Ed Peekeekoot
Front Porch
© 2005 Earth-Son Creations (776098179125)
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A laid back acoustic guitar album with tunes Ed plays on his front porch.Peekeekoot plays at the Victoria Gallery show by IceBear July 19; the Islands Folk Festival, July 26-27, the North American Indigenous Games Aug 3-10, Duncan, BC Canada
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Vancouver Island, BC. Vote for BC artist Ed Peekeekoot’s in the key of cree CD in the first run-off of the 2008 Aboriginal People’s Choice Music Awards, to be held in Winnipeg this November in conjunction with the Manito ahbee Festival. Ed is from the Ahtahkakoop Cree First Nation in Saskatchewan. He now lives in British Columbia.
Peekeekoot’s CD is being considered for Best Country CD, Aboriginal Entertainer of the Year, Best Songwriter, Best Album Cover Design. Three tracks are being featured.
"Wild Lilies to Wheat Fields" tells about the time of transition for his people with the move onto reservations and learning a new way of providing for their families—farming. This changed their relationship with the land.
"Jiggin’" is an instrumental piece. “I come from a family of fiddlers” Ed says. “My grandmother was a little Metis woman who would do a jig around the kitchen while my uncles played. Prairie dances were a highlight of the summer.”
"Dance of the Northern Lights" is also an instrumental. Cree legends say that the northern lights are the Spirits of the Ancestors. If you whistle, they will circle around you. Try it, but be prepared. Like the northern lights, the music comes and goes and isn’t over til it’s over.
The first round of voting begins July 8-August 15, 2008. Registration is free to anyone wishing to cast a ballot at http://www.aboriginalpeopleschoice.com/signup
Some of Peekeekoot’s live performances in BC this summer include the Islands Folk Festival, the Abbotsford Agrifair, the North American Indigenous Games in Duncan and the Armstrong Interior Provincial Exhibition and Rodeo.
He is guest artist and performer at the July 19 opening reception of IceBear’s Gallery showing “Man, Myth and Magic” at the CACGV Gallery in Victoria whose newest painting, titled “Peekeekoot”, is inspired by both the man and the Ahtahkakoop culture. Some of Ed’s cottonwood bark carvings will also be on display.
http://www.peekeekoot.ca; http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/peekeekoot2
http://icebearstudios.com
music manager and bookings for Ed Peekeekoot:
annie palovcik, TK Media anniep@saltspring.com 250 537 9571
Recent Radio Airplay
Thanks to CBC's "On the Island", Victoria for playing Ed's "Dance of the Northern Lights" w/e May 3, 2008;
And to CHLY, Nanaimo where the "in the key of cree" CD charted #1 in the Top 30 w/e June 8 and #5 two week running
CVUE Victoria had "in the key of cree" as #10 on its Folk/Roots/Blues list in June
CJTR's Regina's Mighty Shores for playing "Jiggin'" June 12
CBC's Saskatoon Weekend played "From Wild Lilies to Wheat Fields" June 20
CBC's "All Points West, Victoria, played "Hastings and Main" June 20
CBC's North by Northwest, Vancouver, played "Dance of the Northern Lights" throughout the province June 21
Short Biography: Known as an accomplished instrumentalist and popular entertainer, Ed offers hope and strength with original music from his First Nations perspective.
Biography: Growing up in a musical and supportive family helped Ed become a highly skilled finger-style guitarist with a great ability to entertain audiences. A singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Ed also plays fiddle, banjo, and traditional Native flute and drums. Ed has been nominated twice for BC Country Music Association’s instrumentalist of the year. Ed plays for dances, concerts, festivals, conferences and retreat gatherings throughout North America (see attached partial listing). Many people who have seen him as a musician don’t know Ed is an artist with carvings, paintings, and illustrations in collections around the world. He is also a workshop speaker and facilitator who talks about the “Circle of Courage” and the importance in his life of art and music. Ed also shares his art, music, and Cree culture in schools and with children’s groups. Website: http://www.peekeekoot.ca
Reviews:
• “The music of Ed Peekeekoot goes from foot-stomping fiddle to virtuoso classical guitar, sprinkled throughout with his Cree humour and philosophy”.
