Alberta-based Cree multi-disciplinary artist Jessica McMann celebrates the launch of new original classical album Prairie Dusk with concert and tour.
Album Release and Tour Kick Off
Sun, Oct 29, 2023 5:00 PM – 7:30 PM MDT
Found Books & Shop
208 1st Street W Cochrane
Doors open 4:30pm, Music starts 5:00pm
Tickets on Eventbrite: Jessica McMann: A Night of Music and Celebration
Found Books of Cochrane AB opens their doors Sunday, October 29th for a special concert event celebrating the release of Alberta Cree artist Jessica McMann’s latest masterpiece, Prairie Dusk. This is a beautiful and important collection of compositions deeply rooted in the narratives of home, family and land, evoking the expansive landscapes of the prairie, foothills and Rocky Mountains.
“This album wasn’t what I set out to record,” says McMann. “Prairie Dusk is so much more than I could have ever imagined. I allowed myself to be free from restriction and to write my own reality through my instrument. It is a vulnerable work, and I am so incredibly happy to those who stepped into this journey with me.” Jessica will be re-joined by original album collaborators Navajo pianist Connor Chee (Arizona, USA), violist Holly Bhattacharya (Revelstoke, BC) and Cree Métis baritone Jonathon Adams (Calgary, AB).
This special event not only celebrates the release of Jessica’s sophomore album but also her 36th birthday, making it a double delight for all in attendance.
Jessica is an Alberta -based Cree (Cowessess, SK), multi-disciplinary artist. She interweaves land, Indigenous identity, history, and language throughout her dance and music creation/performance practice. A classically trained flutist, she holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Calgary and an MFA in Contemporary Arts from Simon Fraser University. Her work fuses together traditional language and dance with her own contemporary experiences as an Indigenous woman and Two-Spirit person.
Prairie Dusk Track Listing
1. Kayâs-âyiwan
2. The River Has Many Ways of Being
3. Stories Of My People
4. Lament for Small Souls
5. Mountain Prairie
6. Otêmihin
7. The Realities We Have Made
8. For Nikâwiy (deliberate and intentional, our suffering)
9. Pekiwewina
Jessica McMann (Flute, Alto Flute, Bass Flute, Voice), Connor Chee (Piano), Jonathon Adams
(Voice), Holly Battacharya (Viola, Bowed Piano), Kenna Burima (Producer), Tianna Delorme
(Album Artist)
Prairie Dusk is a follow-up album to her award winning first album Incandescent Tales which was released in June of 2021. That Indigenous classical album won the 2022 YYC Music Classical Album of the Year and Gold Medals in the Global Music Awards.
A 2022 and 2023 Western Canadian Music Awards Nominee, she is working on a new alt-pop recording to be released summer of 2024. Her musical, composition, and soundscape work focuses on land-based creation and ideas of connection, disconnection, and home.
Jessica currently resides in Cochrane, Alberta, where she works for the City of Calgary as Curator of Indigenous Art. She is also cofounder and co-director Wild Mint Arts, an Indigenous arts company and is a Laureate of the Hnatyshyn Foundation REVEAL Indigenous Art Awards (2017).