John Trudell, Native American activist, musician, poet and actor, and Pat Vegas, original member of the 1970s rock group Redbone, will headline the American Indian Art and Music Festival at The College of St. Scholastica on April 12 and 13.
The festival is free of charge and open to the public.
The event begins at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 12, in the College's Science Auditorium with a presentation of "Trudell," an award-winning 2005 documentary film about John Trudell's life and times. Trudell will answer audience questions following the film.
Trudell will also headline a concert beginning at 6 p.m. Friday, April 13, in Mitchell Auditorium at St. Scholastica. He will perform "Tribal Voice," described in his online biography as "a fusion of poetry and traditional Native music," with band member Quiltman.
The concert will also feature Pat Vegas, who will perform classic Redbone songs with the band Indian Electric.
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The festival also includes a fine art and crafts exhibit, musical performances by Native youth, a pipe ceremony and a traditional feast.
The festival is hosted by the College's Indigenous Student Alliance.
Master of ceremonies for the festival is Vince Beyl, who will emcee the National Powwow in Washington D.C. in August. He is Indian Education Director for Bemidji Middle School.
Trudell, an activist for Native American rights in the late 1960s and 1970s, became chairman of the American Indian Movement (AIM) in 1973.
Six years later he lost his pregnant wife, three children and mother-in-law in a house fire of suspicious origin on a Nevada reservation. Turning to poetry as an outlet for grief, Trudell was encouraged by singer/songwriter Jackson Browne to put his words to music and thus began his two-decade recording career.
Pat Vegas is one of the original members of Redbone, a rock band active in the 1970s. Redbone had their first commercial success with the single "Maggie" in 1970 followed by "The Witch Queen of New Orleans" in 1971 and "Come and Get Your Love" in 1974. In 1973, Redbone released "We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee," recalling the Wounded Knee massacre of 1890.
The festival's other activities on Friday, April 13, occurring between 3 and 6 p.m., include:
- Fine art and crafts in traditional and contemporary styles will be on exhibit and for sale in the Mitchell Auditorium foyer.
- Performances by the Fond du Lac School Drum Group and the Anishinaabe Youth Chorus will be staged in the Mitchell Auditorium.
- A pipe ceremony and free American Indian feast will follow the singing and drum group in Storm's Den (the lower level of Tower Hall).
Evening entertainment will begin at 6 p.m. in the Mitchell Auditorium. The Fond du Lac Women's Hand Drum Group will open the concert followed by Indian Electric featuring Pat Vegas performing classic Redbone tunes.
Band members include event organizer Frederick McDougall, singer/violinist and vice president of the St. Scholastica Indigenous Student Alliance; Drew Warne Jacobsen, percussionist from Puposky, Minn.; Walker Mallory, guitarist from New Mexico; and Mel Hunt, a singer/guitarist from the Onigum Village on the Leech Lake Reservation.
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The festival is presented by The College of St. Scholastica's Indigenous Student Alliance, Ojibwe Language and Culture Education Program, Native Teachers for the Seventh Generation Program, and Student Senate, and the Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwe Tribal Council. The event is made possible in part by a grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council.
For more information contact Valerie Tanner, project director of the Ojibwe Language and Culture Education Program, at (218) 723-6014 or vtanner@css.edu .
