Be sure to put the July 6-7 weekend on your summer calendar, as it’s time for the second annual ’Q’emcin 2 Rivers Remix (2RMX) music festival in Lytton. This year it will be showcasing 24 contemporary Indigenous musical artists–including four Juno winners–on Nlaka’pamux Unceded Territory.
Meeka Morgan, the festival’s artistic director, also announced the addition of three special guests to this year’s lineup: Savage Society, Mana Taketake, and Wild Salmon Caravan.
The Savage Society and its artistic director, Kevin Loring, will open 2RMX with a community production of the play, “Battle of the Birds”, at 11 a.m. on Saturday July 6 (Fraser and 6th Street). Loring is an award-winning actor, playwright and producer, and the first artistic director for the Indigenous Theatre at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. The Savage Society’s mandate is to tell Indigenous stories using contemporary mediums.
“Battle of the Birds” is based on a traditional Nlaka’pamux story about a community confronting the issue of domestic violence, set in the mythical time before time, when animals appeared like humans with animal attributes and spoke a similar language.
Special guests on tour from Aotearoa, Mana Taketake, a contemporary Maori performance group, will share a vision of Maori dance, music and weaponry.
Mana Taketake will both perform and give workshops on Saturday and Sunday, which will include Haka movement, traditional Maori games, and a flavour of the Maori language.
The Wild Salmon Caravan (WSC) with the Nlaka’pamux Nation will open the second day of the fest on Sunday, July 7, at noon with a Wild Salmon celebration and parade. WSC will also be hosting interactive salmon art workshops at the festival on Saturday.
All are welcome to create, honour and explore wild salmon traditional knowledge and their creative energy of transformation.
The musical fest will showcase a diverse range of 24 contemporary Indigenous artists from hip-hop to folk, metal to blues, Indigifunk to electronic, rock to reggae.
“More than half the lead performers are women, one-third are youth, while three artists are Two-Spirited,” said Morgan. The festival also features spoken word, dance, video screenings, interactive workshops with festival artists, and a large-scale outdoor Indigenous art exhibition.
A 2RMX youtube playlist of the artists is at playlist.2rmx.ca and visit our website for more info about the artists at 2RiversRemix.ca.
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