WE ARE STILL HERE: 'Q'emcin Edition

Indigenous Artists for this Event!

• 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]

• Gerald Charlie

  Gerald Charlie

  [Stó:lō]

  Gerald Charlie performs festivals throughout BC and in The USA. His original blues continue to bring happiness to people . Gerald has two award winning CDs to his name and all songs written by himself. He has a style of his own with vocals and guitar. Here are a few words shared by the legend:

  Charlie Musselwhite: My friend Gerald Charlie plays his unique blues straight from the heart and he has a big heart. He puts genuine feeling in his playing and his singing and songwriting. Don’t miss Gerald Charlies BLUES.

  Gerald has shared the stage with many great musicians and has performed with many. His highlights were sharing the stage with Tom Lavin and the Legendary Powder Blues and, especially, opening for the great bluesman Bo Diddley. The blues is in Gerald’s blood and he just loves to play them and sing them. He will guarantee nothing but a good for all to remember.

  [Stó:lō]

• Gordon Dick

  Gordon Dick

  [Statimc]

  Born in Mount Currie, BC, Gordon Dick was surrounded by a family that loved music. With that influence of his early years, he started a rock band called “Siwash Rock”. His song of the same name appeared on the Grammy-nominated compilation Native North America (Vol. 1). in 2014.

  The band quickly became a sensation locally in the 1970s as they performed at weekend parties and weddings. In 2017 he performed at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival.

  [Statimc]

• Herman Dan

  Herman Dan

  [Statimc]

  [Statimc]

• JB The First Lady

  JB The First Lady

  [Nuxalk/Onondaga]

  Jerilynn Webster, aka JB the First Lady, is a member of the Nuxalk & Onondaga Nations. She is a Vancouver-based hip hop and spoken word artist, beat-boxer, cultural dancer and youth educator.

  With four studio albums under her belt, JB sees her songs as a way of capturing oral history, and isn’t afraid to write lyrics that speak to challenging subjects like residential schools and missing and murdered indigenous women.

  [Nuxalk/Onondaga]

• Keliya

  Keliya

  [Sto:lo]

  Keliyah (Theresa) has a BFA in Film Production from UBC. She’s worked in the arts as an activist and hip hop artist for over ten years. She recently turned her attention to film making and hopes to bridge gaps in knowledge and understanding to tell stories that are both modern and traditional. The traditional oral history of the St—:l_ and Coast Salish people has yet to be documented and Theresa wants to be a part of that important work. Theresa wants to makes films that are impactful, not only her people, but for everyone.

  [Sto:lo]

• Kevin Loring

  Kevin Loring

  [Nlaka’pamux]

  Kevin Loring – Artistic Director, Savage Society
  Kevin Loring is an accomplished Canadian playwright, actor and director and was the winner of the Governor General’s Award for English Language Drama for his outstanding play, Where the Blood Mixes in 2009. The play explores the intergenerational effects of the residential school system. It toured nationally and was presented at the National Arts Centre in 2010, when Loring was serving as the NAC’s Playwright in Residence.
  A Nlaka’pamux from the Lytton First Nation in British Columbia, Loring created the Songs of the Land project in 2012 in partnership with five separate organizations in his home community. The project explores 100-year-old audio recordings of songs and stories of the N’lakap’amux People. Loring has written four new plays based on his work with the community including Battle of the Birds, about domestic violence and power abuse, The Boy Who Was Abandoned, about youth and elder neglect, The Council of Spider, Ant & Fly that tackles themes of death and Words of our Chief, based on the 1910 Memorial from the Interior Chiefs to Sir Wilfred Laurier.
  A versatile artist and leader Loring has served as the co-curator of the Talking Stick Festival, as Artist in Residence at the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre, as Artistic Director of the Savage Society in Vancouver, as a Documentary Producer of Canyon War: The Untold Story, and as the Project Leader/Creator, and Director of the Songs of the Land project in his home community of Lytton First Nation Kevin is also the Artistic Director for Indigenous Theatre at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

  Currently Kevin has been commissioned by Savage Society to write a new large scale work entitled Knaksht: The Helping Hand.

  [Nlaka’pamux]

• 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]

• Ritchie & The Fendermen

  Ritchie & The Fendermen

  [Nlaka’pamux]

  [Nlaka’pamux]

• 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]