Photo: Timothy Nguyen
Kicking off on November 23, 2017 in Saskatoon and culminating in Toronto on December 20, 2017, NEW CONSTELLATIONS is a nation(s)wide tour of music and arts, featuring special guest appearances by an interstellar lineup of Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists coming together for the first time. The tour builds on an increasing national interest in Indigenous music: from three of the last four Polaris Music Prize winners being Indigenous women (Lido Pimienta, Tanya Tagaq, and Buffy Sainte-Marie), to the success of Gord Downie’s Secret Path project, to A Tribe Called Red‘s MMVA win for Video of the Year, Indigenous artists and stories are taking the spotlight as they never have before. NEW CONSTELLATIONS offers an unprecedented celebration of the Indigenous Next Wave.
This half-music, half-literary, national tour is the first of its kind: a unique tour travelling to cities, towns, and Indigenous communities featuring a core roster of Indigenous artists alongside a rotating cast of some of the country’s most celebrated musicians, writers, and poets. NEW CONSTELLATIONS offers an intimate evening of song and storytelling featuring alternating sets by musicians and writers. The tour includes a two-part mentorship program where established artists connect with Indigenous youth online and in a series of community-based arts and music workshops. NEW CONSTELLATIONS offers new possibilities for creative collaboration across communities.
Featuring an extraordinary lineup of established and emerging Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists from across the country, musicians and poets set to take the stage in various cities and communities, include: award-winning and international superstar Feist, Polaris-nominated Indigenous DJ/producer crew A Tribe Called Red, pop rockers July Talk, 2017 Polaris Prize-winning Afro-Indigenous musician Lido Pimienta, acclaimed Anishinaabe writer and musician Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, renowned author and journalist Naomi Klein, Montreal rocker Sam Roberts, singer-songwriter and member of Broken Social Scene Jason Collett, melodic indie pop band Stars, east coast songwriter Joel Plaskett, Anishinaabe singer-songwriter Leonard Sumner, Wolastoq vocal artist and composer Jeremy Dutcher, Indigenous hip-hop duo Mob Bounce, Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate George Elliott Clarke, Griffin Prize-winning Nisga’a poet Jordan Abel, electronic indie pop artist Rich Aucoin, celebrated Montreal novelist Heather O’Neill, Broken Social Scene alum and Quebec-based vocalist La Force, and many more. For a full list of performing artists, please see newconstellations.ca.
With a commitment to giving back to the Indigenous community, NEW CONSTELLATIONS features a two-part mentorship program — The online Music Mentorship program allows Indigenous youth from across the country to submit music to be mentored by established artists like Anishinaabe electronic musician DJ NDN, Iraqi-Canadian hip-hop artist, educator, and MMVA award-winning video director Narcy, Afro-Indigenous musician Lido Pimienta, Cree/Dene musician IsKwé, and singer Jasmyn Burke (Weaves). Community-Based Workshops are also hosted at six stops, including two Indigenous communities, for Indigenous youth to learn creative writing, songwriting, music creation, and DJ/production skills with artists from the tour and local mentors. Indigenous artists and youth can apply to participate in both parts of the mentorship program at newconstellations.ca/mentorship.
NEW CONSTELLATIONS, is the brainchild of The Basement Revue and Revolutions Per Minute (RPM), two successful music organizations that have partnered to co-curate this national celebration of creative collaboration. The Basement Revue’s 2014 Benefit Show for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women inspired the original idea for the tour, which now features many of the artists who were on the original bill. The project will also include a tour documentary produced by Antica Productions, the producers of Gord Downie’s Secret Path project, and directed by Mohawk filmmaker and documentarian Tracey Deer (co-creator of “Mohawk Girls”). The tour is presented with support from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba and the Government of Canada.
“Besides being a rotating roster of festival-style performances, NEW CONSTELLATIONS is an intimate opportunity to listen to voices of resurgence — of what is clearly an Indigenous Next Wave,” said Jason Collett, musician from Broken Social Scene, and founder of The Basement Revue. “The momentum is palpable, and it’s inspiring to be a part of such a special celebration.”
