Movable Feast: Tl’kemtsin

Indigenous Artists for this Event!

• Amanda Rheaume

  Amanda Rheaume

  [Metis]

  One of Rheaume’s great gifts as a songwriter is her ability to take the personal and make it universal, drawing upon her own experience to deliver messages with a wide resonance. She digs deep on The Skin I’m In, reflecting upon her Metis heritage, as on the profoundly moving title track and “Return To The Water,” and addressing issues of identity and mental health.

  [Metis]

• Aztlan Underground

  Aztlan Underground

• Á’a:líya

  Á’a:líya

  [Stó:lō]

  Á’a:líya is a proud member of the Stó:lō Nation and grew up in her community, the Skowkale First Nation. She has worked in and around Vancouver as an activist and hip-hop artist for 17 years. She is also a filmmaker and recently graduated from UBC’s Master of Film Production Program.

  Á’a:líya is a storyteller addressing both modern and traditional narratives from her unique perspective as an Indigenous woman through music, poetry and now as a filmmaker. She has travelled across Canada and the US doing performances, for community events both big and small. Her writing focuses on her own experiences dealing with her own life struggles, mental health, relationships, and triumphs.

  She’s passionate about art and what it can do to spread messages of empowerment and love to people of all backgrounds and ages.

  [Stó:lō]

• 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]

• EarthChild

  EarthChild

  EarthChild is formerly a member of the Indigenous Hip Hop duo Mob Bounce and was active with the group from 2010 to 2019. Since his departure from Mob Bounce, EarthChild has been working on establishing his solo career, as well as producing music for other artists in the Indigenous Music Scene.During the pandemic he decided to focus on furthering his skills in producing, mixing, and graphic design, so that he can be more self-sufficient with his music projects as an Independent Artist. Upon stepping into the producer seat, EarthChild has most recently received the award for “Producer Of The Year”, at the 2022 International Indigenous Hip Hop Awards. EarthChild has since released a 6 track collaborative EP titled “Indian Time” in 2021 with his friend and fellow Artist/Producer CJAY GRiZ. The Single “Indian Time”, with the same name as the EP, ended up making it to the top 10 of The Indigenous Music Countdown. EarthChild has released 3 Singles since the release of the “Indian Time” EP, with two songs also making the top 10 on The Indigenous Music Countdown.EarthChild has collaborated with artists and producers like Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Boogey The Beat, Classic Roots, Hellnback, Hyper-T, CJAY GRiZ, and other notable artists in the Indigenous Music Scene.

• Geo AKA The Voice

  Geo AKA The Voice

  [Secwepemc/Cree]

  George Ignace ~ Geo aka The Voice~, (Vocals, Beats) is Secwepemc and Cree, began working with The Melawmen Collective in 2007 through projects as artist, facilitator and producer.

  He is also a prolific wordsmith, a talented visual artist, and has collaborated on written published works, as well as other film projects, and practices his traditional culture through harvesting and processing traditional foods.

  [Secwepemc/Cree]

• Helene Duguay

  Helene Duguay

  [Mikmaq]

  Helene is a legendary bass player, who use to play with ‘The Beatlettes’, an all female pop band in the 1960’s in Montreal. She brings many years experience tearing it up on stages throughout North America and Asia.

  At seventy-five years of age, Helene shows no sign of slowing down, and can hold her own with the best of them on any stage! Proud of her French/Miqmaq heritage, and fluent in French, she performs at numerous fundraisers for various Indigenous communities and organizations throughout British Columbia.She has been featured on the TV shows, Rez Bluez and The Mix, and several episodes of Beyond Words on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. Helene also performed bass on both Murray Porter’s albums.

  From the girl groups and go-go boots of the sixties and through all the twists and turns in popular music since, Helene plays all styles with authenticity and heart.

