rap albums, as well as single, songwriter, female entertainer and male entertainers of the year, and more, in what amounts to the biggest glitzy musical bash in Indian Country each year. Submit your work now!

The eligibility period is May 1, 2012 to April 30, 2014. Download the submission form and read all the rules at  aboriginalpeopleschoice.com. Deadline April 30, 2014, 5:00 P.M. Central.

Good luck!

Supaman Brings it Full Circle in "Prayer Loop Song"

Drum, flute, beatbox, rap, dance - loop and repeat. Supaman delivers it all in "Prayer Loop Song."

From the Apsaalooke Nation, Supaman brings all his talents to the mic in this killer track. Sit back and enjoy.

Things Are Great on Things Get Better

Vancouver-based Eden Fine Day of the Sweetgrass First Nation in Saskatchewan has released her first solo album "Things Get Better" and frankly it's great. Known as the front woman of the mighty and melodic all-girl band Vancougar, Fine Day's newest offering is potent, poetic pop at it's best.

Produced by Jesse Gander  (Japandroids) in his studio at the Hive Creative Labs in Burnaby, BC, all twelve songs on Things Get Better were written and performed by Fine Day, along with  some of Vancouver’s finest musicians to round out her vocals and guitar with percussion, bass, strings and keyboards. The result is an intimate, personal, yet totally accessible confessional pop album. As a 3rd generation survivor of the Indian Residential School legacy, Fine Days writes with straight to the point and straight to the heart wit, clarity, and poignancy, drawing musically from range of urban, folk, rock and atmospheric sounds.

You can get the album on iTunes and check out "Up North" now:

STREAM: Indigenous Music Without Borders Mixtape

The good folks at Aboriginal Music Week have just dropped a sweet mixtape - with tracks by Indigenous artists and producers from around the globe. 

Touted as "Volume 1" of "Indigenous Music Without Borders" it looks like we can expect more to come from AMW. For now, dig into a few of your favourites and discover new sounds with tracks by:

Lido Pimienta astronomar Las Cafeteras P-80 Clap Freckles World Hood Kinnie Starr Exquisite Ghost

STREAM: Indigenous Music Without Borders - Vol. 1

Tall Paul and Chase Manhattan Rise Up

Navigating the best and worst reactions from Native and non-Native audiences alike, Tall-Paul and Chase Manhattan hold their ground, stay true, and rise up in their hometown and internationally.

Tall Paul and Chase Manhattan have been building buzz and their names in the hip-hop scene across Turtle Island. Recently they both kept it close to home and talked with their shared hometown paper Minneapolis Star Tribune about their path in music, the power of sharing their work, and the ups and downs of getting labeled "Indian" in the industry.

Both rappers cite advantages and disadvantages to being designated as Indian rappers. On the plus side, they naturally stand out from the crowd. But there’s also a certain lack of respect from more mainstream rap crowds, who see them as something of a novelty.

Said Paul, “It makes you unique, but you still have to be a good rapper first or they won’t take you seriously.”

They also have been shunned at times by other Indians, especially elder leaders who see rap music as a scurrilous artistic pursuit — a generational gap common to any hip-hop artist.

“I’ve had some elders say to me, ‘Why are you trying to act black?’ ” Chase said, shaking his head. “That’s them being racist.”

Neither wants to be pigeonholed as an Indian rapper, and both have more songs that don’t refer to their heritage than ones that do. They are as likely to take gigs in clubs — including small-town bars near rural Indian populations around Minnesota and Wisconsin and the Dakotas — as they are to play pow-wows or other traditional native events.

Still, they said, they will never again shy away from bringing out their native past in their music.

“I’ve gone on stage in front of 500 people and brought attention to the issues the native people face, and I think that’s a powerful, important thing,” said Chase.

Read the full story: Native tongues: Tall Paul and Chase Manhattan bring traditions to hip-hop

Melbourne Indigenous Arts Festival

The Melbourne Indigenous Arts festival is in full swing down under with more than 40 artists gathering to share, celebrate, educate, contribute and inspire.

