INDIE MUSIC SCENE & NATIVE AMERICA COME TOGETHER TO WELCOME ALTERNATIVE NORWEGIAN SÁMI BAND, ADJÁGAS, TO THE UNITED STATES FOR A TWO-WEEK MINI-TOUR

United States—The acclaimed alternative folk band from the Arctic of Norway, Adjágas, is set to have their introductory tour across the United States beginning July 3 and continuing through July 16. Supporting Adjágas are some of the best independent bands America has to offer, in part to welcome them here for their first tour across the States and also to show support for the culture of the indigenous people of the Scandinavian Arctic, the Sámi people. Along the way, Native American communities and musicians will also greet their European cousins to Indian Country. The two-week tour, which begins in Los Angeles and ends in New York City the first two weeks of July celebrates Adjágas ability to cross world-bridges in both culture and sound with the independent music scene and our indigenous heritages.

Adjágas is Sara Marielle Gaup and Lawra Somby—joikers (from the word joik, pronounced “yoik” and is a combination of singing and chanting) of Sámi origin from Norway. Both are backed by an experimental folk band. Joining Adjágas tour is Max Crawford on trumpet and banjo (of Poi Dog Pondering, the Archer Prewitt band and Wilco recordings). Joiking is an integral part of Sámi history, tradition and culture and bands as well known as The Sea & Cake,  Ethan Gold and Native musicians including Blackfire and Brent Greenwood, are coming together to support Adjágas by sharing double-billed acts in their hometowns.

On July 3, Adjágas will have a concert at the Hotel Café in Los Angeles with Ethan Gold whose recent album “Songs From A Toxic Apartment” received rave reviews from music journals such as Pitchfork and Glide magazines for his combined natural and electronic sounds including string sections and synthesizers. Opening for the main acts are Too Cute To Kill from Oklahoma, Willem Broad (of the FIM band) and Archer Black from L.A. The globally known Navajo punk rock band, Blackfire, will welcome Adjágas to their hometown of Flagstaff, Arizona where they will host a community event at the Taala Hooghan and again at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock on July 7. Adjágas will then travel to Santa Fe and perform for an art installation project, “The Due Return” at the Center for Contemporary Art. In Oklahoma on July 10, Adjágas will share the stage with Oklahoma’s Deerpeople and Fiawna Forté, two bands that recently graced the 2011 SXSW Film and Music Festival as part of Oklahoma’s music showcase at the Buffalo Lounge. Ponca powwow singer, Brent Greenwood, Adjágas and Fiawna Forté will also have unplugged performances during Adjágas welcoming party at the This Land Press (Oklahoma’s first new media company) backyard, with teepee and all. Chicago’s favorite indie musicians, Archer Prewitt and Sam Prekop of The Sea and Cake, who have heavily influenced bands like Broken Social Scene and The White Stripes, will introduce them to their local scene on July 13 at the Empty Bottle. Adjágas will end their tour in New York City, opening for Jimbo Mathis & The Tri-State Coalition at Littlefield NYC in Brooklyn and have a solo performance with The Dust Diver Flash (Laura Ortman and Bee & Flower’s Dana Schecter)  in Manhattan’s Cine M Art space. Spy FM radio will have a special focus on the tour on his show The SPY’s Eye on NDN Country.

[SPECIAL NOTE: Adjágas tour is supported through the Norwegian government and Sámi cultural organizations and is a not-for-profit tour. If you would like to help provide additional support for the tour and thus help spread the beauty of the Sámi culture and music, click here: BRINGING ADJAGAS TO AMERICAN AUDIENCES. To submit to our 501(c)3 umbrella organization go here: and donate to a tax-deductible organization via PayPal click HERE.]

