Showcase

Performance Showcase – Saturday, June 15 7pm @ D.F. Cook Recital Hall

Eastern Owl
Eastern Owl is known locally and nationally as a unique group of women who blend the styles of First Nations Drum Music and Contemporary Folk to create their own innovative sound. A powerful ensemble of eight vocalists, they have been captivating audiences at festivals and concerts across Canada. With deep roots in community, Eastern Owl has committed to deepening their connection with their traditional practices while helping to educate indigenous and non- indigenous audiences alike. They are recipients of the 2016 ArtsNL CBC Emerging Artist award, and have taken the national stage during Canadian Music Week (ON), Coastal First Nations Dance Festival (BC), and Petapan (NB), as well as local festivals such as Identify, Out of Earshot, Spirit Song, and Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival. The group is currently celebrating the release of their sophomore album, Qama’si, and are one of the most in-demand groups in Newfoundland and Labrador today.

Darian Brown and Wambli Martinez
Darian and Wambli will be performing two songs to showcase both traditional and contemporary music and dancing. Darian is a fancy shawl dancer, which is representative of a butterfly. Wambli is a grassdancer whose role is to bless the grounds prior to the commencement of a powoww. They have used these concepts to develop a performance.

Mi’kmaq Legends
This is a play based on our legends that have been passed down from generation to generation, elder to youth. Talented Prince Edward Island youth will be delivering an amazing performance rich with acting, singing, storytelling and dancing portraying all these wonderful old stories from the past! Some of these stories include legends about: Little Scarface, Visit with Glooscap, the Half People, Muin the Bear, Wind Eagle and a many many others that will teach and entertain! Over the last few years with the help of our elders, this group has learned new traditional dances and songs that we have incorporated into our legends so that we can bring in more of the beautiful Mi’kmaq language and movements from long ago. We have brought to life a old chant from 1610 with a sad but beautiful creation of what the words in the chant bring to us.  Actors for 2019 Jessica Francis ~ Julie Pellissier-Lush ~ Keegan Bernard ~ Sean Lush Caleb Acron. Directors – Richard and Julie Pellissier-Lush.

Silver Wolf Band
Silver Wolf Band is an indigenous folk-rock trio from Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. They have a refreshingly simple yet sophisticated sound that has been described as jovial and nostalgic. Their songs are self-assured and unabashedly Labradorian in content.
The band is comprised of Matthew Barrett on piano and keyboards, Jamie Jackman on acoustic guitar and vocals, and Justin Jackman on the drums.

Barrett and the Jackman brothers have been playing music together for the better part of a decade now, with two albums recorded to date. The band’s 2010’s EP “Jam the Blues” received a Music PEI nomination for Pop Recording of the Year, and their latest, full-length release, “Pockets Filled with Rocks,” garnered them a Molson/Coors Rock Artist of the Year nomination from Music NL. The album was released on June 16th, 2018, in their hometown to a sold out audience at the Lawrence O’Brien Arts Centre.

Other recent highlights for Silver Wolf Band include opening for 2-time Juno Award nominated band, The Jerry Cans; showcasing at the Northern Lights Business & Culture Conference in Ottawa; playing at the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival; and being featured on CBC Weekend AM’s “First Listen” program, and more.

Alan Syliboy & The Thundermakers
Alan Syliboy was born and raised in Truro and lives at Millbrook First Nation. He looks to the indigenous Mi’kmaq petroglyph (stone etchings) tradition for inspiration, and developed his own artistic vocabulary out of those forms.

Alan’s band, The Thundermakers,  are  Guitarist/Vocals Hubert Francis star of Brookes Diamond production, “Drum” from Elsipogtog First Nation, Lead guitarist Evan Syliboy formerly with Alan’s band Lonecloud, and bassist, composer, sound designer, video/sound editor,  Lukas Pearse of Halifax, plus group leader, percussionist/spoken word artist Alan Syliboy. The show consists of songs, spoken word and stories accompanied by multi-media art film and live performance.