Fara Palmer: News & Info

Thank you everyone for voting for me at the APCMA's! I made it into the Best Producer/Engineer category.
Round 2 voting starts today and i could use all your votes 1 more time. This time you'll be selecting a WINNER! Thank you all for supporting my PHOENIX cd & me!

My multi-nominated new cd PHOENIX is available on my website as a FREE DOWNLOAD for the next week!
This is my way of saying thank you to everyone who made the time to vote for me in the first round of the APCMA's! Round 1 is over now and they are tabulating votes. I'll update when i learn if i made it as one of the final nominees.
ALL MY LOVE TO MY FRIENDS & FANS!! Download my cd & share it....

I learned today that my cd PHOENIX has earned a nomination for "Best Pop Recording" at the 2008 Indian Summer Music Awards held in Milwaukee USA.
COngrats to all of my fellow nominees. For more info, please visit the ISMA site at: indiansummer.org/entertainment/isma.html

They rocked!! Many athletes, talented artists, and events going on! My set was great and the audience was sweet. Thank you NAIG for inviting me.

I have received a nomination at the WCMA's (Western Canadian Music Awards) under the category of "Outstanding Aboriginal Recording"!!

For more info, visit:
http://www.westerncanadianmusicawards.ca/nominees-artistic

And don't forget to make your vote for me at the APCMA's!! Info for this can be found on my homepage.
Am about to get a tatoo, and then will be hitting the Kamloopa Powwow!!!!

Yay, today we had our first salmon-of-the-year feast. Which means that the salmon are running. We're setting up camp and getting prepared to start smoking, candying, wind-drying, and canning our fish!! This is the time of season where i tighten up a bit, build some muscles, teach my children how to harvest off the land, pick wild mints down by the river, swim like a fish in the cold river water, and simply put: ENJOY a cultural way of life!!! We are also fortunate to know other families who are organic farming families/traders, so we like to make trades for other great items that stock our pantry like organic vegetables, fruits, sea salt, etc. Trading ROCKS!!! MY SUMMER HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!! My hubby has been out in the community supplying our elders with salmon he caught in the last couple of days and the twinkle in their eyes and lightness of their smiles was a gift to see!!

Wow, i think the Skeetch community(which is where i live) will want a conference and celebration like this one EVERY year!! The conference was informative, and the audience was receptive. My workshop was well attended, but the best part was that my audience participated! Thank u everyone who was a part of my workshop.
The BC 150 Celebrations were awesome! My kids & I danced and were entertained by local and non-local artists. RedNations had us bobbin our heads and shakin our butts, the Chickpeaz were sort of rock-punky with a fresh/original sound, the Kamloops Ole Time Fiddlers featured our own local youth Kayla Draney(don't hate if i spelled your name wrong lil sis) who did a great job fiddlin it up!! I sang a song called "MY BROTHER", which i wrote for my deceased brother Gabriel "Skooks" Palmer, specifically for our community because everyone who's from Skeetch knew and loved my brother. Also, I felt it was time to share the song with my community so we could honour my brothers memory and heal a bit more together using unification & music as the instruments of healing.
Rockin R's, well...the name says it all & U DO!! I have to send an apology to George Leach. I wanted to very much to see him perform, but i was just bushed and couldn't stay awake. Sorry bro! I'm sure you rocked it!
Thanks u Skeetchestn Indian Band & Ellen Torng for hiring me and for putting on this wonderful communty oriented event!!!!!!

Well i've been having a great time. Our little community of Skeetch has been hosting some pretty cool talent such as: Gordon Tootoosis, Dakota House, M'Girl, Suzette Amaya, Scott Ward, and more to come! Tomorrow'll be a concert starring me, George Leach, RedNation, and more. My workshop today went very well, i had a great bunch of people who participated and shared! Well, i'm off to bed. Gnite all! I'm looking forward to tomorrow!

I need your votes! Help vote me to the FANS CHOICE awards, the APCMA's.
My bro's "The 7th Generation" are also nominated! So hook us up.
Thank you for your support.

Visit aboriginalpeopleschoice.com TODAY!!!