Integral to this tour are the friends along the way who have helped bring this together, Joe Kennedy of Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Ethan Gold, Archer Prewitt of The Sea & Cake, Wes and Maura Studi, Julie Porter of The Oklahoma Film & Music Office, Jason Silverman and Filip Celander of the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe, Berta Benally of Blackfire, Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan of New York, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian, Kyle Reinhart at the Scandinavia House, Ferris O’Brien and D.G. Smalling of Spy FM Radio.

Adjágas is a well-known act and popular band in Europe, having opened the Glastonbury Festival in back in 2007 as well as performing at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver in Canada. Adjágas’ music is based around the concept of the joik, a traditional musical form which describes something not with its words but its sounds. Each member of the band brings their own personal generational and cultural memory to the songs and collectively the band takes listeners on a journey into the heart of their legacy.

For current event schedule, see the EVENTS section at top. Additional tour dates may be announced and with detailed information on how to obtain tickets to the shows. For more information and updated schedules, please contact Killer Whale PR+M: Michelle Svenson (918) 810-2368, msvenson@gmail.com + Leah Studie (405) 762-2918, leahstudie@gmail.com, http://www.killerwhaleprm.org

Today’s FREE Listen: “Hás it!” from Adjágas latest album “Manu Rávdnji”

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EXTRA EXTRA! Listen to Ethan Gold‘s “Royal Flush” from his album “Songs From a Toxic Apartment”

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Adjágas and Killer Whale PR+M graciously thank the Royal Norwegian Consulate Generals in New York and San Francisco and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Washington, DC. Additional support for Adjágas promotional and cultural exchange tour has been graciously provided by Sapmimusic and the Sámi Council.

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JIM JARMUSCH PRESENTS THE CLOSING NIGHT CONCERT FOR THE 2011 NATIVE AMERICAN FILM + VIDEO FESTIVAL FEATURING FAMILY DYNAMICS, THE NEKID BANDIT, ELISAPIE ISAAC, MARTHA REDBONE AND SPECIAL GUESTS DREW NIX AND GARY FARMER

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(Click on poster above to RSVP and forward event invite on Facebook)

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New York, NY—The Smithsonian’s 15^th Native American Film + Video Festival Closing Night celebration concert is presented by indie filmmaker Jim Jarmusch and will feature over four indigenous artists, local bands Family Dynamics and Martha Redbone, Canadian siren—Elisapie Isaac, Oklahoma’s The Nekid Bandit and special guest musicians, Drew Nix and Gary Farmer on Sunday, April 3, 2011 at Brooklyn’s Southpaw music hall. The evening’s free event is made possible by Four Directions Productions, Quebec Government Office in New York and Dutch Boy Burger.

NY independent filmmaker who directed what has been considered one of the best Native American films ever made, Dead Man, Jim Jarmusch lends his name again to the Closing Night Celebration Concert for the 2011 Native American Film + Video Festival (NAFVF). The 2009 NAFVF Closing Night featured over five bands and filled the 5,000 sq foot venue, Southpaw, which TimeOutNY Magazine has named one of the top five venues in all of New York City. The NAFVF is honored by Jarmusch’s kind support.

This year’s line-up for the 2011 NAFVF concert includes a wide variety and musical styles chosen to compliment each other and appease the diverse tastes of the over 100 guest filmmakers at this year’s festival.

New York’s Family Dynamics features White Mountain Apache musician Laura Ortman and creates a textural improvisational sound using electronics, voice and orchestral instrumentation. Family Dynamics features four members from the band Stars Like Fleas. In addition to the arty gigs of Family Dynamics and Stars Like Fleas, members have also played with a variety of talents, including: Björk, Rhys Chatham, Vincent Moon, John Zorn, Sean Lennon, Deerhoof, TV on the Radio & Thurston Moore. Click on the band’s full bio HERE.

To hear new tracks from Family Dynamic’s upcoming album, please contact Robert Cangiano. Press Only.

