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Fontine Triowith Opening Act Daniel Monkman (Zoon)
This show is eligible for a 15% Discount when you purchase a Season Pass Membership.
A hush sweeps across Turtle Island. Birds flock to perch on towering maples and the waving prairie grasses still. There is a name upon the tongue of every creature from the elk to the shrew. FONTINE. A gust of wind blows open the shutters of every home and young and old kneel in reverence to the dawn of a new era. FONTINE. Queen of the road, King of the song, FONTINE is here with a brand new EP.
Co-produced with Kris Ulrich and mixed by Boy Golden, the Yarrow Lover EP is set to be released in 2023. Taking inspiration from her Nehiyaw Iskwew roots, the natural surroundings of her prairie home, and her musical surroundings in Winnipeg, the EP presents as a beautiful introduction to a powerhouse songwriter and vocalist.
Indie-folk/pop artist FONTINE from Winnipeg, MB, is making waves. A queer and Indigenous musician of Nehiyaw Iskwew heritage, her debut EP, co-produced with friends Kris Ulrich and mixed by Boy Golden, dropped in February this year. Inspired by the prairies and the Winnipeg music scene, her music is a fusion of culture and creativity. FONTINE's single "Homemaker" reached number one on the Indigenous Music Countdown, and she recently graced CBC's "The Intro" stage. With roots in her heritage and her home, FONTINE's music is a captivating journey.
Fontine's songs are deeply personal places where she processes her feelings, but they are easily universal, too. "I never was somebody's girl/ so forgive me if I'm a little scared to give this thing a whirl/ but honey you know that you're makin' it easy,'' she sings on lead single "Homemaker," a vivid song for anyone who feels the constraints of expectation. Whether singing about the city or country, her music is rooted in the natural world, and the EP's name comes from a plant that has healing properties.
"I feel most myself when I'm out on the land, surrounded by green stuff and, you know, I can touch the dirt and it's just really grounding for me," Fontine explained. "And I also feel that way when I play music, and so I think that just together is something that makes me feel like me."
As a queer Cree singer-songwriter, Fontine also feels the importance of being herself in her music. "All of the songs are about me being a queer person, for the most part," she said. "And I think it's just really important for me personally to be very vocal about it because we need to see that representation…. I've had a couple parents come up to me on the street or something and tell me that their six-year-old was at one of my shows and they were singing the songs over and over again. And it's just very crazy and cool."
Zoon
Zoon has steadfastly woven their Indigenous experience and activism into every fabric of their work. The first single to be released from Bekka Ma’iingan, “A Language Disappears” acknowledges part of a deeply hurtful history for Indigenous people: the fear of their language being forgotten and the slow abandoning of culture due to the fading conversations, traditions and a people, by past and present colonialism. “This was something I started to fear when I became a Born Again Indian in my late 20’s,” says Monkman. “For a lot of native folks, we’re taught to hide our identity, to keep us safe from the outside world. Somewhere along a native person’s journey, they start to ask questions about their heritage and where they come from.” For Monkman that meant learning about their tribe and clan, followed by language. “I started to see that learning the language was nearly impossible at the time and feared how one day Ojibway may never be spoken.”
Safety and wellness plays into another central theme to Monkman’s new work in acknowledging their own ‘2-spirit’ identity. This comes forward in the instrumental album track, titled “Niizh Manidoowig (2 Spirit).” The choice to more openly share that side of themselves now, is partly in hope of supporting others who may not feel or be in a safe space to show or be themselves yet.
“I wrote ‘Niizh Manidoowig’ while thinking about our ancestors who may have been niizh. I found a lot of peace knowing that there were others way before me. Sometimes growing up not around your own people you start to forget about your past.” It was a long journey for Monkman. “Growing up on the rez with my dad’s family in the late 2000’s was like entering a different world,” says Monkman, who always felt like an outsider because of being of mixed blood. When they were young, they connected with a queer/2-spirit person. “I knew then I was different and could feel it in the way I was perceived in the world.” Monkman knew the word ‘ninjichaag’, which means ‘the spirit within’ and after they left the rez, they would run into others who had also formerly teased Monkman about their energy. “I always wondered if they too were ‘ninjichaag’”.
“This album is about acknowledging a part of me that I felt was there the whole time.”
This show is made possible thanks to the support of our sponsors Prestige Lakeside Resorts, The Bridge FM, Yum Son Night Owl Hospitality, Nelson District Credit Union, Kootenay Co-op, Bruce and Lisa Ramsay, Ellenwood Homes, Nelson Star and Hall Printing and our funders the BC Arts Council, BC Live Performance Network, Creative BC, Dance West Network, Canadian Heritage, and the Government of Canada. We also gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the City of Nelson and the Province of British Columbia.
Adult $35
Senior/Student $29.75
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
421 Victoria St, Nelson, BC, Canada, British Columbia V1L4K6
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