I am honoured again to be performing for my elders at this years BC Elders Gathering. Last year it was held in Vancouver and this year it will be held in Prince Rupert. I'm travelling with the Youth Hip-Hop crew "The Seventh Generation" and we'll both be performing on July 7th at the Civic Centre. Check out my calender for more info.
I can't wait to get up there and have started the 16 hour drive today. I'll be eating delicious traditional west coast foods! YAY! Ocean fare.
All my relations...don't open the door yet....i'm gonna stay awhile! lol.
Laterz....
Oh, and i think the voting for the APCMA's begins soon. Please visit ABORIGINALPEOPLESCHOICE.COM , register and vote for me! I'm nominated in 5 categories. Send me to the final round and on to the awards show in Manitoba in November. Thxxxx

Been remiss in adding photos. SO...visit my photo page and check out the pics taken from different gigs & events.
Peace outeeeeeee

I'm on my way home tomorrow for a couple of days off and some FAMILY TIME! The next show i'll be doing is in Prince Rupert July 7th & 8th for the Elders Gathering. I'll be sharing a concert with the crew of the 7Th Generation and a bunch more talented artists! (see my calender)
Oh, & voting for the APCMA awards begins soon! So please visit the ABORIGINALPEOPLESCHOICE.COM website, register(its free), and vote for me in the 5 categories i'm nominated in!!!! Thank you. FP

So i'm back from Baffin Island and the capital of Nunavut, IQALUIT! Was invited to be a part of the Alianait festival and am sad to not be there anymore! I enjoyed being there in Iqaluit, met some beautiful people, and had a great time presenting a workshop on stickgames for the youth. The same youth, by the way, who did a great job picking up the game. To the team captains on both sides, you did a great job in your roles as leaders and i thought you were good examples for your teammates! Thank you for drumming, singing, and making the workshop so fun to present!
To all of youth who came to the Youth Concert, i had an awesome time performing for you. I've never sung Prettybrown acapella while the audience clapped out the beat for me. And it sounded so amazing, YOU ALL ROCK!! I would feel very honoured indeed to be invited back to your community again! Maybe next time i'll get to sample the musk-oxen, caribou, seal, cod, and char! I loves me some grassroots cookin'!
For all those youth who wanted a free cd, make sure to talk to Amy cuz i have donated a Cd to the youth centre. Download it, make copies of it, ENJOY IT!
All my love to everyone i met. Christine, thankx for getting all the kids dancing and for sharing your bouncy friendly supportive energy! Marie, you are a soul sista! Thank you for welcoming me to your community and for being such a great hostess! I loved throat-singing with you. Emily, heather and everyone from ALAINIAT, from my heart to yours, THANK U! I hope to see you again.
FP xoxoxox

In a couple of days i'll be heading up North to Inuit Territory! That's above the tree line in Iqaluit, NUNAVUT. When i get there, it's that time of season when there is no nitetime. It'll be light out all day long!! 24 hours of light. Isn't that cool!! The info for the workshop and concert i'll be performing at can be found on my calender page.
Peace, love, respect! Fara

I just finished 3 NAD gigs. One was on June 20th, and the other 2 were on June 21st in TWO DIFFERENT provinces!! Edmonton, the earlier 21st event, was truly blessed! I learned some lessons, shared my musical gifts with the people, and met some beautiful spirits. Grasmere, located in BC, was my evening June 21st National Aboriginal Day concert. I want to say thank you so much for making me feel welcome, for sitting out in the on-again/off-again rain and waiting for my arrival! I was overwhelmed by the gifts you all gave me and my family. My husband and daughters were thrilled to receive their gifts. You have touched my heart!!
Edmonton, Grasmere, i hope to see you all again!

Blessings all! I'll be sharing my abo-day celebrations with the good people of Edmonton, AB. Here's an event i'll be singing at on June 20th, in celebration of our YOUTH, it's called NAD youth gathering health fair 2008. Check out the poster for it on my photos page. xox

Thank you kelowna and all who attended the OCG festival earlier today. I had a great time singing for all of you and enjoyed dancing to the 7th Generations sweet beats! I met a bunch of beautiful people, and they are engraved in my heart!!
Peace all, and thank you Alternator Gallery for inviting me to be a part of the festival!!

June 10th/2008 the Prime Minister of Canada delivered an apology to the survivors of the Residential School era. As my mother is a 2nd generation IRS survivor, I want to share with you a passage she recently wrote.

