Storytellers Festival 2004 March 25 - 28

A music event featuring alt rock group Weaslehead, Inuit throat singers Siqinuip Qilauta, and a solo performance by percussionist Chris Marten. Local musicians will also be part of the lineup.

Contemporary dance works by Cree theatre artist Floyd Favel and Cree dance artist Geraldine Manossa. Reception to follow.

Guest musicians from Ulan Ude, Siberia, will perform traditional Buryat music in concert. Uragsha is comprised of members Sayan Zhambalov, Erzhena Zhambalova, Victor Zhasanov and Byarto Endonov with performer Meredith Wright and Director Virlana Tkacz, both of the Yara Arts Group, New York. Reception to follow in the Agra Torchinsky Salon.

A gathering of Storytellers from across Canada featuring keynote speakers, panels and special performances. Invited speakers include: Danny Musqua, Tyrone Tootoosis, Margaret Cote, Edward Poitras, and many others.

Saturday, March 27

10:00		Opening prayer - Angelina Waskewich Welcome by daily host Tyrone Tootoosis
10:30 - 11:30		Annie Keewatin Nenawe (with Danny and Margaret Cote as translators/interpreters)
11:30 - 11:45		Traditional Saulteaux Singing with Margaret Cote and Lorena Lynn Cote
12:00 - 1:00		Lunch break
1:00 - 2:30		Panel: Women's Knowledge with Margaret Cote, Maria Campbell, and Juliette McAdam and moderator
2:30 - 2:45		Break
2:45 - 3:00		Traditional Singer
3:00 - 5:00		Danny Musqua

Sunday, March 28

10:00		Welcome by daily host - TBD
10:15 - 12:00		Louis Bird
12:00 - 1:00		Lunch break
1:00 - 2:30		Panel: Symbol Systems and Visual Representation with Edward Poitras, Tyrone Tootoosis, Wayne Goodwill and moderator Bob Boyer
2:30 - 2:45		Break
2:45 - 3:00		Traditional Singer
3:00 - 4:30		Francis and Juliette McAdam Closing Prayer - George Sangwais

Times Listed are guidelines only - the length of speaking times are subject to change due to the nature of presentations.

Biographies

SIQINIUP QILAUTA
Tracy Brown and Emily Karpik are group members of a 4-person Inuit performance group. Siniup Qilauta/The Sun's Drum. They have been performing in this group together for over 3 years. They perform Inuit drum dancing, throat singing and do demonstrations of Inuit games.

Tracy Brown
From Iqualuit, Nunavut and originally from Pangnirtung, Nunavut. Through song and dance she finds a connection with her Inuit culture. Her training as a throat singer/drum dancer began through a series of performance lessons in Ottawa. For Tracy, throat singing and drum dancing has turned into a serious artistic practice and gives her opportunities to perform for Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, Senator Landon Pearson, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nunuvat mayors and for festivals such as the renowned Great Northern Arts Festival.

Tracy Brown lives in Ottawa and works on a national Urban Diabetes awareness campaign at the Ontario Inuit Centre, Tungasuvvingat Inuit. She also does the management and marketing for Siqinuip Qilauta.

Emily Karpik
Born in Iqaluit, Nunuvat and raised in Pangnirtung, Nunuvat. Song and dance has always been part of her life growing up in the samll Inuit community of Pangnirtung. She started to learn to throat sing as a teenager and began to develop it further when she moved to Ottawa. She is a fluent speaker of Inuktitut. Her performance background includes touring Newfoundland and Labrador, performing in Mexico City and numerous performances with Siqinuip Qilauta for over 3 years.

Emily Karpik lives in Ottawa and is a full-time student. Her priority is in her school work but she manages to fit performances into her busy schedule.

Weaselhead
Weaselhead plays a brand of thought-provoking, alternative/progressive rock. The music is a blend of different styles and attitudes that appeals to the mainstream yet pushes the boundaries of form. Distress Signals on Random Frequencies is the first CD and contains tracks that begin to demonstrate the band's ability to create memorable songs and melodies, while at the same time challenging the usual conventions of form and structure.

