Cousins make it in the world of music

Page 8

Success is a family affair at Turtle Island Music.

Cousins George, 34, and Kelly Parker, 38, have spent a lot of time in each other's company. Although they are four years apart in age, the pair grew up together in Cando, about 60 km south of North Battleford. When they grew older, they stuck together, heading off to college in Prince Albert to study their shared interest in music and photographic technology.

After six years working in the audio-visual department of the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre in Saskatoon, they decided to form their own production company. George said the company, Turtle Island Music, basically started out in his basement in May of 1996 and grew from there. At first they rented recording studios around town, but that soon grew too expensive.

By November 1998 they had leased larger accommodations in the city's north end and built their own recording studio.

It is equipped with what George describes as some of the latest equipment available in the recording industry. The control room is outfitted with a 64-track ProTool system that relies heavily on computer technology and records everything digitally.

George says the in-house studio and staff engineer allow them to take their time recording new albums.

Now the Parkers are looking to expand again, as their roster of talented Aboriginal artists grows and more space is needed for the thriving business.

"We're finding now that we're running out of space," George said, chuckling, as he walked through a crowded music stock room and past stacks of the new Turtle Island music catalogue of 30 titles that is being prepared for distribution to approximately 200 stores.

Turtle Island's music is being distributed North America-wide through major distributors, with about three-quarters of the products going to the large United States market.

One of the premier acts Turtle Island records is the band Red Blaze, fronted by talented singer Ray Villebrun. Red Blaze's song "Drums" spent more than 20 weeks in the Top-20 of the Missinippi Broadcasting Company this past year.

"Some of the stuff that's coming out of here is really good," George said.

That's evidenced by the three nominations Turtle Island recordings have earned at the Second Annual Native American Music Awards, to be held Nov. 6 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Red Blaze has been nominated in the Best Canadian Aboriginal Contemporary Recording category, Thunderchild '98 is up for an award in the Best Canadian Aboriginal Traditional Recording category and "Gabriels Crossing" has been nominated for Best Instrumental Recording.

"It's been big growth," George says of the three short years he and Kelly have been recording acts. "And every day a new store is calling, wanting to pick up our products."

George and Kelly have split up the duties at Turtle Island to follow their own interests. Although both were out recently videotaping and photographing a cultural demonstration they put on at a local mall, George generally does the production end of the business, while Kelly concentrates on business.

When there is a powwow recording to be made in the United States - some of which are of national champion calibre groups - George will pack up his van and drive down to the powwow sites to record live in the field.

A professional technician handles the engineering work, and the printing and graphic work is farmed out to other Saskatoon companies. George is happy to concentrate on the core specialty of his business.

"We're basically one of the best recording studios in town," he said.

And while the studio has only been used for Aboriginal acts so far, George said the door is always open for non-Aboriginal performers. George says eliminating the gulf between cultures was one of the motivations for getting involved in Aboriginal music.

"We wanted to get into some kind of business that would build bridges between the Native and non-Native communities," George said.

He's still waiting for the one singer or group tha will help bring Aboriginal music to a larger audience in Saskatchewan and in Canada.

"We're always hoping someone will come along to do it for us," George said. "It's a real tough thing to break into mainstream radio." One of the most exciting new projects George and Kelly are working on is the release of the first compact disc for Leonard Adam, a Dene singer from Fond du Lac.

The CD release party will happen Nov. 10 at the Northern Lights Casino in Prince Albert, where Adam's live performance will be picked up on an international radio broadcast through the Arrows American Indian radio network.

In the future, George and Kelly Parker are looking forward to getting into the management of artists and distribution. They are also interested in exploring the possibilities the new Aboriginal Peoples Television Network offers for documentaries and music videos.

"I kind of look forward to coming into work every day just to see what'll happen," George said.