[My mothers thoughts]:

"I am stunned, which should not come as a surprise given my continued historical encounters with No Justice, that the predessors of Non Aboriginal Leaders -who on hand fully acknowledge that laws were put in place to committ horrific crimes to thousands of children in residential school- continue to reiterate and broadcast their verbal barrage of compensation complaints to the rest of Canada. I am now addressing the statement made by the Conservative MP, in light of expending tax payers monies. For those who are in the dark, and it is shamefully apparent that many of our country's citizens are definately in the dark, let it be known that a majority of First Nations people pay taxes. First Nations tax breaks are applicable only on Native reservations (reserve lands) and for those who choose to acknowledge the geography of Canada it isn't hard to see that reservations lands represent approximately 1/3 of the country. That being clarified, when you talk about spending 'tax payers dollars' you are also referring to and representing the First Nations taxpayers and their dollars earned, spent, and distributed in support of the Canadian economy. To add insult to injury, the taxes levied upon First Nations people off reservation lands are in direct violation with the policies and laws applicable to First Nations as defined by the Indian Act, an act legislated, but not enforced, by the government of Canada. Certainly intelligent and compassionate human beings are able to discriminate that the residential school era was a dark chapter in Canadian History. However, for those individuals who are less compassionate and who remain ignorant of the basic human rights guaranteed to all Canadians, of which First Nations people are most definately a part, the dark chapter i refer to is far from over. All actions have reactions. The legacy of the Indian Residential School era resulted in far-reaching consequences. Indeed, many of the dysfunctional behaviours of the decendants of the Indian Residential School survivors are a testament to the atrocities forced upon and endured by their elder relatives. Imagine Sir, if the government of the day violated your home and family by kidnapping your children. Just up and decided that your race was inferior and was in dire need of assimilation and re-culturation. Further imagine the look in your five year old childs face when you try to explain why you are 'allowing' them to be taken away. Does a five year old fully understand or comprehend the consequences involved in defying law? Did you yourself know that the First Nations parents who chose to protect their children from being taken away to residential school were jailed? Probably not. In many situations, children were forcibly removed and often outright tricked into custody or stolen. Can you imagine the devastation and trauma you, as a parent, might experience when you visualize your flesh and blood being ripped from your arms?? Then try to shut out the screaming silence left behind by a village without children?? A life without your children?? The denial, pain, injustice, and righteous rage you might suffer?? Worse the acknowledgement to self that your power to 'right the wrong and get your child back' is impotent. And just when you think it won't get worse, you start to understand that you might never again see your child and that you have no idea of what your child is going through. The unfortunate and brutal truth is, many children disappeared, died, were beaten to death, were raped, and endured inhumane atrocities sanctioned by religion and government all in the name of assimilation and cultural genocide. Yet these crimes weren't suffered by warriors or war vets, but by children. Babies. Yes, these events did occur more often then we are led to believe or even mention.
Getting back to the Conservative MP- do the comments surprise me, sadly no but they still stun and shock me.

Respectfully,
A 2nd generation Indian Residential School Survivor
Mary Anne Katcheech Bear Palmer"

NDN's all across the nation witnessed the historical apology. It's been a long time coming. Did you know that the last residential school was shut down in 1996?? To all my relations who attended RS, and who have felt the devastation of its legacy to our people...i honour, validate, acknowledge, thank, love, and pray for you and yours!

The concert in Portage La Prairie was awesome! I was commissioned by the CBC Radio2, who will be airing the show nationally and making it available as an online "On Demand", to write a new residential school song. I chose to write an honour song and used my hand-drum to sing it for my elders. I was super nervous, as it was my first stage appearance with my hand-drum! I ain't no Joanne Shanendoah yet, but i'm on my way! I had a great visit. Thank you to my relatives of MANITOBA!!!
xoxoxox
For anyone who would like to catch the radio broadcast, tune in to:
CBC Radio 1, Sat June 14th & Sat 21st at 5PM
CBC Radio 2, Fri June 20th from 8-10PM
NCI FM, June 27th & July 4th

I'm almost on my way to attend the Honouring our Survivors of Residential School Conference and Concert!! I have a feeling there will be a healing, a group unified releasing. I'm honoured to be invited and to sing for my elders!