Award-winning tribal funk band, Pamyua, will play at Charles David Concert Hall, Fairbanks, on September 9.
The concert is organized in conjunction with the Helge Ingstad Memorial Symposium on Arctic Change, which the Norwegian Embassy co-hosts with the University of Alaska Fairbanks on September 8-9, 2006.
Erling Rimestad, Minister Counselor for Press- and Culture at the Royal Norway Embassy in Washington, D.C., explains the significance of presenting the Pamyua concert during this conference:
“We see this as an important cultural element in the events that will take place at the University... we would like to present a group of musicians that symbolizes the cross-cultural aspect of the Arctic areas and that manages to combine both traditions and new cultural expressions. Having performed twice at the Riddu Riđđu Festival in Norway in 2001 and 2006, Pamyua is a name well known to many, and especially among the Indigenous Sámi people in Norway.”
Pamuya, a living proof of dynamic Arctic change, has a unique sound which is self-described as “tribal funk” and “world music”. Pamyua reinterprets modern traditions of the Inuit and Yup'ik Eskimo through storytelling, music and dance. Their style fuses Arctic Inuit traditions with world rhythms by featuring Inuit songs and dances from Alaska, inspired by funk, R&B and jazz.
The Alaska founded group, Pamyua, started ten years ago as a dream by two brothers, Stephen and Phillip Blanchett who are of Yup’ik Inuit and African American decent, to share the ancient stories of their people through music and dance.
The third member to join the group, Ossie Kairaiuak, grew up traditional dancing in Chefornak, Alaska. Pamyua was then officially formed and became publicly recognized throughout Alaska as ambassadors of modern Yup’ik culture. In 1996, Karina Møller, Greenlandic Inuit singer, joined the group and Pamuya started touring internationally.
At the 45th Annual Grammy Awards in 2003 the group was chosen to represent Native American music. Their third album, Caught in the Act, won Record of the Year at the 2003 Native American Music Awards
WHEN: September 9 at 8pm
WHERE: Charles David Concert Hall, Fairbanks
INFO: Mrs Trude L. Paulsson, Cultural Affairs Officer, Royal Norwegian Embassy, Washington DC: email tpa@mfa.no, tel: 202-944-8925