Guide to Powwow Country: Aboriginal Music Week - Winnipeg, Manitoba

ABORIGINAL MUSIC WEEK
Winnipeg, Manitoba
August 16 - 21, 2013

Organizers of Winnipeg’s Aboriginal Music Week are hoping its festival grows substantially this year thanks to a switch to summer-time dates. The music festival, celebrating its fifth year, had traditionally been staged in November. But the 2013 festival has been moved to the summer and will be held from Aug. 16-21. The switch was made as organizers are keen to have more Aboriginal youth attend the festival. One of the ways to do this is to have free outdoor concerts where youth and families can soak up the atmosphere and not have to worry about the costs or limited seating at indoor venues.
Aboriginal Music Week, first held in 2009, features First Nation, Metis, Inuit, Native American and Indigenous acts. The festival, produced by Aboriginal Music Manitoba, a non-profit organization, has been held in Winnipeg since its inception. The 2013 festival will include six free concerts, five of which will be held outdoors. There will also be four other concerts that will require attendees to purchase tickets. This year’s festival is expected to feature 25 musical acts, including Juno Award winners Derek Miller and Digging Roots. Miller, a two-time Juno Award winner from Six Nations, Ont., also earned recognition by performing at the closing ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Digging Roots, a popular five-person Toronto band which received rave reviews for its first two albums, is releasing its third album this summer. Among the other early acts confirmed for this year’s festival are Wanbdi, Ghostkeeper, C-Weed Band, Indian City and Arthur Renwick. Tickets for the festival go on sale on June 11, when the other 18 musical acts performing will be announced.
For more information, check out www.aboriginalmusicweek.ca.