"Culture is knowledge, and knowledge is survival" Deborah Cheetham writes of the Melbourne Indigenous Arts festival for The Guardian. An Indigenous musician herself she continues:

For us the visual and performing arts have always been the way we know the world and give meaning to everything in it. For more than 1000 generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have passed on all knowledge of geography, the sciences, medicine and humanity through the visual and performing arts. No fear of a hard-drive meltdown in traditional culture. As long as you knew the song or the dance or the story, culture would survive.

The festival presents a range of art forms including Indigenous theatre, music, literature, film, cabaret and dance. Bringing their musical talents to the second annual, 12 day celebration are artists Bart Willoughby, Tiriki Onus, Jessica Mauboy, Archie Roach and Cheetham.

"Come and witness first-hand an ancient culture that has always been contemporary to its time, informed and shaped by the knowledge of 1000 generations" Cheetham invites in her list of highlights (get the full report here).

Scope full festival schedule here and watch Bart Willoughby - who performs "We Still Live On" this Wednesday at the festival - now:

VIDEO: Bart Willoughby - "We Have Survived"

The Distinguished Storytellers Festival Lineup

Back for its 14th year, the Distiguished Storytellers Festival (previously Sâkêwêwak Festival) brings five days of  storytellers, elders, spoken word artists, dancers, performers and music to Regina, Canada.

Sâkêwêwak is a Cree word meaning "they are coming into view." The Artist Collective and annual festival has always brought emerging and established artists and their work to the prairie city of Regina, celebrating both traditional and contemporary performance and storytelling artists. The festival includes storytelling luncheons, evening performance, and a daily story telling bus tour with Cheryl L'Hirondelle.

This year's lineup is packed with goodness. Moe Clark, Daphne Pooyak, Bob Smoker, Jack Dalton, Stephen Fadden, Lara Kramer Danse, Ryan McMahon and Mihirangi are all scheduled to perform. Weekly passes and tickets for individual events are available - get the full schedule and more at: sakewewak.ca/storytellers-festival.

To get started, here's Mihirangi's "Make That Soul." Dig it! 

Samantha Crain Crosses the Pond

Choctaw singer-songwriter Samantha Crain's latest album of artful and thoughtful Americana tunes, "Kid Face," has been taking hold of ears and hearts across North America since its release last year. As of this month, the album is now available in the UK and lucky Brits are taking notice.

Samantha recently spoke with A Music Blog, Yea? about travel, writing and baking pies:

AMBY: Your new single Somewhere All The Time (taken from the forthcoming LP) sounds lovely. What’s the story behind the track?

Samantha Crain: I love to travel. I was born with the appetite deep in my bones. I am routinely asked if traveling so much and being away from home so often is hard. For some touring musicians, perhaps it is hard, perhaps this lifestyle isn’t something they desire, perhaps they just accept it as part of their lot in order to keep making music. For me, however, it isn’t hard. It is my obsession and my method. I am on the go for the better part of my year even when I’m not playing shows and despite the clunky, high mileage vehicles breaking down every once in awhile. Once in a blue moon though, I do need the rest and familiarity of Oklahoma.

AMBY: Which lyric off of Kid Face is your favourite?

Samantha Crain: I’m not mad, I’m conflicted

You’re not bad, you were lifted

From yourself with your lamb-like heart

And I’m your clone, that’s what makes it hard

—from “We’ve Been Found”

AMBY: What’s the funniest thing to happen to you while at a gig?

Samantha Crain: Once my band at the time played a joke on me where they got a whole bunch of other musicians (string players, horn players, percussionists, etc) like 10 people, to learn the end of this song called “Lions” and without me knowing they just had them all come out at the end for this really triumphant finale from backstage. It was really beautiful and hilarious too. I wish there was video of it.

AMBY: Music stimulates a variety of senses; which senses stand out as triggers to inspire your music?

Samantha Crain: I guess sight plays the biggest part, I’m usually writing about visual observations. But aural senses are huge too, silence is one of the best things for me and can be so inspiring. I need silence to think and create.