  [Mikmaq]

• Keith Secola

  Keith Secola

   Keith Secola is an icon and ambassador of Native music. He is one of the most influential artists in the field today. Rising from the grassroots of North America, he is a songwriter of the people. Critics have dubbed him as the Native versions of both Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen. NDN Kars (Indian cars), his most popular song is considered the contemporary Native American anthem, achieving legendary status and earning him a well deserved cult following. It has been the number one requested song on tribal radio since the 1992. In 2011, he joined the ranks of Jimmy Hendrix, Hank Williams, Crystal Gale, and Richie Valens, and was inducted into the Native Music Hall of Fame. Born in 1957 in Cook, Minnesota, Secola is affiliated with the Anishinabe tribe. He graduated from Mesabi Community College with a degree in Public Service in 1979, and completed a BA in American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota in 1982. He is married and has two children. Secola is an accomplished artist, garnering awards and accolades as a musician, a singer, a songwriter, a composer and a producer. He is highly skilled with the guitar, flute, mandolin, banjo, harmonica, and piano, and has played in venues from the halls of the Chicago Urban Indian Centre, to the walls of the bottom of the Grand Canyon. He has also performed at the Olympic Games in Atlanta 1996 and Salt Lake City 2002, and toured Europe several times. Among his numerous appearances he has graced the stages of the Rockslide Festival in Denmark, the Grand Opening Gala of the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, The Kennedy Center and the SXSW in Austin, TX, and is a staple at the Grassroots Festival in Upstate New York, North Carolina and Florida. A seven-time Native American Music Award winner, Secola has earned NAMMYs not only for his music, but also his abilities as a producer, to include The Best Linguistic Recording for producing ANISHINABEMOIN (2007). A well respected musician, he has worked with music legends such as Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. Secola has also teamed with academics like author Dr. Tom Venum of the Smithsonian Folklife Institute, collaborating on the CD, AMERICAN WARRIORS: SONGS FOR INDIAN VETERANS, and with elders such as Karen Drift, a speaker of Anishenabemoin.

  URL https://secola.com/home

• Kiva MH

  Kiva MH

  [Secwepemc/ Nuu-Chah-Nulth]

  Kiva Morgan-Hall is a Secwepemc/Nuu-Chah-Nulth youth grounded through the roots of his people. He started his artistic solo and collaborative journey with The Melawmen Collective at the age of 7 years old, as a participant of their workshops (visual, song writing), then as a youth facilitator, and later as a working lyricist of the group as an early teen.

  He is a trained traditional cultural Nuu-Chah-Nulth dancer and performer, and his young wisdom shines through his verses, time and time again, relating to all generations.

  [Secwepemc/ Nuu-Chah-Nulth]

• Layla Black

  Layla Black

  [Mohawk]

  [Mohawk]

• Leonard Sumner

  Leonard Sumner

  [Anishinaabe]

  Anishinaabe MC/Singer/Songwriter Leonard Sumner’s storytelling flows directly from the shores of Little Saskatchewan First Nation, located in the heart of the Interlake of Manitoba.  Sumner’s self-determined sound is evidence of his ability to simultaneously occupy landscapes of multiple musical genres including; Hip-Hop, Spoken Word, Country, and Rhythm and Blues. With every vibration of the strings on his guitar, Leonard rattles the dust off truths that have been buried for far too long. On stage he poetically sings awake the consciousness of audiences may have been unaware of their slumber.In this era of unsettling history and healing wounds of the past, Sumner’s music is an expression of medicine that walks the line between fortitude and fragility. 

  [Anishinaabe]

• Logan Staats

  Logan Staats

  [Mohawk]

  In 2018, veracious Mohawk singer-songwriter Logan Staats was chosen from 10,000 hopeful contestants vying for a spot on musical competition show The Launch. Before an audience of 1.4 million viewers, Staats won, officiating the breakthrough that would lead him to Nashville and Los Angeles, and to his single “The Lucky Ones” winning the Indigenous Music Award for Best Radio Single. “The Lucky Ones” also occupied #1 in Canada.

  In the years between now and then, Staats has come home, making the intentional decision to re-root at ​​Six Nations of the Grand River. “I wanted to bring my songwriting back to the medicine inside of music, to the medicine inside of reclamation,” he says following a phase of constant travel and intensity.

  To Staats, music is a healing salve, contemplatively composed and offered to listeners in need of comfort. Since returning home, Staats has been able to create music authentically again, reclaiming his sound through honest storytelling and unvarnished, sometimes painful reflection.