• His songs “touch our souls with their blend of traditional folk and aboriginal chants”. His voice is “rich, deep and flows over you like a soft blanket”.
• “You definitely captured and expressed the sounds of nature such as the wild animals and the howling wind through your musical interpretations. I find it difficult to illustrate the relationship of music to nature. I have studied music in Europe and Japan, but never have I experienced such music as your performance.” Ilsa Greenwold, Instructor, Julliard School of Music
Discography:
• in the key of cree nominated for the 2008 Aboriginal People’s Choice Music Awards Winnipeg Genre: World/Aboriginal.
Link: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/peekeekoot2
• Front Porch (2005) Genre: Instrumental/ Folk/Acoustic.
Link: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/peekeekoot1
• Two Worlds (1988) BCCMA’s EP of the Year 1988
• Also appeared on Mộcikan – Songs for Learning Cree (2007) by Art Napolean.
Film and Radio:
• in the key of Cree was #1 in the Top 30 at CHLY Nanaimo, June ’08, and continuing at #5; it was #10 on the Folk/Roots/Blues list at CFUV, Victoria.
• Full Moon Song and Kokum’s Lullabye used in Harold Joe’s film Broken Down
• Ed’s guitar instrumental Land of the Raven was the theme music for the film series, North American Indian Portraits. He was featured in that series in a film called Gentleman Cowboy of Honkytonk.
• The APTN (TV) series Beyond Words profiled Ed as artist & musician in 2006.
• Airplay on CBC and on campus & community radio in Canada and the U.S.
• The National Campus and Community Radio Association chose Wild Lilies to Wheat Fields from in the key of cree for a track on their “Dig Your Roots – Aboriginal” compilation CD, in 2006. Five national concerts followed, each broadcast live nationally on campus and community radio stations.
• Kamloops Cowboy Festival, 2008, with Alan Moberg, on YouTube.com.
Ed Peekeekoot in the key of cree**
a wildly varied musical journey through one Cree man’s worldview expressed in Native flute, guitar instrumentals, songs and spoken word, in styles ranging from country to folk to jazz.
ED PEEKEEKOOT, Ahtahkakoop Cree First Nation Living on Vancouver Island, BC
To perform at Main Stage of North American Indigenous Games, COWICHAN 2008
A singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Ed also plays fiddle, banjo, and traditional Native flute and drums. Ed has been nominated twice for BC Country Music
Association’s instrumentalist of the year. Ed plays for dances, concerts, festivals, conferences and retreat gatherings throughout North America. http://www.peekeekoot.ca
• “The music of Ed Peekeekoot goes from foot-stomping fiddle to virtuoso classical guitar, sprinkled throughout with his Cree humour and philosophy”.
• “You definitely captured and expressed the sounds of nature such as the wild animals and the howling wind through your musical interpretations. I find it difficult to illustrate the relationship of music to nature. I have studied music in Europe and Japan, but never have I experienced such music as your performance.” Ilsa Greenwold, Instructor, Julliard School of Music
Discography:
• in the key of cree** nominated for the 2008 Aboriginal People’s Choice Music Awards Winnipeg. Genre: World/Aboriginal. **on iTunes
Link: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/peekeekoot2
• Front Porch (2005) Genre: Instrumental/ Folk/Acoustic.
Link: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/peekeekoot1
• Two Worlds (1988) BCCMA’s EP of the Year 1988
• Also appeared on Mộcikan – Songs for Learning Cree (2007) by Art Napolean.
Film and Radio:
• in the key of Cree was #1 in the Top 30 at CHLY Nanaimo, June ’08, and continuing at #5; it was #10 on the Folk/Roots/Blues list at CFUV, Victoria.
• Full Moon Song and Kokum’s Lullabye used in Harold Joe’s film Broken Down.
• Ed’s guitar instrumental Land of the Raven was the theme music for the film series, North American Indian Portraits. He was featured in that series in a film called Gentleman Cowboy of Honkytonk.
• The APTN (TV) series Beyond Words profiled Ed as artist & musician in 2006.
• Airplay on CBC and on campus & community radio in Canada and the U.S.
• The National Campus and Community Radio Association chose Wild Lilies to Wheat Fields from in the key of cree for a track on their “Dig Your Roots – Aboriginal” compilation CD, in 2006. Five national concerts followed, each broadcast live nationally on campus and community radio stations.
