INDIGIFEST

Indigenous Artists for this Event!

• Big Willie G

  Big Willie G

  [‘Namgis/Kwakwaka’wakw/Nlaka’pamux]

  Garret T. Willie is a 21-year-old Blues, Rock, and Country folk musician. He grew up listening to the Blues greats Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Johnny Cash. You can feel it in his ability to tell his life stories in songwriting. Born in Campbell River BC, his music showcases the complexities, hardships and tenacity of a 1st Nations youth and how he’s turned that into a zeal for life.

  URL https://youtube.com/channel/UC-0Y3XNZyfi_u8Q69Wg1-Dw

  [‘Namgis/Kwakwaka’wakw/Nlaka’pamux]

• Curtis Clear Sky and the Constellationz

  Curtis Clear Sky and the Constellationz

  [Blackfoot/Anishinabe/ Maori/Guarani]

  Curtis Clear Sky and the Constellationz captivate audiences with their funky rhythms, thundering percussion, blasting horns, soulful harmonies with empowering lyrics that gratify your soul. Their highly-engaging performance will make you “bump with the booming blasting blare”, “you’ll be moving your feet like you don‘t care”. You can find Curtis Clear Sky and the Constellationz latest album Indigifunk that features Juno Award winning Mohawk Bluesman Murray Porter on their single “Turtle Island”. Indigifunk is available on all digital streaming platforms including Spotify and Apple music. In 2020 Curtis Clear Sky and the Constellationz are developing a new album with super talented Indigenous musician Beaver Thomas and they will highlight news songs at the upcoming 2 Rivers Remix Virtual Feast show.

  [Blackfoot/Anishinabe/ Maori/Guarani]

• Jason Camp & The Posers

  Jason Camp & The Posers

  [Haida]

  Jason Camp and The Posers plays what has been dubbed Post-Colonial Rage Rock. The band consists of three Haida madmen: SG_aan Kwah.

  Agang (James McGuire) is on vocals and guitar, Jaahljuu (Graham Richard) rockets away on his drum kit and Jonny Begel hypes up the crowd.

  We write and sing about life on Haida Gwaii, local legends, good times and indigenous struggle worldwide. Our debut EP Neat Times and Family Values gives a snapshot of our sound. Our first full length album First Contact is now released and available on all platforms.

  Both of us are from Haida Gwaii and are of Haida descent. The isolation of the islands we live on has created a hotbed of talented musicians with a DIY attitude, working together to make live shows and on-island recording happen. We have created a lively scene here and have taken our brand of mischief on tour from Skidegate Haida Gwaii to Brooklyn NY.

  On top of making our high energy, rage-filled, Punkabilly music we also both perform in a traditional Haida Dance group. We are experimenting with how to let our background in Haida Dance bleed through into our recordings and our live show.Haida tradition informs our lives in every way.

  [Haida]

• Saltwater Hank

  Saltwater Hank

  [Gitga’at/Tsimshian]

  A member of the Gitga’at community, Tsimshian folk artist Saltwater Hank resurrects stories of the land, loss and absurd circumstance and shines them through a sepia lens, witnessing ageless characters with hearts and lives on the line. Historically speaking, many have come and gone before us without broad notice, despite having made significant impacts during their lives.
  These are the stories that Saltwater Hank sinks his teeth into, spinning them into timeless folk songs with a penchant for a jig.

  Saltwater Hank’s debut album, Stories From the Northwest, is a recording built upon the influence of Hanks before him. Saltwater Hank’s father Henry (also known as Hank) was his first and most influential exposure to music, and instilled in him a deep curiosity and love for the craft. Born in Prince Rupert, Saltwater Hank’s earliest memories of gingerly strumming his father’s guitar strings, to hearing him, his grandfather and uncles perform the songs of Hank Williams Sr. and other country favourites, the influence of these formative experiences is clear when listening to Saltwater Hank.

  Recorded reel-to-reel in the basement of a church in Prince George, BC with some of the province’s best players, Stories From the Northwest is a collection of expertly played tunes with a nostalgic familiarity and a progressive tone. Recruiting Danny Bell and Amy Blanding (fellow members of retired folk-rock project, Black Spruce Bog), to accompany him on the album along with other esteemed Northern artists Naomi Kavka, Big Fancy, Brin Porter and Chloe Nakahara, Together not only as musical cohorts but as friends too, the album portrays their chemistry and camaraderie, all captured through a single ribbon microphone, true to the methods of eras gone by.

  [Gitga’at/Tsimshian]

• The Melawmen Collective

  The Melawmen Collective

  [Secwepemc/ Nuu-Chah-Nulth/ Nlaka’pamux]

  A contemporary Indigenous alternative fusion woven together with elements of hip/trip-hop, rock/folk, righteous rhymes and rich harmonies, carried through with experience, manifestation, and visions of intergenerational stories of pain and healing. The Melawmen Collective brings a uniqueness to their sound like no other, drawing in a wide variety of listeners through sharing their own journeys of life through their musical evolution together. ‘Melawmen’ means medicine in the Secwepemc language, and the unceded territory of the Secwepemc People in what is now known as BC, is where co-founders Meeka Morgan (vocals, Secwepemc/Nuu-Chah-Nulth), Rob Hall (Vocals, Ghengis Ghandi’s, Ashcroft), Geo Ignace aka Geo The Voice (Vocals, Secwepemc/Cree), and Kiva Morgan-Hall (Vocals, Secwepemc/Nuu-Chah-Nulth), continue to grow. The collective is honoured to be joined by Cass Gregg (Bass, Tŝilhqot’in) and Victor Laso (Drums, Republic of Chile).

  URL https://themelawmencollective.bandcamp.com/

  [Secwepemc/ Nuu-Chah-Nulth/ Nlaka’pamux]

• The Spiritual Warriors

  The Spiritual Warriors

  [Lil’wat]

  The internationally acclaimed music group, The Spiritual Warriors, create music inspired by the land and life in the coastal mountains of the Lil’wat Nation. With their unique blend of indigenous chants and contemporary roots, rock, reggae, the Spiritual Warriors are distinctly west coast. The band perform most of their songs in Ucwalmícwts and are passionate about preserving and promoting their language and culture. The uplifting reggae rhythm only underlines the beautiful harmonizing of the vocals sung bilingually in English and Ucwalmícwts the Lil’wat language. The Spiritual Warriors, formerly known as Kalan Wi, are led by father and daughter, Leroy (vocals, guitar) and Daisy Joe(vocals) and accompanied by founding member Rich Doucet on drums, Mike Rowe on Bass, Cuyler Biller on guitar, Quentin De Lorenzis on keys and Leonard Fisher on percussion. The band regularly collaborates with other first nation artists and musicians to write and perform live. Ancestors’ their debut album was released in 2019 and has received 4 nominations at the Native American Music Awards in New York and won for Best World Recording. This truly unique band will take you on a cultural journey to the natural heartbeat of the Indigenous drum and the St’at’imc people.

  URL https://thespiritualwarriors.ca/

  [Lil’wat]