Special concert presented by the Mission Folk Music Festival ( March 4 )

Tickets for Buffy Sainte-Marie are $35 in advance, $40 at the door (includes all fees and taxes).For tickets call the centre box office at 604-391-SHOW (7469) or visit in-person Monday to Friday, 9: 30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 9: 30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are also available online at www.chilliwackculturalcentre.ca.

Article originally Published at http://www.chilliwacktimes.com/

Academy Award-winning Canadian First Nations musician, composer, visual artist, educator and social activist Buffy Sainte-Marie brings her songs to the Chilliwack Cultural Centre on March 4 for a special concert presented by the Mission Folk Music Festival.

Sainte-Marie's audacious attitude to life on and off the stage has inspired people around the world for over four decades. Not one to rest on her accomplishments, she has never stopped channelling her vast musical and artistic creativity.

Sainte-Marie gracefully combines a high-energy stage presence with cerebral songs that tell powerful stories. This rare and primal blend is a welcome joy to festivals and concert halls around the world.

Since her first concert tours, Sainte-Marie has continued to grow her music in parallel with a remarkably diverse life of esteemed awards, political blacklisting, education and fun. As one of the most singular artists of our time, she has created 17 albums of her music, three of her own television specials, spent five years on Sesame Street, scored movies, raised a son, earned a PhD in fine arts, taught digital music as adjunct professor at several colleges and won both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award Oscar for the song, "Up Where We Belong."

Her songs have been recorded by a who's who list of artists from Elvis Presley to Bobby Darin, Barbara Streisand, Neil Diamond, Cher, Joe Cocker and the list goes on. She has been called one of the most successful and prominent songwriters of the last 50 years.

Her concert at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre is part of the Mission Folk Music Festival's 25th anniversary year of special events. The festival takes place July 19 to 22 at the Fraser River Heritage Park in Mission. It also produces festival related events throughout the Fraser Valley and is acknowledged as one of the finest music festivals in Western Canada. For more information visit www.missionfolkmusicfestival.ca.

Bramwell Tovey, Buffy Sainte-Marie among 10 to receive honorary UBC degrees

Bramwell Tovey, music director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie are among the 10 people who will receive honorary degrees this year from the University of B.C.

Others include former prime ministers Joe Clark and Paul Martin, forestry researcher Michael Wingfield, and Sophie Pierre, the long-time chief of St. Mary's Indian Band in Cranbrook.

In a release today, the university said the honorary degrees recognize substantial contributions to society at provincial, national or international levels. Most of the degrees will be awarded during spring convocation (May 23-30) on the Vancouver campus, but three -- to Martin, Tovey and Wingfield -- will be awarded in the fall.

UBC's Okanagan campus will award honorary degrees to retired senator Ross Fitzpatrick and filmmaker Deepa Mehta during a June 7 ceremony.

Here is UBC's list of the 10 Vancouver recipients:

Dominic Barton is the global managing director at management consultancy McKinsey & Company. He led McKinsey's Korean office from 2000-2004 and is known for his extensive writings on global commerce, development and reform, among them the 2007 book entitled China Vignettes: An Inside Look at China.

Joe Clark was elected prime minister of Canada in 1979, defeating Pierre Trudeau and ending16 continuous years of Liberal government. Clark served twice as leader of the opposition and national leader of the Progressive Conservative Party. Currently, he is a professor of practice for public-private sector partnerships at McGill University and is also president of Joe Clark and Associates, an international consulting firm.

Robert Hung Ngai Ho is a well-known philanthropist who in 2005 helped UBC to establish the Buddhism and Contemporary Society Program, the first of its kind in North America. As well, Ho has made major contributions to B.C. healthcare, supporting research on prostate cancer and ovarian cancer as well services for mental health and addiction.

Memory Elvin-Lewis and Walter Lewis credit their success as world-class ethnobotanists to their teamwork and ability to engage communities as a couple. Travelling the world, they have shed light on the medicinal properties of plants, particularly those in the Amazon rainforest.

Paul Martin served as Canadian prime minister from 2003 to 2006. His achievements include a 10-year, $41 billion dollar plan to improve health care and reduce wait times, agreements with the provinces and territories to establish a national early learning and child care program, and creating a new financial deal for Canada's municipalities. Currently, Martin co-chairs a two hundred million dollar British-Norwegian poverty alleviation and sustainable development fund for the 10-nation Congo Basin Rainforest.

Sophie Pierre has won accolades for her bold and inspired leadership as the elected chief of St. Mary's Indian Band in Cranbrook, B.C., a position she has held for 30 years. Pierre turned a former residential school into the St. Eugene Mission Resort, providing inspiration and economic success.

Buffy Sainte-Marie is an iconic singer-songwriter whose contributions include ballads such as "Until It's Time for You to Go" and war protest songs such as "The Universal Soldier." She is also renowned for her innovative work as a visual artist and art educator, as well as her passionate advocacy for indigenous peoples.