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The Nekid Bandit features Jef Johnston who takes on an Irish-like folk-rock rhythm and places forward vocal experimentation and crafty guitar work with electronic accents. Johnston, a Cherokee/Choctaw from Oklahoma, scored the award-winning film from 2007 by Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Creek), Four Sheets to the Wind. NY Texan transplant, Drew Nix, whose music is also featured on Four Sheets to the Wind guests on The Nekid Bandit. Nix blends contemporary folk and country, sometimes with an upbeat and humoristic approach. Read The Nekid Bandit Bio HERE.

Listen to The Nekid Bandit’s “Point of You”:

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Inuk singer/musician Elisapie Isaac is rising on the Montreal new music scene and already has one Juno award-winning album from her collaboration project Taima. Her music, called “Arctic electric new cool” and “Polar Pop,” pulls the listener in with her dreamy vocals and spritely whimsicalness. Read her bio HERE.

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Listen to Elisapie Isaac’s “Inuk”:

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Closing the night will be Brooklyn’s Martha Redbone whom TimeOutNY has said “In our opinion Redbone deserves Alicia Keys level success. She has the deep funk to back up her soul queen image and live she brings a groove-heavy powerhouse of a band”. Martha’ new indie soul music will be joined with guest musician and actor Gary Farmer (yes, the same Gary Farmer from Jarmusch’s Dead Man and Chris Eyre’s Smoke Signals), who also splits his time between community activism, acting and with his blues band, Gary Farmer and the Troublemakers singing and playing a masterful harmonica. Read Martha’s bio HERE.

Listen to Martha Redbone’s “Skin”:

ADDITIONAL NY CONCERTS:

Two of the bands, The Nekid Bandit and Elisapie Isaac will also appear in New York the same week. The Nekid Bandit w/ Drew Nix will perform at Williamsburg’s Pete’s Candy Store, Saturday, April 2, from 11:00 pm to 12:30 am. Elisapie Isaac will grace Manhattan’s Lower East Side’s The Living Room stage for three nights starting at 7pm on April 4, 5 and 6.

The Native American Film + Video Festival is dedicated to indigenous production from throughout the Americas, designed to be a welcoming place for Native filmmakers and other participants in indigenous film.  In this year’s Festival more than 100 participants in Native film will be here from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Suriname, and the United States. This provides the audience with an unparalleled opportunity to see great new films and to be part of conversations with creative people from so many Native communities.

The NAFVF11 Closing Night Concert will be held on Sunday, April 3, from 10 pm until closing at Southpaw, 125 Fifth Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11217. Tel: (718) 230-0236. www.spsounds.com. FREE ADMISSION. For more information on the festival, visit the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian Film + Video Center at www.nativenetworks.si.edu or call (212) 514-3731.

FOR PRESS ONLY: If you would like to hear more tracks by the featured artists, contact Robert Cangiano to send you the private Soundcloud link for the festival line-up.

For Band bios, click HERE.

NEW ALBUM RELEASE BY LAURA ORTMAN (DUST DIVE FLASH), “SOMEDAY WE’LL BE TOGETHER”

NEW ALBUM RELEASE  by THE DUST DIVE FLASH

“Opening Ceremony” from the Dust Dive Flash latest album, “Someday We’ll Be Together”

SOMEDAY WE’LL BE TOGETHER

Sweet Apache violin, heartbreaking nostalgia wrapped in slices of reverberated fleeting thoughts of the extraterrestrial, bares the light and multi-dimensionality of Brooklyn-based artist/composer Laura Ortman. Haunting and enigmatic, a soundtrack to your inner thoughts, Dust Dive Flash breathes innocent rays into complex dark worlds.

CD release (and Cassette Tape release parties) around the Nation, this holiday season! See EVENTS page for the DEC. 27th show with JEFF JOHNSTON (soundtrack for Sterlin Harjo’s FOUR SHEETS TO THE WIND) in Tulsa, OK.