“The power of NEW CONSTELLATIONS is in the new relationships and creative connections that are being made”, said Jarrett Martineau, Cree/Dene media maker and co-founder of RPM. “Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists rarely perform or create together, so this is an amazing opportunity to see what happens when they do. With where we are in this country’s history, that collaboration is more important than ever.”
“NEW CONSTELLATIONS is an incredible platform to support collaboration between artists across a range of literary and musical genres,” said Damian Rogers, poet and co-curator of The Basement Revue. “We’ve always had great writers perform alongside musicians with The Basement Revue, but bringing this lineup of Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists together is something really special.”
TICKETS
Tickets for NEW CONSTELLATIONS go on sale on Thursday, October 26 at 10 a.m. local time. Tickets start at $25 (plus service charges) and are available in person and online. For more information and for specific lineups at each stop, visit newconstellations.ca.
TOUR DATES
11/23 – Saskatoon @ The Broadway Theatre
11/24 – Calgary @ The Gateway
11/25 – Edmonton @ The Starlite Room
11/26 – Prince Albert @ The E.A. Rawlinson Centre
11/27 – Winnipeg @ West End Cultural Centre
11/28 – Thunder Bay @ Port Arthur Polish Hall
11/29 – Wiikwemkoong @ Debajehmujig Creation Centre
12/6 – Halifax @ Spatz Theatre
12/7 – Fredericton @ Playhouse Theatre
12/8 – Montreal @ L’Astral
12/9 – Ottawa @ Bronson Centre
12/10 – Kitigan Zibi @ Kitigan Zibi Community Hall
12/20 – Toronto @ Opera House
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Twitter: @newconstell
Facebook: @newconstellationstour
Instagram: @newconstellationstour
Website: newconstellations.ca
About NEW CONSTELLATIONS
NEW CONSTELLATIONS is a nation(s)wide tour of music and arts, featuring special guest appearances by an interstellar lineup of Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists. The tour is curated and produced by The Basement Revue, a live series with a proven track record of bringing together some of the country’s best music and literary talents on the same stage, and Revolutions Per Minute, a global Indigenous music platform and record label that promotes and celebrates the Indigenous Next Wave. NEW CONSTELLATIONS is the first of its kind: a half-music, half-literary, national tour travelling to cities, towns, and Indigenous communities featuring a core roster of Indigenous artists alongside a rotating cast of some of the country’s most celebrated musicians, writers, and poets coming together for an intimate evening of song and storytelling. The project includes a 13-stop tour, a mentorship program and community- based arts and music workshop series for Indigenous youth, digital curriculum, and a tour documentary film.
About The Basement Revue
For more than 10 years, The Basement Revue has been a half-music, half-literary variety show with a rock-‘n’-roll sensibility and a unique Canadian voice, hosted and curated by Broken Social Scene singer/songwriter Jason Collett, and poet Damian Rogers. From its inception on a wintry night in 2007 at Toronto’s Dakota Tavern, The Basement Revue has explored what happens when artists of different disciplines share the stage together. This has made for exciting collaborations, such as Feist backing up Michael Ondaatje, Margaret Atwood reading while The Sadies play behind her, and Naomi Klein sharing a poignant story about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, accompanied by the music of Cris Derksen. Combining a compelling mix of musicians, storytellers, and poets with the improvisational spirit of a kitchen party, The Basement Revue has blossomed into one of Canada’s most dynamic live event series.
About Revolutions Per Minute (RPM)
Revolutions Per Minute is a global new music platform, record label, artist collective, and live music presenter celebrating Indigenous music culture. RPM’s mission is to build a visionary community of Indigenous artists and to introduce Indigenous music to new audiences across Turtle Island and around the world. Their main site, RPM.fm, has featured the work of more than 600 Indigenous artists and shared their music across RPM’s social networks of more than 275,000 followers. RPM Live is their successful Indigenous live music series held annually in Toronto, Montreal, and New York. RPM Records is the first of its kind: a label for contemporary, cross-genre Indigenous music, run by Indigenous people. Selected by The FADER as one of “5 New Canadian Record Labels The Entire World Should Know”, RPM Records artists include Jeremy Dutcher, Ziibiwan, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Exquisite Ghost, and Mob Bounce.