Black Bear Singers is a drum group from the community of Manawan, of the Atikamekw nation in the province of Quebec (Canada). We began singing together in the year 2000, and our style is northern contemporary. We are very proud of our Atikamekw culture and our heritage, as well as our language that is still commonly spoken today. One aspect of our rediscovered cultural identity is vocal expression accompanied by drumming. We sing strong and we gather strength from our song. Kokum, our spiritual grandmother, has always told us to sing, to try hard, and to never give up. We take this very much to heart, and carry her always in our memory.

We have entitled our album "Out of Hibernation" because we conceived it in the spring, when the black bear wakes from its winter sleep. We refer also to the beginning of our powwow season. Spring is a time for us as well to leave home and begin our travels.

We work hard with the hope that we will inspire the younger generation to aspire for excellence using the tools of our culture, within our culture!! (le traduction en Akikamekw vien bien tot!!)

Black Bear: Out of Hibernation: WINNER: Aboriginal Peoples Choice Best Contemporary Powwow 2011

Events

Out of hibernation

Out of Hibernation: We grew up on a reserve called Manawan in mid Quebec. Our first language is Atikamekw, in school we were taught french and on the powwow tail we learned english. As a contemporary powwow group we write songs in Atikamekw which is a language under the Cree language group. Our words are very dynamic and flow very well with the drum. See if you can figure out the Atikamekw word for dance...

listen