Junos to recognize Aboriginal Music

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Aboriginal music has at last gained a niche in the Juno Awards, which are governed by the Canadian Association of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Five songs have been nominated for the Best Music of Aboriginal Canada category. Two are by J. Hubert Francis & Eagle Feather of Sunshine Records; one is by the Stoney park Singers on the Sweet Grass label; Sazacha Red Sky on Amxeyra and Lawrence Martin on Wawatay/EMI are the other two.

Sweet Grass Records owner Ted Whitecalf says the nomination of his group, the Stoney Park Singers, comes after more than 10 years of recording powwow bands. Last year he and Lyndon Smith of Right Tracks Recordings formed a partnership to record different powwow groups and provide them with a professional studio quality sound.

Recording nine singers and a single large drum is a major technical challenge, says Smith, especially at powwows.

"At a powwow, with 300 to 500 dancers, there is an intense excitement. Acoustically, it's very demanding and difficult to record but we've developed special miking techniques to get a good sound."

About 90 per cent of Sweet Grass' tapes are sold to American dance groups.

"American Indians like the music of the Canadian plains. It's probably one of the best. Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta have the best powwow bands," Whitecalf says.

Whitecalf's love of traditional music began in childhood, when his parents would leave the Sweet Grass Reserve in Saskatchewan to attend powwows during the summer.

He worked for the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre in the audio-visual department for 20 years, where he was involved in many cultural productions, including the production of recorded Aboriginal music.

He started Sweet Grass Records as a hobby to preserve traditional Aboriginal music. Now, he distributes across North America and to Europe and Asia.

The Stoney Park Singers, from Morley in southern Alberta, was one of the first groups to record on the Sweet Grass label. The group has been host drum at powwows across North America, winning the world championship at Hartford, Connecticut.

Next year, both Whitecalf and Smith hope the Aboriginal music category of the Junos will be divided between traditional and contemporary artists. It's difficult to compare the sounds of pop-oriented Kashtin to the sounds of Stoney Park, Smith said.

The Juno winners will be announced at televised ceremonies in Toronto on

March 20.