The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts announces ʔəm̓i ce:p xʷiwəl (Come Toward the Fire), plus ANOHNI
Soul and folk singer Celeigh Cardinal and genre-defying singer-producer Sebastian Gaskin headline Indigenous festival on September 14; ANOHNI performs with the Johnsons on October 5
Celeigh Cardinal. Photo by Sheena Zilinski
THE CHAN CENTRE for the Performing Arts has announced two major events for the fall of 2024.
The third annual Indigenous festival ʔəm̓i ce:p xʷiwəl (Come Toward the Fire) takes place on September 14 from 12 pm to 7 pm. On October 5, ANOHNI, whom NPR called “one of our generation’s greatest protest singers/songwriters”, will perform with her band the Johnsons to kick off the Chan Centre’s 27th season.
ʔəm̓i ce:p xʷiwəl (Come Toward the Fire) is presented in partnership with Musqueam. This year’s festival features Juno-winning soul and folk singer Celeigh Cardinal and genre-defying singer and producer Sebastian Gaskin. Cardinal is a Métis singer-songwriter from Peace Country, Alberta, whose first full-length album, Everything and Nothing at All (2017), earned an Indigenous Artist of the Year award at the Western Canadian Music Awards. She received the Indigenous Artist of the Year award at the 2020 Junos.
Gaskin, Cardinal’s fellow closing act, is a Tataskweyak Cree Nation multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and producer who has supported acts like T-Pain and Common. The musician has been described as “Post Malone mixed with Frank Ocean, all swag and smooth vocals, hits of hip hop and rap, rounded out with emotive thoughtful lyrics” (Winnipeg Free Press). The Western Canadian Music Award-winner has played festivals around the world.
Cardinal and Gaskin will perform inside the Chan Shun Concert Hall as part of the finale for the festivities from 5 to 7 pm.
For the afternoon portion of the festival (12 pm to 5 pm), two outdoor stages will be dedicated to more musical acts, storytellers, speakers, and dancers. Featured artists include Juno-nominated Tłı̨chǫ multi-instrumentalist Digawolf, Juno-winning Cree and Salish singer-songwriter and hand drummer Fawn Wood, and Métis artist Sister Ray. Performing a set together are DJ Kookum, who hails from the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation and Cold Lake First Nations, and dancer Sierra Tasi Baker, an Indigiqueer stélmexw from the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw who is also Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw/Musga̱mgw Dzawada̱’enuxw, Łingít and Magyar/Hungarian.
Collaborative duo Tsimka and Michael Red will also perform. Red is a Vancouver-based DJ, producer, and composer, and a major player in Vancouver’s ambient and electronic music scene. In his duo with Tsimka, he creates music and atmospheres with natural sounds recorded by Tsimka from her ƛaʔuukʷiʔatḥ home territory and the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh territory where she now resides. Tsimka plays the hand drum and sings almost exclusively in ƛaʔuukʷiʔatḥ.
Returning this year are Kitasoo/Xais’xais Nation’s singer-songwriter Hayley Wallis; traditional Salish song and dance multi-generational group Tsatsu Stalqayu (Coastal Wolf Pack); Musqueam DJ, rapper, and producer MJ ScottS; and Haida author, singer, and hand drummer Kung Jaadee, who will captivate children with stories from Haida Gwaii.
The performances, which are all free and don’t require tickets, will be recorded for CBC and broadcast nationally on CBC Radio on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
The festival offers other family-friendly elements, including readings by Indigenous poets and authors curated by Massy Books, Indigenous film screenings curated by imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, an Indigenous artisan market, and food vendors.
ANOHNI. Photo by Rebis Music
Meanwhile, the Chan Centre has also announced that Mercury Prize winner ANOHNI will open its 27th season as part of a tour called It’s Time To Feel What’s Really Happening.
Her performance on October 5 at 8 pm will be her first in Vancouver since 2009. She’ll be reuniting with the Johnsons to perform songs off her sixth studio album, My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross (2023) as well as titles from her back catalogue.
Born in the U.K. and raised in Amsterdam and California, ANOHNI relocated to New York city in her late teens, forming her group the Johnsons in 1998 and focusing on animist and eco-feminist themes in her music. ANOHNI has spanned musical genres, from electronic experimental to avant-classical, dance, and soul. She achieved breakthrough success in 2005 with I Am a Bird Now, winning the U.K.’s Mercury Award.
In 2016, ANOHNI released the political electronic album HOPELESSNESS, considered one of the year’s top 10 albums by The New York Times. That same year, she was nominated for an Academy Award (best song) for the environmentalist elegy “Manta Ray”, which was featured in the film Racing Extinction.
ANOHNI has collaborated with the likes of Björk, Yoko Ono, Lou Reed, Marianne Faithfull, and more.
Tickets to see ANOHNI go on sale to the general public at 10 am on June 14. Fans can register now at anohni.com/tour for first access to presale tickets, which go on sale June 11 at 10 am.
For her Chan Centre concert, ANOHNI will be joined by nine artists, including cellist Julia Kent, violinists Maxim Moston and Mazz Swift, multi-instrumentalist Doug Wieselman, guitarist Leo Abrahams, pianist Gael Rakotondrabe, bassist Sam Dixon, drummer Chris Vatalaro, guitarist-producer Jimmy Hogarth, and dancer Johanna Constantine. 
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