One of Fanshawe’s recent graduates, Frazer Sundown, has been nominated for an Indigenous Music Award.
Frazer’s album Love is a War Dance has been nominated in the Best Inuit, Indigenous Language, or Francophone Album category.
“In life we go through so many ups and downs as it can be a roller coaster sometimes,” Frazer says in his nomination profile on the Indigenous Music Awards website. “The songs on this album are meant to express these feelings.”
A member of the Turtle Clan of the Oneida Nation of the Thames and a graduate of Fanshawe’s First Nations Studies certificate program in 2015, Frazer is now a second-year student at Western.
He is working toward the completion of a teaching degree with a goal to become a cultural instructor and professionally teach the Oneida language – which has only a few dozen surviving speakers at present.
Frazer has traveled around the world to perform his traditional powwow music and exhibit his visual artwork. He has collaborated with other artists – among them, DJ Shub, formerly of A Tribe Called Red – to expand and redefine the understanding of Indigenous music.
His work was also featured on Bryden Gwiss Kiwenzie’s album Round Dance and Beats. The album was nominated for Indigenous Album of the Year at the 2017 Junos, and is also nominated for an Indigenous Music Award in the Best Hand Drum Album category.
The Indigenous Music Awards will be presented at the Manito Ahbee Festival in Winnipeg, Manitoba on Friday, May 19.