Bramwell Tovey has been the respected and much-appreciated music director of the Vancouver Symphony since 2000. He is often invited as guest conductor with leading orchestras around the world including the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. A Grammy-awarded composer, Tovey is also a recorded jazz pianist and award-winning music director.

Michael Wingfield's pioneering research uncovered some of the most important pathogens of trees grown commercially in South Africa and elsewhere in the world. His work has helped to reduce losses to industry, communities and environmental organizations.

Article Via The Vancouver Sun Read more

Songs of the Prairie Poet : Greatest songwriters of all time

From Joni Mitchell and Ian Tyson to Neil Young and Buffy Sainte-Marie, the Prairies have birthed some of the greatest songwriters of all time. The National Music Centre Project is bringing together a group of musicians including Cam Penner, The Travelling Mabels, SAVK, Tim Hus, Jowi Taylor and Voyageur for Songs of the Prairie Poet, a night celebrating these songwriters' gems about cowboys, rivers and the harvest.

A cowboy poet in his own right, the Calgary-based Hus kindly submitted a list of his own Prairie favourites. Featuring both classics and little-knowns (and one of his own for good measure), Hus's list serves as a great primer for the evening. Check out SwerveCalgary.com for links to the music. -

THE LIST

1. "M.C. Horses" by Ian Tyson.

2. "Indian Cowboy" by Buffy Sainte-Marie.

3. "Roll on Saskatchewan" by Stompin' Tom Connors.

4. "Harvest Moon" by Neil Young.

5. "Short Native Grasses (Prairies of Alberta)" by Corb Lund.

6. "Ten Years Old and Barefoot" by Gary Fjellgaard.

7. "Hotel &Saloon" by Tim Hus.

8. "It's a Cowboy I am" by Ed Brown.

9. "River" by Joni Mitchell.

THE GIST

1. "Ian has written so many classic songs and really stands as the king of the cowboy singers. This is one of his quintessential songs about the changing West."

2. "Buffy is legendary for her very strong message songs such as 'Universal Soldier' and 'Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,' but for me 'Indian Cowboy' is adefinite Prairie gem."

3. "This song by beloved Canadian icon Stompin' Tom is written in a straightforward traditional country style and celebrates the watershed of the Saskatchewan River, which runs through the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba on its way to the shores of Hudson Bay."

4. "For a travelling band, touring the Prairies in the fall can be areal challenge. When the harvest is in full swing and the weather is good, those farmers don't stop for anything and you might end up performing in empty concert halls. This great song captures the nostalgia of the thrill of a successful harvest and the Prairie institution of the harvest dance."

5. "This song was recorded on Corb's quintessential Five Dollar Bill album and is about as Prairie western a song as you will find anywhere. Anybody who grew up in the wild rose province will surely understand this song."

6. "This song contains as much Prairie imagery as it is possible to fit into one song. My favourite line is 'I swear that a thousand gophers stared down the barrel of my 22.'"

7. "My travellin' cowboy band has been on the road for close to 10 years, and I sometimes think we might have played every small-town saloon across the Prairies. This song contains a little bit of every place where we have shared our music on 'The-Great-Plains-Never-Ending-Highways Tour.'"

8. "Ed Brown is an ex-bronc rider, musician, cowboy poet, champion bird carver, and founding member of the Manitoba Cowboy Hall of Fame and one of my good friends. This waltz is about staying true to your roots and is one of my favourites by this lesser-known songwriter."

9. "A perfect wintertime song from this legendary Prairie songstress. This song would make anybody miss the Prairies-even if you have never been there."

Songs of the Prairie Poet: Friday, Feb. 17. At the Cantos Music Foundation, 134 11th Ave. S.E. 8p.m. $12 -$15. cantos.ca.
Article Via The Calgary Herald

The Pathfinder: Buried Treasures- Review

By Kerry Doole

This reissue from Canadian legend Sainte-Marie is fascinating, musically and culturally. It's a collection of material from three mid-'70s albums, songs that never got exposed in Canada properly due to an unofficial blacklisting of the outspoken activist. The always genre-bending songstress is as eclectic as ever, cheerfully mixing country, folk, pop and rock elements. Some tunes do sound dated (the still-fun rocker "Sweet Little Vera" has an early Elton John feel), but the strengths of her writing and that gorgeously expressive voice shine through. Big pop ballads like "Nobody Will Ever Know It's Real But You" and "I Can't Take It No More" would surely have been hits if they'd scored radio play, while the most familiar track is the debut version of "Starwalker," a tune dubbed the first "powwow rock" song. Some numbers are a bit overproduced, with the simple, charming folk blues of "I Don't Need No City Life" showing that less can be more. Sainte-Marie's social conscience is at the forefront of "Look At The Facts," "Generation" and "America My Home," with many of these sentiments remaining relevant today. The musicianship is top-notch, featuring the best American players of the day (David Briggs, Larry Carlton, Charlie McCoy, etc.). This is a worthy addition to the catalogue of a genuine musical treasure.
(Gypsy Boy/Paquin)

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