  [Mohawk]

• Madelaine McCallum

  Madelaine McCallum

  [Metis]

  MADELAINE MCCALLUM is a dancer originally from Ile a la Crosse, Saskatchewan. Though she is well known for Métis dance (she’s been jigging since she could walk!), she enjoys all forms including Pow Wow, contemporary, Hip Hop and just movement from the soul. Madelaine has performed for many stages. Performing was a natural progression into choreographing her first solo piece which includes Powwow dancing, contemporary and Metis Jigging.

  Through many performance’s with her solo piece and collaborating with many dance/theatre companies such as Compaigni Vni Dansi, Dancing Earth and Full Circle etc. Her passion for dance has taken her all over Canada. Madelaine is currently one of the choreographers for Butterflies in Spirit, a dance group made up of family members of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Founded by Lorelei Williams. Madelaine has a passion for sharing her knowledge of dance and culture.

  Madelaine also shares her story of survival and how dance has been her outlet and savior throughout her life. Her belief in sharing knowledge with her community to empower and strengthen them and her deep love of dance and firm belief in its healing powers, for the audience as well as the dancer, is what makes Madelaine McCallum such a name to look out for!

  [Metis]

• Madeline Terbasket

  Madeline Terbasket

  [Syilx/Ho-chunk/Anishinaabe]

  Madeline Terbasket (they/them) is a two-spirit performing artist. They do traditional storytelling, filmmaking, burlesque and drag. Madeline is Syilx, Ho-chunk and Anishinaabe. They grew up in the beautiful Similkameen Valley and they now reside in Penticton. Madeline Terbasket is reimagining traditional stories with their physical comedy, queerness and vulnerability.

  [Syilx/Ho-chunk/Anishinaabe]

• Margit Sky Project

  Margit Sky Project

  [Stó:lō]

  Raised in Toronto and then Vancouver, Margit grew up listening to rock, folk and classical music. Her parents always had the stereo on. After moving to Kamloops in 1992, she built a successful career as a local musician and hasn’t looked back since her first gig at Sun Peaks Resort.
  Rod started playing guitar at age 10 in Vancouver. He was playing in bands at age 16. Rod was a huge part of the Indigenous band “Waskesu” in the mid 1990’s. They had the pleasure of playing for the Prime Minister and playing at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria along with Susan Aglukark and Kashtin. They also had quite a few appearances on Much Music.
  Put these two together and you have the Margit Sky Project. Rods First Nations name is Little Sky. The decision was made to combine names. With Margit’s vocals and rhythm guitar and Rod’s jaw dropping lead guitar they have become a very sought after duo in the B.C. Interior and Alberta. They have been fortunate enough to open for Kevin Costner and Modern West, Burton Cummings, Trooper, Barney Bentall, Elliot Brood and Ridley Bent. Margit and Rod are very passionate about their music and have released three cd’s together.

  [Stó:lō]

• Murray Porter

  Murray Porter

  [Mohawk]

  Murray Porter is Mohawk from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. He tells the Aboriginal side of history with a mixture of country, blues and humour. He’s a “red man, singing the black mans’ blues, living in a white man’s world!” (from his song “Colours”).

  Murray is a self-taught, singer, songwriter and piano player, who’s spent the last 30 years playing the blues throughout the world, spreading his unique style of foot-stomping, hand clapping, rockin’ blues piano!

  Now living in North Vancouver, British Columbia, his CD “Songs Lived & Life Played”, was released to rave reviews in 2011 and won a JUNO Award for “Aboriginal Album of the Year” in 2012. He was also a 2005 JUNO nominee for ‘Full Circle’ with his former group THE PAPPY JOHNS BAND, and Canadian Aboriginal Music Award winner for ‘Best Blues’.In 1994, he launched a solo career. In 1995, Murray recorded his first solo album “1492, Who Found Who?” for First Nations Music (distributed by EMI).

  In 2006, Murray performed at the “Out of Doors Festival”, at the LINCOLN CENTER in New York City at their “23rd Annual Roots of American Music Festival”, on a 10 foot grand piano, with Sipho Kunene on drums. Blues greats, such as Mavis Staples, Guy Davis, Larry Johnson and Bettye LaVette, were part of the festival. He also performed at “Native Sounds Downtown” at the NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN, in New York City.