THE DUST DIVE FLASH is LAURA ORTMAN of NYC’s Family Dynamics (formerly Stars Like Fleas), Silver Summit and the Dust Dive. She has performed with notable artists such as Martha Colburn, John Zorn and Samantha Crain. In 2008, Laura founded the first all-Native orchestra, The Coast Orchestra and performed to a sold-out audience at the American Museum of Natural History in NY and at the National Gallery of Art in DC. Her solo work is often soft and hynoptic, drawing landscapes and portraits with violin, electric guitar, piano, Apache violin, megaphone and pine tree branches. Her second solo album “Someday We’ll Be Together” was recorded by Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, White Zombies, Herbie Hancock) in Brooklyn and is available at THEDUSTDIVEFLASH.BANDCAMP.COM and iTUNES. Visit her Myspace page HERE.

UPDATE : See the latest review and portrait of Laura Ortman by Tulsa photographer, Michael Cooper by clicking   on the ←photo to the left . (01/01/11)

KILLER WHALE PR+M PROUDLY INTRODUCES THREE NEW ARTISTS TO OUR MIX! MEET ACTOR KYLE CONRAD, PHOTOGRAPHER WESLEY LAW AND FILMMAKER PER-JOSEF IDIVUOMA

Killer Whale PR+M proudly announces three new artists that have joined our team, Actor Kyle Conrad, Photographer Wesley Law and Filmmaker Per-Josef Idivuoma! All bring something special and unique to our world and Killer Whale would be amiss to not show off their talents and contributions. So go ahead, read more about them here (or visit our page on “Artists We’re Talking About”).

KYLE CONRAD | Actor | USA

Kyle Conrad was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1984. His displayed his love for acting early in life, running around his house, singing and acting out scenes from “Aladdin.” He attended a fine arts high school, Tulsa Central where he practiced various performing arts as well as baseball and kicking it up with his skateboard. When he was 18, the army called Kyle into action. He was part of the first invading unit to reach Baghdad where they set up relations with the local Iraqis. He had a brief stay back in the States and then another year long deployment in 2005 where his assignment was to drive throughout the country of Iraq completing weekly convoy missions. On his next return home, he did a year of Business Management at Oklahoma State University until he was called back to duty for the Oklahoma National Guard as a Detainees Operations Specialist. He last returned home in October 2008 and has spent over a year contemplating his years in service and the next steps of his life. He’s now renewing his passion for life by exploring and challenging his creative self through acting. He can easily mold himself into a variety of characters and his experience in war obviously lends well to action films. Ah, and he’s also a vampire freak! He would love to delve into the mystery and reveal the strengths and vulnerabilities of the vampire as they face the day to day of eternal life. His high observational talents attract him to films that explore the struggle between good and evil and the personal motivation behind so much power. Along with dramatic roles, he also enjoys bringing out his playful spirit through comedy. This class clown lists “Super Troopers” and “Grandma’s Boy” alongside his favorite dramatic films such as “Fight Club,” “Shawshank Redemption,” “American History X” and “Forrest Gump.” It is easy to come into the presence of Kyle and feel the sincerity, depth and acute awareness he brings to the world. Like Aladdin, Kyle too rises through adversity with the power of magic. Check out his modeling pix from a fun St. Louis photo-shoot with the great Wesley Law! Visit our “Pix” Page at the top.

