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Stoney Park takes world championship

Author

Michelle Huley, Windspeaker Staff Writer, Morley Alberta

Volume

12

Issue

18

Year

1994

Page 10

An Alberta singing group has won a world singing competition for the second consecutive years.

The Stoney Park Singers of the Nakoda tribe near Morley, Alta. won the 1994 World Singing Championship at the Schemitzun Powwow in Hartford, Connecticut. They took home the same award in 1993.

Coleman Beaver, lead singer of the group, said they felt "pretty good" about winning the championship.

"We didn't expect it," he said. "We've been playing for 18 years. It started for fun. We had a powwow down here and the boys wanted to try singing, so Dad taught us how to sing."

The boys, or the group, consists of five brothers, a couple of friends and nephews, said Beaver.

"We're a family group. That's how we stay together."

The singers have recently released their fourth CD, and are currently working on yet another release.

"Most of our songs are based on the Native language," he said. "Aude's Journey is a song dedicated to our Dad. It's a powwow song, but it talks about his life, the things he did."

Beaver's father Paul passed away Jan. 11, 1994. Their mother, Carolyn Beaver, continues to travel the powwow circuit with the group.

Another reason the singers continue to sing is to hopefully influence Aboriginal youth. "We sang in a couple of schools. We always told the kids: 'Stay away from drugs and liquor. If you stay away, you'll succeed at whatever point you're trying to get to.'

"Some of them are losing their heritage, losing the way of the spirit. When we started there were hardly any young drum groups. Now, we look around, and there's a whole bunch. We're feeling the people coming back.

"And we make our own drums," Beaver said. "They have a spirit, the spirit to make people get up and dance."