  [Mohawk]

• Rich & Beka

  Rich & Beka

  [Tsilhqot’in/ Secwepemc]

  Grounded in poetry, rap and melody, Rich n Beka are like fire and water, masculine and
  feminine elements of nature coming together in harmony. Their artistic partnership goes
  back six years, and bridges life and love – they’re engaged to be married and have a
  beautiful daughter together. Both share in the culture of the Tsilhqot’in Nation, Beka (Rebecca Solomon)
  from Xeni Gwet’in and Rich (Richard MacDonald) from Tletinq’ox, West of Williams Lake, BC.
  Rich n Beka carry the power of story, family, and community in their music. Rising up
  from the Tsilhqot’in, their music ignites the passion and presence of healing and
  resilience, the light of hope that shines when cycles of oppression are overcome.
  Unapologetic and powerful, there’s a fierce flow of Earth’s medicine through their song
  stories.

  URL https://www.richnbekamusic.com/

  [Tsilhqot’in/ Secwepemc]

• Ritchie & The Fendermen

  Ritchie & The Fendermen

  [Nlaka’pamux]

  [Nlaka’pamux]

• Sierra Tasi Baker

  Sierra Tasi Baker

  [Kwakwaka’wakw, Tlingit, Haida]

  Sierra Tasi Baker is an award-winning Squamish Nation, Coast Salish, Kwakwaka’wakw, Tlingit, Haida, and Hungarian designer, community consultant, entrepreneur, artist, and storyteller. Sierra is a trained contemporary dancer with over 12 years of experience in the performing arts. Sierra began performing as a professional fire and circus performance artist in 2013, starting the process of combining circus arts and contemporary dance with Coastal values, material culture, and protocols. Sierra is one of the choreographers for Butterflies in Spirit, an Indigenous dance group that raises awareness for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Womxn started by #MMIW activist Lorelei Williams. Sierra has a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Design from the University of British Columbia and a Master’s in Sustainable Urbanism from University College London (UK).  In addition to her movement work she also recently served as a consultant and curator for Vancouver Mural Festival.

  [Kwakwaka’wakw, Tlingit, Haida]

• 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 North Sound

  The North Sound

  [Blackfoot]

  The North Sound was formed in 2014 by lead singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Forrest Eaglespeaker, along with his partner Nevada Freistadt who composes and provides vocal harmonies.Keeping true to the traditions of Forrest’s heritage, The North Sound was created to share stories of Forrest’s Blackfoot identity and traditions from Treaty 7 Territory. With a no holds barred approach to songwriting, Forrest’s lyrics span across haunting metaphors from everyday experiences to personal realities.The band’s lyrics and music are a balance that incorporate today’s modern production techniques and writing sensibilities inspired by great storytellers like Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. The North Sound is signed to the independent Indigenous record label New Sun Music (Nashville, TN, USA), created by JUNO award winner Crystal Shawanda and her partner Dewayne Strobel.

  [Blackfoot]

• 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]

• Willie Thrasher & Linda Saddleback

  Willie Thrasher & Linda Saddleback

  [Inuvialuit]

  Willie Thrasher is a gifted Inuk singer and songwriter living in Nanaimo, BC with his partner Linda Saddleback. Three of Thrasher’s songs appeared on the 2014 Grammy-nominated compilation, Native North America (Vol. 1), renewing interest in his and other Indigenous artists’ work. Thrasher’s powerful 1981 debut album, Spirit Child, which the 3 songs came from, was then reissued in 2015.

  Thrasher was born in Aklavik, Northwest Territories, in 1948 and at five years of age, Thrasher was taken from his family and sent to a residential school where he was forbidden to practice his Inuvialuit culture. Music was a way for Thrasher to escape the pain and longing. He has recorded both as a solo artist, and as a member of several bands, including The Cordells, and Red Cedar, with Morley Loon.

  Thrasher has advocated for Inuit and First Nations issues for much of his career. Today, Thrasher performs at home and around the world with his partner Linda Saddleback due to the global attention garnered by Native North America (Vol. 1). Wherever he may be, Willie Thrasher is a trailblazing troubadour with an Indigenous heartbeat sound.

  [Inuvialuit]