RECORDING PROJECTS

Recording Projects

Past Recording Project:
Yukon Women In Music is proud to be creating our 4th Compilation CD of Yukon women musicians. Keep an eye out for our CD Release concert at the Yukon Arts Centre in November 2012.
The Whitehorse CD Release concert took place last November at the Yukon Arts Centre. It was one of the best musical events in 2012.




Congrats to all of the musicians that made all of the tours possible and to Nicole Edwards for leading the way!Haines Junction

  • YWIM’s  4th Compilation CD

           Andrea Burgoyne   “The Night Wins”
           Sylvie Painchaud   “Me Voila”
           Kim Rogers   “I’m the Girl”
           Claire Ness   “Call of the Yukon”
           Karen Furlong   “Fear and Common Sense”
           Blue Hibou   “Courir Sur La Plage”
           Brenda Berezan   “Slide Over”
           Lauren Tuck   “Pourquoi”
           Sara MacDonald   “The Sun Too Will Die”
           Kate Weekes & Keitha Clark with Home Sweet Home   “Sense of Distance”
           Rose Kirchner   “Fireweed”
           Fawn Fritzen   “I’m a Fool for You”
           Nicole Edwards   “I Still Have Something”
           BJ MacLean   “This Road”




There were a total of 22 submissions for this project and 14 applicants were selected to have their song on the final CD.  The selections were made by an outside jury of 6 members of the Canadian music scene arranged for YWIM by Music Yukon. Comments came back from jury members that they were in.  Over the winter/spring of 2008 producer Lynn Miles & engineer Christine Church were flown to Whitehorse to work with Yukon music community. They hosted a series of music-based workshops and recorded 12 YWIM members at Old Crow Recording, creating our newly released CD Tether, Hooks and Velcro.

How the album came about:

Women throughout the Yukon were invited to submit a demo of a song they had written to be considered for the CD. A half hour of free studio time was provided for women to record a rough demo to submit. The submissions were considered by an outside jury and 12 songs were chosen for the compilation CD. The women who wrote these 12 songs then worked with Lynn & Christine in the studio to create a fully produced album.

The album is named Tether, Hooks & Velcro after one of the songs on the album by Lara Lewis. YWIM released the CD in November of 2008 at the Yukon Arts Centre and is currently touring the album throughout the Yukon.

 

2004 - YWIM Compilation CD

 This CD is respectfully dedicated to Dereen Hildebrand (1952-2004). Dereen was a well-respected Yukon artist, a supporter of YWIM and a friend. Her artwork is featured on the album cover.

YWIM 2004 artists: 
Anne Louise Genest, Danette Readman, Deborah Turner-Davis, Natalie Edelson, Nicole Edwards, Kim Beggs, Barbara Chamberlin, Annie Avery, Peggy Hanifan, Daphen Mennell, Dos Chicas Suaves (Danette Readman & Lisa Turner), Sonja Andersson and Carol Diamond, BJ MacLean, Double A (Anne Turner & Annie Avery)

A gala concert at the Yukon Arts Centre celebrated the release of YWIM 2004.

 

2000 - Millenium CD Project: ANCIENT WISDOM

To commemorate the millennium, Yukon Women In Music partnered with the Society for Education & Culture in Haines Junction to record a CD from a live concert in Kluane country.
The CD is called Ancient Wisdom and features: Teri-Lynn Puckett, Shauna McLarnon, Barbara Chamberlin, Anne Louise Genest, Susie Ross, Kendall Sullivan, Kim Rogers, Peggy Hanifan, Kim Barlow, Annie Avery and Nicole Edwards. The title track to the album ‘Ancient Wisdom’ was written by Susie Ross and Barbara Chamberlin.
YWIM chose October: Women’s History Month to partner with the Women’s Directorate and the Yukon Archives to celebrate with a Yukon community tour we called “Nelnah’s Journey”. 
Women are often underrepresented in history and in the music industry. This tour gave us the opportunity to present Yukon history in a relevant and entertaining way while introducing role models for future young performers and leaders.
The tour included: A concert featuring 6-8 Yukon women songwriters. Communities on the tour included: Haines, Alaska, Haines Junction, Atlin, Teslin, Watson Lake, Carmacks, Faro, Mayo, Dawon City, Carcross,, Old Crow and Whitehorse
Performers varied at each concert and included: Bodra Aliyah, Annie Avery, Kim Barlow, Barbara Chamberlin, Natalie Edelson, Nicole Edwards, Debbi Edzerza & Marija Schalaffke, Karen Furlong, Anne Louise Genest, Liz Hall, Peggy Hanifan, Dominique Jarry-Shore, Dinah Laing, Vanessa Marshak, Shauna McLarnon, Lana Rae, Danette Readman, Kim Rogers, Susie Ross, Eva Stehelin, Kendall Sullivan and Anne Turner.
School workshops varied from community to community including: songwriting, guitar, keyboards, voice, music and team-building, the music industry and etc.
An archival photographic display featured Yukon women in history. A resource person worked with students to create a “Living Archive” that was displayed at the concert and is housed at the Yukon Archives. Local artists and artisans were invited to show their works during the reception.
The finale was: Nelnah’s Journey: a Festival of Women’s Music held at the Yukon Arts Centre in January 2001. In addition to YWIM local artists, we invited Veda Hille, Mae Moore and Mother of Pearl to perform and facilitate workshops.

Honouring NelnahBessie John (March 1923-June 2000)

This land is the land that had the blood of my mother when she gave me birth. Your mother did the same so we are all one blood. We are of the earth, we come from the earth, and we go back to mother earth.”

Bessie John (Nelnah) was raised in the traditions of the Upper Tanana and Tuchone people. Her family moved on the land between Coffee Creek and Ts’oogot Gaay or Little Scottie Creek, along the Alaska-Yukon border.
For people of that generation, “your life was your work and your work was your life.” It was physically and intellectually demanding to prepare for and survive the long, extremely cold winters of this area. There was the heavy work of tanning hides, hauling meat, water and food for the extended family. She also ran a large dog team and supported her family with the money she made from her trapline.
Bessie never had a chance to go to school in her youth. She very much appreciated the chance to upgrade when, under the leadership of Ray Marnoch, the Yukon Vocational School started Adult Education at the Old Whitehorse Indian Village. Bessie made many friends there with other adults from around the Yukon.
A major highlight for Bessie was training as a Native Language Instructor with the Yukon Native Language Centre. She held John Ritter in the highest regard because he not only learned to speak her language, but also because he designed a program in which adult Naïve people with little formal education could obtain teaching certificates, a program supported by her son-in-law Tony Penikett’s government. Bessie was presented with her certificate in 1992 by then Chancellor Pierre Berton at Yukon College.
Bessie taught the Upper Tanana language at Beaver Creek School from 1989 to 1993 and retired in 1994. In 1995 she produced the Upper Tanana Scottie Creek Dialect Glossary with much credit to Dr. Jim Kari and Daniel Tlen.
Bessie recorded many native songs for TV and radio and native medicine information for the Council of Yukon First Nations staff, and she was a regular guest at the Yukon International Storytelling Festival. In all her language and cultural work she was assisted by her daughter, Doris Johns.
Bessie was very, very proud of her heritage. She recorded much traditional knowledge with her good friend, Anthropologist Norm Easton, and also with her daughter, Lula Johns-Penikett.
Nelnah always tried to pass on her cultural knowledge to her beloved grandchildren. She is greatly missed by her friends and relations throughout Alaska and the Yukon.