Leela Gilday

Good morning Tumblr peeps! Today I PROMISE i will post some vids and more reflections... :) 

It's only -27 degrees here in Inuvik today... balmy!! 

Good morning!

I'm in Hay River working with Rick Fines teaching Blues in the Schools... Very cool experience. I'm going to try and post some more videos later today. 

Last night I won in the Female Aboriginal Entertainer of the Year category of the Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards. It was a big moment for me.  This year has been a tough one, and so the fact that so many people took the time to vote for me and say that what I do is important to them, means the world to me. 

I got really emotional in my speech last night as I looked out across the huge crowd of beautiful people- native people from so many different nations there last night- and I was reminded of what I gleaned when I sang at the TRC national event earlier this year: That it is a miracle that we are here at all (as native people), given the systemic across-the-board genocide that was residential school... and the fact that there are so many strong, positive, amazing native people with so many wonderful gifts that we give to the world is a continuing testament to our strength and resilience. And a sure sign that we do have an important place in this world.  

I am just one artist, lucky enough to be able to relate some of the stories that are important to me on a broad platform. And the reason I can do that is because of the people that support me. So here are some of the people. There are far too many to name each one, but they are:

My parents, my family, close and extended. My partner. My fans. My beautiful and amazing friends the world over (who are like my family), my band, my agent, the many people who have extended support both emotional and financial over the years, the many people who have challenged me to be a better artist over the years, my colleagues in the native music industry, my colleagues in the music industry in general, my ancestors on both sides of my family who fought for my life, and mostly to the Creator for the gift of music. I wake up every day and thank God for my life and for the chance to live it well.

Mahsi Cho

Thanks everyone for coming out to a great show last night- all those girls Cassidy, Kyla, and Ali were fantastic.... Loved having the band there with me- I'll upload the vids I took when I have a lil time. However- tonight is the night I find out whether I win the Female Aboriginal Entertainer of the Year award. I'm on pins and needles..... 

Sad but true. The ab collab of Traditional Fusion has come to a close.... We collaborated on a total of 6 songs ,which were totally amazing. I am going to download a snippet of the song we did with Pacific Curls for a sneak preview... 

Hi Digital Drum peeps-

After being on the road for about a week and a half in Whitehorse, Edmonton, and Ottawa, I landed in the 'Peg on Saturday, October 29th... I've had an amazing time collaborating all week with Gabriel Ayala, members from Pacific Curls (from New Zealand!!), the infamous Jason Burnstick, JC Campbell and the lovely Tracy Bone. We've created 6 collaborative pieces so far, with the help of Ray "Coco" Stevenson on the traditional drum/vocals... It's been AWESOME spending days just getting to know these other artists, and working on creating songs with them. 

Today we went to the kickoff for Aboriginal Music Week, hosted by Lisa Meeches, and featured a number of cool speakers and an Outstanding Manitoban award that was given to Ali Fontaine. Ali will be opening for me tomorrow night along with another couple of young singer/songwriters. I'm really looking forward to the show, and to the rest of the festivities!!!! Tomorrow afternoon the guys fly in from Vancity just in time to meet up for soundcheck. I'll video some stuff on this cool new flipcam I have so that I can share it with all of you....