The Ballad of Crowfoot (Willie Dunn)

Subject: RE: The Ballad Of Crowfoot - Willie Dunn
From: GUEST,bankley
Date: 16 Dec 09 - 03:48 AM

PM me Tim, I'll give you info....

'The Other Side of the Ledger' is a film worth seeing also.. esp. with all the current TV ads by the Hudson's Bay Company in the run up to the winter Olympics,,
That flim looks at HBC from the Native perspective and was 'banned' in Canada when it first appeared in 1970, the 300th anniversary of HBC. It was later released after it was doing well in the UK, France etc..which caused further embarrasment to the Company.. This was in the wake of 'Crowfoot' which had already established Willie as an important film maker and songwriter...well before Wounded Knee 2, and Dances with Wolves...

He's a great character and we sure have had a lot of fun and interesting adventures together... my stories are many..
We're supposed to get back in the studio in the New Year and try a few things...

thanks Bobad... I hope a few more folks become acquainted with the vital contributions he has made to film and 'folk' music in this country...

Subject: RE: The Ballad Of Crowfoot - Willie Dunn
From: GUEST,Tim S.
Date: 16 Dec 09 - 01:40 AM

Hi,
I'm the cousin of a great friend of Willie's who is trying to connect with him. Where was this performance that he did, and do you know how I can get in contact with him?

Thanks! Tim S.

Subject: RE: The Ballad Of Crowfoot - Willie Dunn
From: bobad
Date: 01 Oct 09 - 10:39 PM

Thanks for bumping that up Ad. I was just going to do it but you beat me to it.

I posted the video on a Facebook group called "Harper denies Colonialism - Natives demand justice!" - I thought it was appropriate.

Subject: RE: The Ballad Of Crowfoot - Willie Dunn
From: Beer
Date: 01 Oct 09 - 10:16 PM

refresh.

Subject: RE: The Ballad Of Crowfoot - Willie Dunn
From: bobad
Date: 30 Sep 09 - 11:01 PM

I must say that seeing him at Apple Hollow this past summer was a highlight for me also. I hadn't heard much of him since the late sixties and was happily surprised to see that he was still performing.

Subject: RE: The Ballad Of Crowfoot - Willie Dunn
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Sep 09 - 10:53 PM

How wonderful that he is still around and performing. When I saw the date on the film I was concerned he might not be. The film and ballad are very evocative...amazing he could show and say so much in ten minutes about such atrocities occurring over such a long timespan. Thank you, bobad, for the link. I can see I will spend many hours in there.

For others like me who may just be learning about him, here is his WEBSITE.

Subject: RE: The Ballad Of Crowfoot - Willie Dunn
From: Beer
Date: 30 Sep 09 - 10:28 PM

Hope folks pick up on this thread as Willie is well worth discussing. His performance and Ron Bankley backing him up was a highlight for me at the Apple Hollow Music Fest this "past" summer.

Very few people knew who he was but they sure will not forget him. Why is this? Here is a man that has contributed so much yet is in many ways not known. How sad.
Adrien

p.s.
People are still talking about his great performance.

Subject: The Ballad Of Crowfoot - Willie Dunn
From: bobad
Date: 30 Sep 09 - 08:44 PM

Willie Dunn is a singer, songwriter, musician, playwright, artist, director, award-winning filmmaker, and First Nations ambassador for Canada.

He was a major player in the Canadian folk revival scene, contemporary with such artists as Gordon Lightfoot, Ian and Sylvia, Bruce Murdoch, Penny Lang etc.

Willie's song, The Ballad Of Crowfoot, was made, by him, into a film of powerful archival images set to his rendition of the song. I see it as the Original People's counterpoint to Gordon Lightfoot's "Canadian Railroad Trilogy".

The Ballad of Crowfoot