PER-JOSEF IDIVUOMA | Filmmaker | Sweden

Per-Josef Idivuoma was born and raised in the village of Idivuoma in northern Sweden, and grew up in the woods. He was raised in a reindeer-herding family, and has a close relationship with both his family and the culture. Idivuoma’s strong tie to his reindeer-herding traditions is witnessed in his creativity as he aims to inject Sámi values, morality and lifestyle into his films. Per-Josef expresses himself best in humoristic styles, such as parodies, and he always has a bright and humoristic side to everything in life. If a story doesn’t have any humor in it, it’s not worth telling according to Per-Josef. Per-Josef Idivuoma has a Bachelor’s Degree in Sámi Journalism, and since 2001 he worked at the Sámi radio station in Sweden, but in 2010 he left radio for good to start making movies. His biggest hope is to make a Sámi action-comedy in the future, but first he has to make several more short movies of his twenty-something ideas. Idivuoma’s first movie Čalmmis čalbmái/Eye to Eye (2007) had its World Premiere at the Native Cinema Showcase in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, and was nominated for the Čorvoš Prize at Sámi Film Festival in Kautokeino, Norway. Čurte-Niillas – the (Short) Movie was also nominated for the Čorvos Prize in 2010. Per-Josef is also the co-director, producer and editor of Mollet’s new music video for the song “Mon, Mollet Ja Don” that’s was YouTube released in May 2010. He’s the frontman in the Sámi rock band Mollet which released an EP in 2007 and a 2008 pre-album release on the World Wide Web for the long awaited full length album “Dego Yeah!” that came out in June 2010. He is currently in pre-production for a skateboarding parody film to be shot in 2011 in Stockholm. You can find PJ on Youtube to the links on the right.

WESLEY LAW | Photographer | USA

And last but not least, we would like to introduce you to photographer, Wesley Law. His photographic career started in London documenting East Asian immigrants as they integrated into the European culture. Having won a grant from the Alexia Foundation for World Peace to complete the 1.5 year project, the resulting work has travelled all over the world in a 2006 group exhibit entitled, Eyes on the World. It has graced cities such as New York, London, Athens, Tokyo and Bejing and is met with wide acclaim. Wesley continues to expand his work as globally as he possibly can. Through recent trips to China he has amassed a collection of images of the incredible pace of progress the country has experienced in the past 10 years. From classic images of the Three Gorges before they were flooded to the furthest western city, Urumqi and the superhighway that now bisects the former village. Wesley’s vision has always been to show compassion to both viewers: those who have never been there and those who are from there. Wesley’s latest international travels have taken him as far as the borders of Russia in a country called, Estonia. A former soviet puppet state, Estonia has risen to be called one of the Baltic Tigers. Wesley traveled around the capital city of Tallinn with a 4×5 film camera and lighting equipment to capture striking large format portraits of the landmarks and the people who inhabit the land. Wesley’s images never intend to show the foreign nature of another culture but to display the compassion of difference. Wesley is himself multicultural as his parents are from China, settling in St. Louis to raise a family almost 45 years ago. He draws a lot of his compassion and perspective towards others from the unique experiences growing up Asian-American. Visit his website by either linking on his picture or in the link field to the right. Oh, and he took the fab new pix of Kyle! To see more from this great St. Louie photo shoot, check out our “Pix” page at the top.

Thanks for coming back and visiting us here at Killer Whale PR+M. After a long, trying and hot hot summer, we’re happy to bounce back with these three new talented and über groovy men. Stay tuned for exciting future updates we can’t tell you about just yet, but we promise, cool things are gonna start happening! Cheerios!

YOU HELPED AND NOW IT’S BETWEEN ADJÁGAS AND 1 OTHER BAND TO WIN THE GRAND PRIZE WITH 1 MORE VOTE!

(Listen to Adjágas on Myspace here)

Update (July 7, 2010):

Thank you to everyone that supported Adjágas with your vote! While unfortunately, Adjágas did not win the grant, they feel greatly honored to have been nominated and to see Sámi culture, music and the art of joiking get such recognition after so many years of suppression. They and everyone congratulate Moddi on the A-HA grant win. Now, let’s find a way to bring Adjágas to a town/city near you!

Don’t forget to visit their new WEBSITE too!

Update (July 5, 2010): POLLS are NOW OPEN! Visit Adjágas new website HERE to VOTE. Please VOTE TODAY. Polls close on July 6 in USA/CAN and July 7 in Norway. THANK YOU!  To vote via SMS (you need to have a Norwegian mobile telephone):Eller du kan stemme ved å sende SMS med kodeord A-HA 1 til nummer 2424 så mange ganger du vil 🙂  altså, Tast A-HA 1 og send til 2424 (Sms-tjenesten koster 1 kr per.sms).

