This was the year of the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, and the top 10 winners in the arts festival were also invited to be the Commonwealth Art Show Artists, and our dance troupe was asked to perform during the ceremonies. It was 1993. Later that year, in November, we were invited to take part in an art show at the Pan Pacific Centre. It was a week-long art show. There were 1300 exhibitors, and our group won gold for best display and silver for the best craft. Our dancers danced 4 times a day. My pow-wow drum was on display, and we used it during our performances. Norm Gromann from BCTV even came and did the weather with us.
Things in the art world had been progressing along quite well, and I was getting my art silk-screened by several private pro printers. My pieces of art were being picked up and sold in galleries across the province. My drums and paddles were sold before they were finished. England and the rest of Europe were beginning to notice my art, and I was selling art overseas regularly.
The Box Of Treasures Dance Troupe was in demand with almost weekly performances. The man in charge of the troupe, Simon, was a great one at promoting the troupe and was pretty much the driving force behind us. Simon was also a well-versed mask carver who created a number of the masks our troupe used. Simon would go on after this to create the animated series, Raven’s Tales. I just love these videos and own them all. Simon is now a master carver whose works are phenomenal.
Simon called us all together one day to tell us he had booked us for 2 performances at the theatres in Campbell River and Courtenay. We were going to be the opening act for Susan Aglukark. This was an amazing chance to perform. We were all very thrilled.
Susan is a Canadian Inuit singer whose blend of folk music and traditional music of her people, combined with modern songwriting, has made her a major recording star in Canada. She began to perform as an Inuit singer and very quickly became a well-known name in the north. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation noticed her and included her in a compilation of northern singers. Then, in 1992, she released her first independent album, called The Arctic Rose. By the next year, she had signed a contract with a major record company. Her most successful single is “O Siem”; this song reached No. 1 on the Canadian country and adult contemporary charts in 1995. Overall, she has released seven studio albums and has won three Juno Awards. She is an awesome young lady.
Here it was June 1993, and we would open for her on two occasions, what a thrill. I was the lead drummer and narrator for our troupe. I had 2 young fellas from the Cape who drummed with me. Our dancers were from Campbell River and Alert Bay. We started to do regular practices to get us all in top-performance mode.
We would perform several dances, but my favourite to perform was the half-moon/full-moon dance. This dance would start with a half-moon coming out to dance while I would tell a story about how the ooligans would spawn during the half-moon. As I would be telling the audience this story, a full moon would dance out onto the stage. Neither of these dancers spoke, and instead had buzzing noise makers in their mouths that they both were loudly shrilling at me with. I would act like I understood their meaning and would try to get them to agree to one or the other. Finally, after failing to agree, I would ask them if a member of the audience could decide which was right. They would both agree.
Then I would pick someone close to the stage, and they both would go down and help them up. We would ask them to pick one. After their choice was made, they would lead them back to their seats. I would finish the story as they finished dancing, then the one who was chosen as the winner would take a small gift out into the audience and present it to the member who came on stage.
We would do other dances like the Grouse Dance and the Wild Women Dance, and my son Robert Would Drum on some occasions with me. He was young but full of enthusiasm.
After we left the stage, Susan and her band would perform. When she sang, it was like listening to the harmony of the universe. On the second night, Susan asked me to join her on stage and drum with her. I jammed out, and to this day, I wish I had the guts that night to take her up on her offer.