• Kamloops Cowboy Festival, 2008, with Alan Moberg, on YouTube.com.
Music Manager and Bookings: Annie Palovcik
TK Media Salt Spring Island
250-537-9571anniep@saltspring.com
Performances at Festivals, Concerts, Conferences throughout North America
Performances of 2007/ 2008 include:
• North American Indigenous Games, BC
• Atlin Art & Music Festival, BC
• John Arcand Fiddle Festival, SK
• Saskatoon Fringe Festival, SK
• Salt Spring Island Folk Club, BC
• Native History Month at the Native American Art Gallery, Dallas TX (with support from Canadian Foreign Affairs)
• 100 Mile House Cowboy Concert, BC
• Kamloops Cowboy Festival, BC
• Concerts Under the Stars, Salt Spring Island, BC
• Elders Conference Gathering, Quadra Island, BC
• Islands Folk Festival, Duncan. BC
• Surrey Children’s Festival, BC
• Victoria Art Gallery, BC
• Walking in Balance Conference, Fort St. John, BC
• Envision Twilight Concert Series, Mission, BC
• Mayne Island Folk Club, BC
• Dakota Dunes Casino, Saskatoon SK
• Abbotsford Agrifair, BC
• Armstrong Interior Provincial Exhibition, Stampede &
• Rodeo
Corporate Events
ABORIGINAL PEOPLE’S CHOICE MUSIC AWARDS
November 7, 2008, Winnipeg, Manitoba
ED PEEKEEKOOT’s in the key of cree CD nominated for the first round of voting July 8-August 15 in various categories. Anyone can register for free to vote at: http://www.aboriginalpeopleschoice.com/signup
Music Manager and Bookings: Annie Palovcik
TK Media Salt Spring Island
250-537-9571
anniep@saltspring.com
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
ED PEEKEEKOOT, Ahtahkakoop Cree First Nation
British Columbia Singer-songwriter/ Instrumentalist / Artist
I relate in many ways to the man I describe in one of my songs (Wild Lilies to Wheat Fields – © 2006) as being “a farmer, provider, a warrior and survivor, a daydream catcher, a seeker of visions and truth. He’s a hunter, sundancer, and he’s a rain cloud watcher. . .” I’m a musician and an artist but the farmer in my song and I are both blending our cultural ways with the mainstream world, holding our truth, and working to provide for our families when it seems like a long time between those vital “rain clouds” that nurture growth in the things we’ve been steadily and quietly looking after.
Music, art, and a supportive and loving family have helped me travel on a good path throughout my life. I can’t call myself self-taught but my education in art and music has been both intentional and informal, learning on my own as well as going to workshops and classes and spending time with friends who are artists and musicians. I give deep thanks for the creative and generous people in my life who have shared their gifts with me.
I would have had to work hard not to become a musician in my family, where my mother was my first guitar teacher when I was about four. Art was the one thing I excelled at and got positive recognition for in school. Life was not always easy but art and music fed my soul and do so to this day.
I was sixteen when my grandfather decided to move us away from life on the reserve and we came out to BC. He wanted us to have opportunities he didn’t see in Saskatchewan. I have lived in BC most of my life, both in the Interior and now on the Coast.
For many years, I worked as a solo musician in the mainstream country music scene – mostly in BC but also across the Prairies. Even though my Cree heritage and growing up in a musical family shaped me, I avoided being labeled as a “Native musician”. I wanted to be known as a great musician who just happened to be “Native” as I paid my mainstream dues. This all changed a few years ago after a visit to my home community, Ahtahkakoop, in Saskatchewan.
On this trip, I saw signs that the people in my community were starting to practice their cultural ways once again. There were sweat lodges and the sun dance grounds had been reclaimed. This and other important experiences opened me to a deepening interest in exploring my First Nations heritage through music and, in 2006, I released “In the Key of Cree”, a CD of original pieces from my cultural perspective.
For decades before this, I had been using prairie First Nations themes in my paintings and carvings, which are now in collections around the world. With the release of that CD, I am now working with both my music and art as contemporary expressions of my life in BC blended with my Cree heritage.
With guitar, Native flute, fiddle%