Indigenous events added to Harmony Arts Festival
Focus is on visual art, performing art, and culinary delights
For the past 28 years, the Harmony Arts Festival has easily been one of the North Shore’s most popular and wide-ranging cultural celebrations, offering 150 free events at sites dotted all along the West Vancouver waterfront.
The festival website acknowledges that it is staged on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations.
This awareness has led to two new events being launched in 2018, coordinated by Squamish Nation artist and entrepreneur Latash-Maurice Nahanee.
“I’ve been a lifetime cultural practitioner in both the visual and performing arts and I was given the honour to coordinate the Indigenous participation of this year’s Harmony Arts Festival,” Nahanee said.
“The three streams that we are pursuing are visual art, performing art and culinary art. The signature event is the Indigenous Feast night.”
The Indigenous Feast (Aug. 7) is a surefire sellout with a menu that sounds divine for anyone with a penchant for local bounty. Harmony Arts food special events such as the Night on the Pier (Aug. 9) mixology showcase are already on the seasonal foodie radar.
Nahanee is excited about the Indigenous Feast.
“The fact is that our people used to harvest a lot of seafood right here at Ambleside Beach, such as salmon, halibut and octopus,” he said.
“So not only can we share some of that information about our background and use of the area, but we can tell stories as well. And I’m very pleased that Six Nations blues musician Murray Porter will be performing.”
The 2012 Juno Aboriginal Album of the Year award winner, pianist Porter has been active in the Canadian blues scene for more than three decades. His style of barrelhouse piano, foot-stomping
and cheeky lyrics have won him a devoted following. Porter’s Facebook page makes clear that getting him to perform is a big deal. This guy tours a lot.
“The recent documentary Rumble: Indians who Rocked the World, explains how Native American music has influenced North American pop culture, specifically jazz, blues and rock ’n’ roll,” Nahanee said.
“It’s likely that Murray will be explaining a little bit of that history in terms of his music, too. And, yes, the menu is absolutely mouth-watering.”
And for those who are interested in trying out Indigenous food at any time during the festival run, food truck Mr. Bannock will be on site.
“Taking pride sharing fusion Indigenous cuisine in Vancouver and area” is how the business describes itself on its website, and Squamish Nation chef Paul Natrall is certainly cooking up some interesting native soul food like Waffle Bannock with juniper berry dry-rubbed chicken stuffed in between house made bannock waffle with apple slaw and house hot sauce.
The second new feature is the Indigenous art market, which runs daily. This exhibition/pop-up gallery provides people the opportunity to meet local Indigenous artists as well as gain greater understanding of traditional and contemporary arts coming from the Coast Salish people who have lived in the area for millennia. There are also artists from other areas.
“Several of the artists are from the Squamish Nation, but there are also people like David Neale, a Kwakiutl artist living in Vancouver, who is world renowned for his unique jewelry and more,” Nahanee said.
“In total we have eight art exhibitors, six vendors and all the art in the exhibition is for sale as well. Our oldest exhibitor is Chester Moore, who is 83 years old and Nisga’a, who has a really amazing piece.”
Nahanee is pleased about the potential for Harmony Arts to provide a much greater exposure for local artists’ various styles and techniques.
“People come from everywhere to the event and this is a chance for them to really expand their understanding of the art and artists and also to take that home with them,” he said.
“It’s not always easy to get that kind of contact.”
Nahanee’s family dance group Chinook SongCatchers will also perform at the festival. He is also exhibiting his latest sculpture, a wooden welcome pole.
He’s not kidding when he says he is a “jack of all trades.”