THUNDER BAY – The Fort William Gardens was alive with music this weekend as the city hosted its third annual Maamawe Summer Festival and Showcase.
The event brought out 10 local Indigenous artists to showcase their musical talents on Saturday.
The festival aims to bring the community together in a positive way, while also highlighting the contributions of local Indigenous artists.
It's also meant to be a celebration of music and crafts, along with live performances. The event also features a crafters fair.
Ron Kanutski, master of ceremonies for the event, said it’s going to be a day of music.
“What is really nice about this event is it’s an opportunity for Indigenous musicians to get out and perform.
“It’s an opportunity for people to hear their music because most of the folks that are going to be here are singer/songwriters playing original content,” he said.
Kanutski chased the dream of being a musician until he was 22.
“I hung up my guitar strap and chased other things. But music has always been a passion. I’ve travelled right across North America to go and see music of all genres. I just have a genuine love for music,” he said.
Kanutski was proud of all the performers.
“When they find their passion and they find their dream and they chase it - I think there's a lot of people who have aspirations, but never follow through for whatever reason.
“That's the biggest piece is doing what they love doing and the music industry is very, very hard,” Kanutski said.
Co-organizer David Wilkinson-Simard said they started the Maamawe Festival back in 2022 because of how much local talent was in the community.
“Maamawe Festival started as a result of us having so much talent in the community and not having the time or space to hold in an event. That was kind of what came as a result of National Indigenous People’s Day.
“We'd always found that we didn't have enough time for artists. So, what we want to do is create their own space. Today, we have all kinds of different genres of music, Indigenous music, and a lot of storytelling and a lot of crafters. We want to let people know what's going on in the community.
“We invited community organizations to come down and tell the community what's available to them. This is what the whole event is about,” Wilkinson-Simard said.
The event had everything from hand drumming to hip hop music. They had some folk singers, and some rock and roll, he said.
“It's really important that we showcase all the different kinds of musicians, but also how technology has changed the way that we hear music, how we see music,” he said.
