Perfect Storm wows Folk Fest audience

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Gallagher Hill in Edmonton, traditional Papaschase territory, was the site of the 25th annual Edmonton International Folk Music Festival Aug. 5 to 8, and for the first time in 25 years, a drum group-Perfect Storm from Hobbema-was in the line-up.

In Perfect Storm's first appearance outside of Indian Country, the group joined folksinger Farron and Spirit of the West on stage Aug. 8 for a Folk Fest workshop, a chance for artists to jam.

Walter Lightning is a senior member of Perfect Storm. He's a doctoral candidate in First Nations Education at the University of Alberta and has been singing and dancing in powwows for as long as he can remember.

"When you go to a powwow you are on the edge of a big circle and everyone takes turns singing. We've never been on stage . . . we are all excited about it," he said before the group's performance.

Perfect Storm has about a dozen participants, including some who live in the United States. Members of the group weren't sure what kind of reception they would receive. Lightning said they would simply share the spirit and meaning of their music in the hope that it pleased the crowds.

"We don't know how it will come off," he said. "We're just going to try to make it as entertaining as possible."

Each group took its turn and the evening turned to magic when Farron began the signature rhythm of her 1990 tune "Indian Dream." Back when she wrote the song Farron was aware of her Indian heritage, but had no details. She has recently discovered that her grandmother was Cree. Her excitement was contagious when Perfect Storm picked up the beat with their hand drums.

"Oh my God, I'm having a dream come true" she shouted to the crowd. "This is the first time I've got to play with my brothers."

Later in the song the singers began to join in and Farron was so overcome with emotion that all she could do was close her eyes and strum her guitar, keeping the beat while the drummers and singers took it and the audience away.

Later, in an interview, John Mann from Spirit of the West, said that at that point "It was spectacular...It was so moving...We were all choking up. It was a fabulous moment. That is what festivals should be like all the time. You have those times when people get together and they become more than just individual entities." Each time that Perfect Storm raised their voices above the music, the crowd went wild, screaming and applauding. To end the song all the other musicians pulled back and Perfect Storm rode the wave of the audience's approval to the final beats of the song.

When the fans finally settled down after the workshop, Perfect Storm brought out the powwow drum and began to show the crowd what it's all about. Walter Lightning drew on his experience as an educator and informed the audience about different dances and regalia as they were demonstrated by men's traditional dancer, Carl Johnson, women's traditional dancer, Kelsey Lightning, and Koren Lightning who danced fancy shawl.

Walter Lightning spotted National Aboriginal Achievement Award winner Dr. Carl Urion, professor emeritus in the University of Alberta's department of anthropology, in the crowd and asked him to clear an opening to get a round dance going. That was such a success that some of the drummers joined the dancers and gave an impromptu smoke dance lesson.

In traditional powwow songs, "there are no words, no lyrics, but the song has meaning-not in the sense that lyrics speak to you, but that a song has sound that speaks to your soul and your heart," Lightning told the crowd.

The university's Folkways Alive! research program helped arrange Perfect Storm's folk fest performance, sponsoring the stage on which the group performed to overwhelming crowd approval.