AMBY: What’s the best release of the year?

Samantha Crain: “In the Throes” by John Moreland

AMBY: And lastly, what’s something about Samantha Crain that nobody knows yet?

Samantha Crain: I feel like people know enough about me, more than I’d like, so there won’t be any shocking super personal detail here. But I will tell you that I’m awesome at baking pies and I collect thimbles.

Read more: Gimme Your Answers: An Interview w/ Samantha Crain

Tanya Tagaq Remixes 'Nanook of the North'

Acclaimed Inuk throat singer, Tanya Tagaq, is currently touring a performance that reclaims and re-imagines the deeply stereotypical 1922 silent film, Nanook of the North, with a new score and live musical accompaniment.

Begun as a commission for the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, Tagaq is currently performing a remixed version of the piece in festivals and concert halls across Turtle Island that channels her frustrations against stereotypes and takes that energy to transform it sonically in order to "reclaim the film".

As the PuSH Festival describes it: "In this concert for film she fuses her voice and musical talents to create a mesmerizing, original soundscape for Nanook of the North, perhaps the most famous (and perhaps most infamous) film ever made about indigenous people. Tagaq’s haunting throat singing combines with Jesse Zubot and Jean Martin’s improvisatory genius and Derek Charke’s original film score to frame film pioneer Robert Flaherty’s 1922 semi-documentary in a new, contemporary light.

Experimenting with and honing her personal style in Inuit throat singing since she was a teenager in Nunavut, innovative vocalist Tanya Tagaq can capture the most ethereal moments of desire, or find the deepest, huskiest, beating pulse, with her voice and breath. She creates soundscapes from inhalation and exhalation, summoning powerful emotion from the smallest movement of lips, throat and lungs."

Here's an excerpt of Tagaq's recent chat with Holly Gordon for CBC Aboriginal:

You were commissioned to do this project for TIFF in 2012. Are you pushing it forward now with this iteration?

It’s the same thing but it’s also different every time because of improvising with my band. We have a beautiful backing track composed by Derek Charke, and he is a brilliant composer and I was really lucky to be able to work with him. And how we did that was, I watched the film four times, and responded vocally and composed my own melodies and stuff like that to the film. And then sent that all off to Derek and he took that and put field recordings over it from Nunavut. And he processed my voice and it’s just a really nice kind of bed that we get to, like a sonic bed we get to lay on while we’re improvising on top of it. It’s fun.

You said you thought the movie was perfect to work with. How so?

There are moments in the movie where … my ancestors, they’re so amazing. They lived on the land and I just still can’t believe that. Growing up in Nunavut and just the harshness of the environment itself, the ability for people to be able to survive with no vegetation, and just the harshest of environments, it’s just incredible to me. I’m very proud of my ancestors.

So that’s one facet of it, but I’m a natural presenter, like I went to arts school, so I watched it and I was just like, "They put a bunch of bullshit happy Eskimo stereotypes," you know what I mean?

So I can respond to that as well, with finding some hardcore punk, kind of that feel, kind of put that sound all over it to make it clear. It’s really nice because I can take my frustrations of stereotypes all over the world and take that energy and put it in sonically. I reclaim the film. Even though I have no doubt in my mind that Robert Flaherty had a definite love for Inuit and the land, it’s through 1922 goggles. It’s just nice to be a modern woman, well modern Inuk woman, taking it back.

You said you first saw the film when you were a kid, was that through school?

I think so, yeah.

Do you remember anything about how you felt when you saw it that first time?

I remember being really, really embarrassed and annoyed when he was biting on the record [there's a scene where Nanook laughs at a phonograph and bites on a record, as if he's never seen one before]. And there were a couple of scenes like that where I’m embarrassed and annoyed. Like I said, that’s why it’s great to sing over it.

I read that the record-biting scene was fake, too.

Yeah, like, “Look at these savage people that have no idea what this is, oh isn’t that funny, they don’t know.” And it’s like yeah, why don’t we take someone living in England and put them on the land and laugh at them for dying in the cold? “Oh, he’s being eaten by a bear.”

