Flying Down Thunder and Rise Ashen are a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

electronic music duo based in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, who blend electronic

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

with traditional

First Nations music Indigenous music of Canada encompasses a wide variety of musical genres created by Aboriginal Canadians. Before European settlers came to what is now Canada, the region was occupied by many First Nations, including the West Coast Salish and Haid ...

."Rise Ashen and Flying Down Thunder: A little creative combustion"
''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

'', March 5, 2012. Their album ''One Nation'' was a shortlisted

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

nominee for Aboriginal Album of the Year at the

Juno Awards of 2012 The Juno Awards of 2012 honoured Canadian music industry achievements in the latter part of 2010 and in most of 2011. The awards were presented in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada during the weekend of 31 March and 1 April 2012. A week of related events be ...

."Aboriginal Juno category casts a wide net"
''CBC News'' · Mar 31, 2012 The band's members are vocalist Kevin "Flying Down Thunder" Chief and DJ Eric "Rise Ashen" Vani.

History

Chief, an

Algonquin Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to: Languages and peoples *Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia **Algonquin la ...

member of the Long Point First Nation people from

Winneway Winneway is an Indian settlement of Anishinaabe band government in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec. It is geographically located within the territory of Témiscamingue Regional County Municipality and is home to the Long Point First ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, works as an

aboriginal self-government Indigenous or Aboriginal self-government refers to proposals to give governments representing the Indigenous peoples in Canada greater powers of government. These proposals range from giving Aboriginal governments powers similar to that of loca ...

negotiator for the Canadian government department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, while Vani works as a real estate agent. The two met when Vani heard Chief performing during Ottawa's

Winterlude Winterlude is an annual winter festival held in Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec (collectively known as the National Capital Region). Winterlude is run by the Department of Canadian Heritage and was started in 1979. The event is one of Otta ...

. Chief and Vani collaborated to create an album which combined urban electronic music with traditional indigenous rhythms and chants, and stories. The album, ''One Nation'', was released in 2011 on the Balanced label. The album appeared on the !earshot Campus and Community National Top 50 Albums chart in January, 2012 and that year was nominated for a Juno Award for Aboriginal Album of the Year.

Other collaborations

Chief has also collaborated on music with

Eagle & Hawk Eagle & Hawk is a Canadian First Nations rock group based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, active since 1994. They are most noted for winning the Juno Award for Best Music of Aboriginal Canada Recording in 2002 for their album ''On and On''. The band had ...

, and recorded an album in 2013 with his daughter Amber Asp-Chief under the band name Mazinikijik Singers. He won a

Native American Music Award The Native American Music Awards (also known as the NAMAs or "Nammys") are an awards program presented annually by Elbel Productions, Inc., The Native American Music Awards Inc., and The Native American Music Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profit ...

for Best Producer in 2014 for that album. Vani has also collaborated with

Ammoye Shernette Amoy Evans, known by the stage name Ammoye, is a Jamaican-Canadian reggae musician,Richard Johnson"Ammoye’s happy about Sorry" '' Jamaica Observer'', February 20, 2017. most noted as a six-time Juno Award nominee for Reggae Recordin ...

on the 2010 album ''Haffi Win'', and with

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

musicians Cynthia Pitsiulak and Charlotte Qamaniq in the project

Silla + Rise Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korea, Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdom ...

, whose album ''Debut'' was a Juno Award nominee for Indigenous Music Album of the Year at the

Juno Awards of 2017 The Juno Awards of 2017, honouring Canadian music achievements, were presented in Ottawa, Ontario the weekend of 1–2 April 2017. The ceremonies were held at the Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata and televised on CTV with Bryan Adams and Russell ...

."Nunavummiut nominated for Junos"
''

Northern News Services NNSL Media (Northern News Services LTD) is a news and media company based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. It is one of the few remaining independent newspaper companies in Canada, producing all-original content with little to no reliance ...

'', February 20, 2017.

Discography

*''One Nation'' (2011)

References

{{reflist, 2 Canadian electronic music groups First Nations musical groups Musical groups from Quebec