Doors at 7:30 pm; Event at 8 pm
Tickets are $20 Day of Show / $18 Advance
Ashkenaz honors the rich cultures of the First Peoples with a wide spectrum of artistry featuring Poet Laureate of San Francisco, Kim Shuck (Cherokee), Indigenous Cultural Presentation Eddie Madril (Pascua Yaqui) and Native Flute by 2014 and 2016 Native American Music Awards Flutist of the Year, Rona Yellow Robe (Chippewa Cree).
Native flute and song by Rona Yellow Robe
2014 and 2016 Native American Music Awards (NAMA) Flutist of the Year, Rona Yellow Robe was born and raised in Havre, Montana and is an enrolled member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy, Montana.
Rona is known for her powerful vocal ability, Native American flute style, and heart-filled presence. She picked up her first flute in 2002 and has been on a Musical and Spiritual journey ever since. It is by playing the Native American flute, which she refers to as her "other voice,” that she has become comfortable sharing with all audiences many aspects of her life that are personal and meaningful to her.
Rona Yellow Robe and Bruce Witham have been creating music together since May, 2008. They have recorded four albums, “Voice of the Trees” (2009), “The Gathering” (2012), a Christmas album entitled “Lighting Our Way” (2013), and most recently, their latest album, "Shoot For The Moon" (2016).
In 2010, Rona and Bruce received the Native American Music Awards nomination as Songwriters of the Year for their song, “Voice of the Trees.” Rona and Bruce's album, "The Gathering" was Nominated for Record of the Year by the 2014 NAMA. Also, Rona was nominated by the 2016 Native American Music Awards for Female Vocalist off their Christmas CD, "Lighting Our Way", and then taking home, once again, Flutistof the Year for their latestCD "Shoot For The Moon".
Rona Yellow Robe and Bruce Witham have performed concerts on stages nationwide; Utah, Wisconsin, California, Florida, Oregon, and Washington, to name a few, and have recently gone International.
Over the past six years they have played hundreds of events including festivals, art shows, schools, weddings, memorial services, powwows, and holiday celebrations. They have honored military veterans and their families with their music, and have worked in close partnership with Multicare Hospice in Washington State for the past seven years. They have begun expanding and honing their skills as music teachers and workshop facilitators.
We have always said, "We will perform for 5 or 500." We have done both. It's all about blessing people's lives with the music.
Rona's and Bruce's Music is created with the Intention to inspire, uplift, and fill the listener with peace, hope, happiness, and visions of joy, love, and prosperity.
Edwardo Madril is a member of the Pascua Yaqui tribe of Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora Mexico. He is an active member of the Native American community and represents his culture as a dancer, singer, teacher, playwright and filmmaker. For the past 20 years, his involvement and commitment to native heritage has provided him with the opportunity to share a wealth of information with diverse communities. He has taught American Indian music at San Francisco State and was a three-year recipient of the California Arts Council Artist-In-Residence grant. As a dancer and educator, he has performed throughout the western United States, including the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival and World Arts West’s arts education program People Like Me. As a playwright and filmmaker, his works have been presented on stage in San Francisco at such venues as The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and The Brava Theater. His short films have been accepted and featured in American Indian Film Festivals in San Francisco, Oklahoma and South Dakota since 2004.
Kim Shuck is a poet and artist with generational ties to San Francisco. Shuck is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and a descendant of Polish immigrants. Her most recent book is Clouds Running In from Taurean Horn Press. She was recently named the 7th poet laureate of San Francisco. She embraces the fool and jester qualities of being a modern poet and artist. Her maternal grandparents met at the Polish Hall on Shotwell and she spent many hours with her mother and grandmother wandering the Mission St. Miracle Mile, taking books out of the Mission Branch library and watching aquarium fish on the ground floor of what used to be Hale’s. She firmly believes in carrying a bubble wand, keys, pen and notebook and cat’s cradle string at all times.
Shuck is widely published in journals, anthologies and a couple of solo books. She enjoys volunteering in SFUSD elementary school classrooms to share her loves of origami, poetry and basket making… in other words, math of various kinds. Kim currently also works with students at the California College of Art in the Diversity Department.