The members of Weaselhead are:

• Wayne Restoule
  Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals. Ojibwa from the Dokis First Nation in Ontario and currently resides in Ottawa. Wayne has been with Weaselhead since its inception in 1997. His musical education includes a Bachelor of Arts in Music at Carlton University in Ottawa, and a certificate in Audio Recording from the Audio Recording Academy in Ottawa. Wayne has been involved with music in the Ottawa area for almost 15 years. Primarily focusing on composition Wayne has written music for various CD-ROMs, videos and theatre productions in a variety of styles ranging from contemporary rock to traditional native styles to classical. Wayne has also experienced touring nationally as guitar/keyboard player for the rock groups 7th Fire and No Man's Land. He also sings with choirs in the Ottawa area.
• Mathieu Courchene
  Vocals, Keyboards. Saulteaux from the Saugean First Nation in Fort Alexander, Manitoba and currently resides in Chelsea, Quebec. Mathieu has been with Weaselhead since its inception in 1997. A graduate of Carlton University, he also received a certificate in Audio Recording from the Audio Recording Academy in Ottawa. Mathieu first spread his vocal wings when lost by his parents at Macy's in New York City at the age of three. Found singing Tom Jones' "What's New, Pussycat?" to a crowd that had gathered, Mathieu has since taken every opportunity that has presented itself to sing.
• Paul Chabot
  Vocals, Guitar. Algonquin from Kitigan Zibi. Paul lives in Gatineau, Quebec. He has composed a music score for Sniff'n'Huff video for NAADAP and musical scores for various TV commercials. Paul was with the Al Hawk band and T.O.T.E.M. prior to joining Weaselhead in 1997 and has worked with various aboriginal musicians in the Ottawa/Gatineau region throughout his musical career.

His recordings include: Gee Bwadun Tibikung with Video Pool, a composition incorporating electronic, acoustic, percussion with Aboriginal poetry; Drumscapes Dreamscapes, incorporating Aboriginal drumming and singing with poetry in both English and Ojibwa, with the multiple percussion set; Armando's Armanda, as co-producer and performer on a composition with the alto-saxophonist, Armando Castagnoli and Wagonburner Express, a poem/sound composition incorporating Aboriginal drum music. Selected performance credits, from his extensive performance history include: electric/acoustic multiple percussion with guitarist Greg Lowe at the Ace Art "Hub Bub" audio performance series; composition from the "Drumscapes Dreamscapes" release featured in Billy Merasty's play, "Fireweed" at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre; real time computer animation with live electronic percussion with audio artist, Don Ritter, for the "Syncronous Blast" show, presented by Video Pool Inc.; performed with South African musicians, N'Dikho Xaba, and Nomosa Kaba at the Hot House in Chicago, Illinois; The Chris Marten Group featuring his original compositions at the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, and a performance with the percussion ensemble "Cancussion" at the West End Cultural Centre.

Ray McCallum
Ray McCallum is a registered member of Waterhen First Nation but was born and raised on Flying Dust First Nation near Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. Early in his life Ray knew that he would be an artist although he did not realize exactly what that meant, but somehow he knew that he was going to make things. So, as time went by Ray made things and people said that he was good and to this day Ray is still making things. Ray taught himself to paint, play guitar and a myriad of other "things" - consequently he finds himself very busy doing his thing, along with music as a song writer, guitar player and a traditional dancer at pow wows. When not doing either painting or music, Ray is involved with other "things" such as beadwork or traditional crafts of some sort. Ray likes to make all kinds of things with wood, clay and fabrics. Ray has been doing all kinds of things "like forever". His objective is to finish anything that he has started.

Geraldine Manossa
Geraldine is a member of Bigstone Cree Nation in Northern Alberta. She completed a Master of Arts degree from the University of Lethbridge and since has been writing about performance and showcasing her work at various venues across Canada. Presently she is an instructor at the En'owkin Centre, an educational institute dedicated to cultural arts and ecological initiatives and training.

Floyd Favel
Floyd Favel is a theatre artist and Cree Indian from Poundmaker First Nation. He studied theatre in Denmark, Italy and Japan, and has worked extensively across Canada at such venues as The Canada Dance Festival, the National Theatre School of Canada, The Citadel Theatre, The National Arts Centre, New Dance Horizons, Globe Theatre, and Fujiwara Dance Inventions. He is Director of Takwakin Intercultural Performance Laboratory.

Uragsha (which means "forward" in Buryat)

Credits:
Artistic Directors: Lynn Acoose and Robin Brass
Photo Credits: Alexander Khantaev ~~ visit the 2004 Gallery to view