5th Annual Louis Riel Celebration (A Festival of Métis Culture) [win weekend passes]
In the past few months, as you may have seen, I’ve started to give more coverage to Aboriginal/First Nations issues, and I’m very glad to give an outlet to artistic performances where the merging of cultures is celebrated. That is the case with the Fifth Annual Louis Riel Day Celebration, a Festival of Métis Culture.
Compaigni V’ni Dansi invites Vancouver to celebrate the life of Louis Riel, the Canadian folk hero, with the fifth annual Louis Riel Day Celebration, a festival of Métis Dance, Music and Culture. Taking place over two days, this year’s Festival will also feature a special Métis dinner and dance on Sunday 14 November at the WISE Hall to which everyone is invited. In addition to honouring Louis Riel, the Festival is a chance to celebrate the vitality of contemporary Métis culture both locally and across Canada. Festivities begin on November 13 at the Cultch with an exciting line up of contemporary and traditional Métis artists.
The one thing that really captured my attention was the fact that not only is this a historical celebration, it also will commemorate the 125th anniversary of the Northwest Resistance. From what I learned, 2010 has been proclaimed as the Year of the Métis Nation. The motion was passed by the Canadian Parliament on December 10, 2009.
The Northwest Resistance was fought by Métis and First Nations warriors against members of the Northwest Mounted Police. The resistance led to the hanging of the Métis leader Louis Riel as well as other Aboriginal warriors involved in the battle.
I am giving away a pair of weekend passes to the events of both days. Your passes cover the concert on the evening of the 13th and the dinner/dance on the evening of the 14th.
What Fifth Annual Louis Riel Day Celebration, a Festival of Métis Culture
When Taking place over two days: Saturday, November 13 & Sunday, November 14
Where The Cultch (1895 Venables) on November 13 and the WISE Hall (1882 Adanac Street) on November 14
How Tickets are $15.00 for each event or $25.00 for both. Special family and friends deal: buy four tickets and get one free, Tickets available for purchase in advance from www.vnidansi.ca
Who Compaigni V’ni Dansi, For more information: www.vnidansi.ca or call 604.873.6373.
For a chance to win my weekend passes to the Louis Riel Celebration weekend festival, simply drop a comment on this blog post, indicating whether you’ve ever listened to traditional First Nations music. I will confess that I have never really attended a festival like this and thus I am quite keen in taking in some of the festivities.
I will draw a random winner from all entries up to Thursday November 11th at 5:30pm. For a chance to earn a second entry, you can tweet the following:
I want to win weekend passes to the Louis Riel Festival from @hummingbird604 and @vnidansi. Learn more about it here: http://is.gd/gPi6c
Related posts:
- Come and Dance (Nov 16-19): An Aboriginal Dance Festival
- Diwali 2011: 8th annual Light your Spirit festival
- The 10th Annual Talking Stick Festival (Feb 1-13) – win festival passes!
- East Side Culture Crawl 2010
- Kickstart Disability Arts and Culture Festival 2010
I can’t claim to have listened to a lot of traditional First Nations music, /or/ Metis music – acknowledging the distinction – but thanks for publicizing this event – and offering the tickets!
Here’s a link to American Indian Radio on Satellite – http://airos.org. I’m listening to it now, and it’s not necessarily “traditional,” but it’s definitely worth a listen.
Interestingly, the 2010 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards (http://is.gd/gQ9BM) seems to include only one obviously “traditional” category: “Best Pow Wow Album Traditional.”
In short, I’m not sure that the best question is “whether you’ve ever listened to traditional First Nations music,” but perhaps “whether you’ve ever listened to /any/ First Nations music.”
I have listened to some traditional First Nation music but only what is featured on mainstream media like APTN. This will be a great opportunity to discover new artists.