Adjágas can, with YOUR HELP, win a $170,000 USD/1 million NOK grant from the legendary Norwegian band A-HA. This is how you can help!

Adjágas is super proud being one of only two bands competing for a huge scholarship. Whether Adjágas or our good friend Paul Moddi Knutsen wins this fantastic grant, will be decided by the people! 🙂 It’s down to Adjágas and Moddi. And we need your help!

We are making this event in order to send all the info you need to help us. The poll does not begin before the 5th of July and lasts for only 2 days. We would therefore like to gather as many helpers as possible in advance, so that we can give you more details when they are ready. What we can say for certain is that one can vote on the Internet and SMS from the 5th to the 7th of July.

$170,000 would mean a lot to Adjágas! Our dreams are to record a music video, a new album and to go touring across the world. We are also embarking concrete plans for a grand launch in Asia and North America. The grant would make all these dreams possible.

Join in on this event page and help us to gather more votes, from your good friends, friends of friends, curious and generous good people – we need everyone’s help. We promise a lot of activity on this event page towards reconciliation, lasting from the 5th to the 7th of July.

Please hit the “ATTENDING” button on the event page to support us. Then you also have the opportunity to win signed CDs and other effects from Adjágas.

CLICK HERE to join via Facebook, or CLICK HERE to join via MYSPACE.

IF you do NOT have either source, e-mail us HERE with the Subject Header: Vote for ADJAGAS! and we will send you the detailed information on how to vote with a reminder when the voting begins!

BLACKHORSE LOWE’S “SHIMÁSÁNÍ” AND PHILIPP ABRYUTIN’S “IVAN AND IVAN” WIN AWARDS AT FESTIVAL PRÉSENCE AUTOCHTONE/MONTRÉAL FIRST PEOPLES’ FESTIVAL

June 19, 2010 (Montréal, Canada)—At the Awards Ceremony held at the McCord Museum, Montréal First Peoples’ Festival organized by Terres En Vue/Land In Sights announced Philipp Abryutin’s IVAN AND IVAN as the winner of the TEUEIKAN GRAND PRIZE for best short film and Blackhorse Lowe’s SHIMÁSÁNÍ as the winning film for best cinematography in the award MEILLEURE DIRECTION PHOTO yesterday in Canada!

“Black and white is an apt choice for Navajo country and the austere majesty of its unattainable horizons. For quenching our thirst for departures and depicting a ponderous reality in the pulsating light seeping into the hogan and shining in the pasturelands, the 2010 First Peoples Festival awards SMOKEY NELSON the BEST PHOTO DIRECTION prize for SHIMÁSÁNÍ by BLACKHORSE LOWE.”

Director Blackhorse Lowe with cinematographer Smokey Nelson and producer David Stevens at the Sundance Film Festival 2010. Photo by Wesley Law.

“For the strong impact of a concise, controlled story line accurately depicting the intergenerational and identity-based laceration so many First Peoples suffered when their children were torn from their natural milieu in the name of progress, and for a strong work of art in which a young director is already affirming an authentic filmmaker’s signature, the 2010 First Peoples Festival awards the TEUEIKAN GRAND PRIZE to a short film that has a lot more to say than many longer films: IVAN AND IVAN by PHILIPP ABRYUTIN.”

Director Philipp Abryutin.

Killer Whale PR+M celebrate these awards with the  filmmakers and cinematographer for their outstanding achievements and are happy to share the news with you.

For more information on the films, please visit their websites (linked within and to the right of this article).  Learn more about the filmmakers under ARTISTS WE’RE TALKING ABOUT above. For more information on Montréal First Peoples’ Festival, click here.

CHEERS TO BLACKHORSE LOWE, SMOKEY NELSON AND PHILIPP ABRYUTIN!