Metis celebrate with music and dance

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The youngest dancers from the Edmonton Metis Cultural Dance Society stole the hearts of the audience at the Fiddle and Bow Metis Music and Dance celebration on the last weekend of April.

The Metis dancers passionately performed all the standards, from the broom dance to the Red River jig.

Senator Thelma Chalifoux hosted the evening with Ken Schaffer, who is a founder and producer of Metcom Productions.

Metcom is the first Metis television series that explores Metis people and issues. It has aired nationally on the Aboriginal Peoples' Television Network and on the Saskatchewan Communications Network since 1997.

The April 27 performance was taped.

"What we're doing tonight is going to be put into the one-hour special for Aboriginal Day that's coming up in June," Schaffer said. He also announced a planned application for the licence for the Metis Nation Television Network. He added that the licence for the 'Michif channel' could be obtained within three months.

Chalifoux introduced the singers.

"Laura Vinson has never denied her Metis heritage. Laura comes from a little town called Brule near Hinton, right in the mountains. Her father was a trapper, and she lived the very traditional lifestyle of the Metis."

Vinson has recorded seven albums in all, was nominated for Juno and CCMA awards, and appeared at EXPO '86.

Jess Lee, the founding member and lead singer of the Midnight Rodeo Band, also sang. Lee's recording Sacred Ground was nominated for a Juno Award in 1996. He has received the CARAS West Coast Male Vocalist award, and also B.C. Country Music's vocalist of the year, album of the year, songwriter of the year and duo of the year.

Jennifer Wanyandi, who is new to the music scene, got a warm response from the audience with her song Hidden Treasures.

The Rory Collins Band, who will be changing its name to Seven Oaks, also performed and featured fiddle player Gary Pruden.

The evening also featured a variety of fiddlers, who took the opportunity to release a new CD called Drops of Brandy, published by the Gabriel Dumont Institute of Native Studies and Applied Research.

"Our fiddle players sitting before you are some of the best representatives of our culture," said Leah Dorion, publishing co-ordinator of the institute.

Fiddlers Richard Lafferty from the Northwest Territories, Gilbert Anderson from Edmonton, Homer Poitras from Elk Point, Alta., Garry Lepine and Mel Bedard from Manitoba, and John Arcand from Debden, Sask. each played his own version of Drops of Brandy. Then together with pianist Trent Bruner from Canwood, Sask. John's wife Vicki Arcand on guitar, and Homer's brother Rolly Poitras also on guitar, played a powerful finale where the pianist stood up and yelled out a new music piece, and all switched to the announced pieces and kept playing without interruption.

"We have been in the recording sessions for a long time, and tonight it's the first time publicly we are releasing our fiddle CD called Drops of Brandy," said Dorion. She said the name of the album Drops of Brandy seemed very natural because it is a classic theme.

The project began as John Arcands' idea.

"He is adamant about the preservation of the Metis culture and felt that the 11 fiddlers represented on the CD were the Metis masters in their areas and that their traditional material should be preserved for the future. He took the idea to the Gabriel Dumont Institute, and acted as the co-ordinator in the fiddling portion," said his wife Vicki. "The entire project took over a year from start to finish."

The CDs and the book (music notes) are available for purchase through the Gabriel Dumont Institute in Saskatoon. The collection of two volumes (with two CDs in each) sells for $39.90 ($19.95 per volume). The book sells for $25.