Black Bear (band)
{{Short description|Canadian musical group}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| background = group_or_band
| name = Black Bear
| image = Black Bear le groupe de drummers Atikamekw de Manawan.jpg
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| caption = Black Bear at the Manawan Pow-wow in 2017
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| origin = {{flag|Canada}}
| genre = Northern contemporary
| years_active = 2000–present
| label = Tribal Spirit Music
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| website = {{url|blackbearsingers.com}}
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Black Bear, sometimes credited as Black Bear Singers, are a Canadian musical group from Manawan, Quebec, who perform traditional First Nations music.[http://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/documentary-looks-at-atcr-collaboration-with-black-bear-1.3666079 "A Tribe Called Red collaborates with Black Bear Singers, releases short doc"]. CBC News, July 12, 2016. They are frequent collaborators with the group The Halluci Nation.
History
Black Bear started in 2000.{{Cite web|url=http://www.blackbearsingers.com/|title=Black Bear Singers - Powwow Drum Music|website=www.blackbearsingers.com|language=en|access-date=2018-03-22}} They showed their pride in their Atikamekw culture and heritage by singing in their language, which is still commonly spoken today.{{Cite web|url=https://tribalspiritmusic.com/artists/black-bear/|title=Black Bear {{!}} Tribal Spirit Music|website=tribalspiritmusic.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-22}} They began forming in the style characterized as northern contemporary, which features high-pitched singing, songs that speed up after 2nd, 3rd and 4th song repetition (three levels of speed) and honour beats that occur at the end of the first phrase of the tail.{{Cite journal|last=Hoefnagels|first=Anna|date=2004|title=Northern Style Powwow Music: Musical Features and Meanings|url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MC/article/viewFile/21605/25094|journal=MUSICulture|volume=31|pages=10–23}}
In 2015 Black Bear recorded an album, Come and Get Your Love: The Tribe Session, which was a shortlisted Juno Award nominee for Aboriginal Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2016.[https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2016/02/02/the-weeknd-drake-and-justin-bieber-lead-the-2016-juno-nominations/#15470ff4698e "The Weeknd, Drake And Justin Bieber Lead The 2016 Juno Nominations"]. Forbes, February 2, 2016.
The group collaborated with The Halluci Nation on their albums Nation II Nation and We Are the Halluci Nation.
The group's album Out of Hibernation was the winner of the 6th Annual Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards (APCMA) in the category of Best Contemporary Powwow in 2011.{{Cite web|url=http://rpm.fm/news/2011-apcma-award-winners-aboriginal-peoples-choice-music-awards/|title=2011 APCMA Award Winners: Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards - RPM.fm|website=rpm.fm|language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-22}}
In 2016, a collaboration with The Halluci Nation was the subject of a short documentary called The Manawan Session.{{Cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/documentary-looks-at-atcr-collaboration-with-black-bear-1.3666079|title=New doc captures collaboration between A Tribe Called Red and Black Bear Singers|publisher=CBC News|access-date=2018-03-22|language=en-US}} They group was featured on A Tribe Called Red's (now The Halluci Nation) album, Welcome to HalluciNation.[https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/09/8-artists-exploding-the-concept-of-native-american.html "8 Artists Exploding the Concept of Native American Music"]. Paste, By Devon Leger | September 16, 2016
Black Bear, along with The Halluci Nation and Tanya Tagaq, performed a medley of "We Are the Halluci Nation", "Indian City" and "SILA" at the 2017 Juno Awards show in Ottawa, Ontario.[https://nowtoronto.com/music/features/indigenous-musics-next-wave/ "We are witnessing Indigenous music's next wave"]. Now Magazine, Jarrett Martineau, August 2, 2017
Discography
- Out of Hibernation (2011)
- Spring Medicine (2012)
- Rez Road (2013)
- Come and Get Your Love (2014)
- Notcimik (2017)
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://www.blackbearsingers.com/ Official website]
- [https://tribalspiritmusic.com/artists/black-bear/ Black Bear] on [https://tribalspiritmusic.com/ Tribal Spirit Music]
Category:First Nations musical groups
Category:Musical groups from Quebec
Category:Juno Award for Traditional Indigenous Artist of the Year winners