First Aboriginal Prairie Showcase to rock Regina

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Created on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 09:31

by Ntawnis Elyse Piapot

Aboriginal singers and musicians will get a chance to showcase their talents on stage this month.  The first-ever Aboriginal Prairie Showcase is being held at the Exchange Club on March 27.

The showcase is being funded by the Urban Aboriginal Strategy. The idea to hold the showcase spawned from the highly successful Voices of the North showcases.

“This is the first (Aboriginal Prairie Showcase) in southern Saskatchewan,” said Joellen Haywahe, who sits on both committees for the Urban Aboriginal Strategy and the Aboriginal Prairie Showcase.

“(UAS) hopes the Aboriginal Showcase will be self-sustaining and be held every year, just as Voices of the North is,” said Haywahe.

Auditions for the show were held in February. Over 20 performers showed up and twelve were chosen.
“We had judges who weren’t from the aboriginal community to make the judging and scoring fair,” said Haywahe.

Judges included a member of SaskExpress.

 “We have two flute players, three bands, and the rest are solo acts,” said Haywahe.

Some of the bands playing are Distant Distortion and Indifference. Regina will also get to see a new group called Snake Oil Salesmen that was recently created. Their premiere performance will be at the showcase.

“They were pretty spectacular so we were quite amazed that they just put that band together,” said Haywahe.

One of the performers that will be there is Elvis Ballentyne. Ballentyne is from the Peter Ballentyne First Nation in northern Saskatchewan. He has been singing since he was six years old.

“I do a lot of original music,” said Ballentyne. He has performed at many events in the past including the Indian Summer Music Festival.

“(My old band) and I put out a self-titled album called Out of the Blue. We were also nominated for an Aboriginal People’s Choice award,” said Ballentyne.

Members of the media got to preview some of the talent at a press conference at the First Nations University on March 14.

“This is a chance for media to get involved and help us advertise the event,” said Haywahe.

“We have limited tickets and there is only space for 200 people at the Exchange so hopefully we can sell out soon,” said Haywahe.

For more information you can look to Facebook under 'Aboriginal Prairie Showcase' or email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Advance tickets are $10 and $15 at the door.

Above: Performers audition for the showcase at the Exchange club Feb. 20

Photo courtesy of Alison Kimbley, APS.