UNSTRUNG Benefit Concert for Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders

UNSTRUNG

Improvisation with inter-cultural strings

Benefit Concert for Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders

A co-presentation of Sound of Dragon and the NOW Society

Tickets $20 / $10 / Free All ticket sales will be donated the Gidimt’en Checkpoint and the Unist’ot’en Camp.

Covid protocols in place, Tickets, Vaccination passports and masks required for entry.

Join us as we improvise, bringing together our varied traditions, some of us performing together for the first time! Guests Dallas Arcand, Marjorie Dumont and Gunargie, aka Ga'axstasalas, join with musicians in solidarity.

Guests

Dallas Arcand, Cree Musician and Hoop Dancer, Marjorie Dumont, Wet'suwet'en Tsayu Clan, Presenter , and Gunargie aka Ga'axstasalas, member of the Tlowitsis tribe, M.C.

Musicians

Surtrisno Hartana rebab, suling (Indonesian fiddle and flute), voice

Sina Ettehad kamanche (Iranian fiddle)

Lan Tung erhu (Chinese fiddle), voice

Meredith Bates, Joshua Zubot violin

Lucy Strauss, Reginald Quiring viola

James Meger acoustic bass

Lisa Cay Miller conduction

Dallas Arcand, Cree Musician and Hoop Dancer

Dallas Arcand is a multi-talented artist who won the world spotlight with his astonishing Hoop Dancing at the 2010 Olympic Games opening ceremonies. Dallas is a three-time World Champion Hoop Dancer from the Alexander (Kipohtakaw) Plains Cree Nation near Edmonton, Alberta. He is best known as a champion Hoop Dancer as well as a motivational speaker, storyteller, and musician.

Dallas, whose Aboriginal name is ‘Dancing Buffalo Man’ (Nimihto Paskwa Mostôs Napew), for many years had no idea that dancing would become a major influence in his life.

Dallas has been a World Class Hoop and Indigenous Dancer for over two decades. His dancing ranges from traditional to contemporary indigenous styles including; Fancy, Grass, Jigging, Break, and Hoop Dancing.

Marjorie Dumont Wet’suwet’en, Tsayu Clan

The protocol of introducing oneself to others is vital to my Indigenous roots, and so, I share this with you. Dini ze, ts’ake ze, skiy ze, Hadih, So’endzin. Geen Tabi honzoo. C’tan sozi. Sne Wila’at endzin. Sbeb tsitni’in Wah tah ghet endzin. N’iwh Dini ze’ cho Na’Moks endzin

I have taught in elementary, secondary and post-secondary institutions. I am Currently a vice-president of the local teachers’ union, Vancouver Elementary School Teachers’ Association (VESTA). I also taught in the Surrey School District from 1997-2017. I was the Assistant Director for Aboriginal Education in the Professional and Social Issues Division at the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) for a four-year term.

Beyond my teaching profession, I have been a member of the provincial Aboriginal Education Advisory Committee and of the Surrey Teachers’ Association’s Aboriginal Education Committee. I was also president and vice-president of the Provincial Specialist Association (PSA) Aboriginal Education Association. Lastly, I have developed and trained BCTF Professional and Social Issues workshops.

In everything I do, I find ways to incorporate the ways of the Indigenous people of what is now called BC, in particular the history and culture of Wet’suwet’en people. As a Wet’suwet’en woman, I bring my deep, lived knowledge and experience to inform my perspective in the work I do. My contributions reflect the commitment of BC teachers to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. My ultimate goal is to ensure Wet’sutwet’en people and the yintah (land and everything on it) are not silenced or wiped away from history.

Gunargie aka Ga'axstasalas

Gunargie aka Ga'axstasalas has been dedicated to community and campus radio since 1989 and attributes her knowledge to her guests and her community. The Resonating Reconciliation project was originally her idea and she helped develop the proposal. She will be working from Vancouver four days a week and email is the best way to reach her at cheryledwilliams AT gmail DOT com.

Gunargie is the founder of the shows “Late night with Savages” on CFRO-FM Vancouver Co-op Radio and “Nation to Nation” on CJSF-FM and currently produces “When Spirit Whispers” and “Sne’wayulh” at CFRO-FM.

She also founded the Red Jam Slam Society, which exists to initiate celebrations, events and festivals that feature Aboriginal artists and performers and encourage grassroots and inclusive strategies to honour all Aboriginal voices. The Red Jam Slam Society is also a partner organization in the Resonating Reconciliation project. Gunargie was also the Aboriginal Representative on the NCRA Board of Directors and head of the NCRA’s Native Caucus.

Gunargie was on the Board of CFRO-FM and currently sits on the Boards of WMovers and Women’s Wellness and Cultural Centre for Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. She is a member of the Tlowitsis tribe. Gunargie is both a direct and inter-generational survivor of Indian Residential Schools, and was fostered and then adopted by the age of seven. Her inspiration to carry out this important work has changed the landscape of Aboriginal radio.

The NOW Society gratefully acknowledges that we make music on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh and səlil̓wətaʔɬ Nations.