Read the rest of the interview here: Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq on reclaiming Nanook of the North

Here's a list of Tagaq's upcoming 2014 performances in Canada and the U.S through the winter and spring.

Tanya Tagaq 2014 Tour Dates

Tuesday, January 28, 2014 Nanook Of The North - Calgary Venue: Festival Hall

Thursday, January 30, 2014 Nanook Of The North - Edmonton Venue: Canoe Theatre Festival - Garneau Theatre

Friday, January 31, 2014 - Saturday, February 1, 2014 Nanook Of The North - Vancouver [SOLD OUT] Venue: PuSH Festival

Saturday, February 1, 2014 Nanook Of The North - Vancouver [SOLD OUT] Venue: PuSH Festival

Free panel discussion presented with Tides Canada: February 1, 3:30pm at The York. A panel discussion on the representation of Inuit life and culture oon film. Moderated by Michell Raheja, associate professor at the Unversity of California, Riverside, with panelist Tany Tagaq and invited guests. Everyone welcome.

Saturday, February 8, 2014 Duo Performance (w/ Michael Red) - Guelph, ON Venue: Hillside Inside

Thursday, May 8, 2014 Tanya Tagaq with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Performing: Thirteen Inuit Songs by Derek Charke Venue: Carnegie Hall, New York City

Performance information and ticket info available at: tanyatagaq.com

VIDEO: 'NiiMiDAA' (Let's Dance) - Idle No More Music Documentary

Multitalented Anishinaabe producer, MC and Detroit Raiz Up Collective member, Sacramento Knoxx, has produced a new short documentary, "NiiMiDAA" ('Let's Dance' in Anishinaabemowin), in support of the Idle No More movement.

Featuring footage from the #RoundDanceRevolution and interviews with artists and organizers including Chantel Henry, Dylan Miner, and Don Lyons, the short film also includes a new music video for Sacramento Knoxx's anthemic #IdleNoMore-inspired hip-hop track "Dear Vaughn", which we featured late last year on the #NationHood Mixtape.

The doc concludes with footage from Idle No More solidarity rallies held in the Detroit-Windsor areas and provides background and context on this ever-evolving Indigenous resurgence and revitalization movement.

Produced by The Raiz Up Hip Hop Collective in solidarity with Idle No More, ZagaaJibiiSing aka (Detroit-Windsor) is Anishinaabemowin for 'place that sticks out the river'.

The Raiz Up  is a Detroit-based crew that uses hip-hop as a tool to create social awareness in their community through community dialogue, artistic creation and collective action. Combining Indigenous cultural roots with hip-hop connections is all part of their ongoing decolonization work to build community and create art and music:

Native American activism holds a prominent place in the group’s work as well. Most RAIZ UP members identify with indigenous culture and the group actively promotes decolonization, the reclaiming of native language and culture.

Members have dropped Native American banners from buildings, helped organize and document an Idle No More dance at Fairlane Mall, and put together an Ojibwe art installation to decolonize space at a traditional native site in Flint. They’re also interested in raising awareness about an Native American burial mound at Historic Fort Wayne in Southwest Detroit.

"NiiMiDAA" captures the heartbeat of Idle No More with passion and vitality; and Knoxx and his crew make it clear that the spirit of the movement lives on.

WATCH: "NiiMiDAA | Idle No More | ZagaaJibiiSing Solidarity"

VIDEO: Scatter Their Own - "Taste the Time"

Lakota/Pine Ridge rock band Scatter Their Own (fronted by husband and wife Scotti Clifford and Juliana Brown Eyes-Clifford) have a new album hitting the shelves in just a month! To get a taste of what's coming, they've dropped their first video and single "Taste the Time."

"Water is life! We as Lakota people, believe that we are only as clean as our water" writes Scatter Their Own. In this video directed by Willi White follow Scotti and Juliana down a desert rabbit hole where our waters are under threat, where dark dreams might come true.

VIDEO: Scatter Their Own - "Taste the Time"