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17th Annual Native American Music Awards
WORDS OF INSPIRATION AND LOVE
CELEBRATED AT THE AWARDS
WWE's Mickie James Inducted Into The Hall of Fame
Josh Halverson and Northern Cree Take Two Awards Each
The Revenant's Arthur Redcloud Receives Honorary Award for Excellence
The 17th Annual Native American Music Awards was an evening filled with love and inspiration from some of the biggest celebrities, musicians and actors in the fields of music and entertainment.
Highly dynamic and energetic music performances along with encouraging words of inspiration dominated the evening from; WWE Superstar and SMG Recording artist, Mickie James, Multiple Award winner and The Voice finalist, Josh Halverson, to Nahko Bear who is kicking off his international tour this week, among others. The awards were held on Saturday, October 14th at the Events Center at Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino in Niagara Falls, New York.
Opening the show was the Seneca Nation's traditional female vocal group, Newtown Singers followed by the award winning Powwow drum group, Northern Cree, who gave a powerful vocal and hand drum performance. The group was then joined by DJ Shub and his dubstep influenced dance and electronica which took the entire segment from traditional into the future. Northern Cree won for Best Powwow Recording and shared their second win with DJ Shub for Best Music Video for the song, "Indomitable' which was presented remotely by MTV's Downtown Julie Brown.
Mickie James was inducted into the Native American Music Hall of Fame, by actor Arthur Redcloud who appeared in the movie, The Revenant, with Leonardo DiCaprio. James told the audience, "You don't come with your destiny....You earn it" as she shared her story of success. She also won for Single of the Year for "Shooting Blanks" and performed live belting out three powerful songs including her hit song, "Somebody's Gonna Pay." James is up for a WWE Women's title this Sunday on Pay Per View and is working on a new album. Redcloud received an Honorary Award for Excellence for his role in The Revenant.
Presenting the Artist of the Year Award was Felipe Rose, original member of the Village People, who was joined by his group from a live remote, and presented Josh Halverson with the award. Halverson, a previous award winner from 2013, acknowledged the awards first supported him before anyone else including The Voice, and encouraged the audience to offer "love first." Rose hosted the Awards' pre-show Red Carpet event. Halverson also took home Best Folk Recording.
Nahko, who gave a stellar and moving solo acoustic performance received Record of the Year for his recording, Hoka which he released with Medicine for the People. He is about to release a new recording entitled, Nahko, My Name Is Bear on October 20th.
Kelly Derrickson, took the evening's Best Female Artist award and performed two songs including the uplifting "Rise Up".
Brothers Lil Mike and Funny Bone who won Group of the Year in 2016 and were contestants on America's Got Talent, gave a special performance which included their hit single, "Do The Rain Dance". The brothers later joined Lifetime Achievement recipient, Gary Farmer, and the Troublemakers featuring previous award winners, Marc Brown and Derek Miller, for a closing performance. Former Mrs. Universe, Ashley Callingbull presented Farmer with his award who has over 100 movie and television credits.
A special video tribute was held in honor of the late flutist, Joseph Fire Crow. House band, The Ed Koban band performed flawlessly and provided backing instrumentation for Josh Halverson with special guest Carsen Gray, Kelly Derrickson, as well as Mickie James.
Awarded for Debut Artist of the Year, was the incredibly talented, 17-year old Lucas Ciliberti. The drum group, Black Bear Brothers accepted Debut Group of the Year along with twelve young children from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
Other award winners in attendance include; Artson for Best Music Video Narrative, Conrad Benally for Best Male Artist, James Edmund Greeley for Best Traditional Recording, Jan Michael Looking Wolf for Best Music Video Performance, Randy McGinnis for Flutist of the Year, Sten Joddi for Best Rap Hip Hop Recording, Bearheart Kokopelli who came in from Austria to receive the Native Heart Recording.
Over 18,500 individual voters participated in the Award's national voting campaign. The awards were emceed by National Indian Gaming Association's Ernie Stevens Jr. and were broadcast live by WGWE radio and streamed live by Singlefeathermedia.com. Plans for rebroadcasts are underway.
The Native American Music Awards proudly congratulates all the Award winners.
NATIVE AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS
2017 WINNERS
Artist of the Year
Josh Halverson
“Year of the Thunderbird”
Debut Artist of the Year
Lucas Ciliberti
“Rainmaker”
Debut Group of the Year
Black Bear Brothers
“Songs from Cheyenne Creek”
Best Female Artist
Kelly Derrickson
“I Am”
Flutist of the Year
Randy McGinnis
“The Journey - hi a vi si i”
Group of the Year
The Cody Blackbird Band
“Live From Chicago”
Best Male Artist
Conrad Benally
“Always And Forever”
Record of the Year
“Hoka”
Nahko and Medicine For The People
Song of the Year
“Shooting Blanks”
Mickie James
Best Music Video
“Indomitable”
DJ Shub & Northern Cree Singers
Best Music Video For A Performance
“Ascension”
Jan Michael Looking Wolf Band
Best Music Video For A Narrative
“Never Give Up”
Artson, Supaman & Quese Imc
Native Heart
Bearheart Kokopelli
Bernhard Mikuskovics (3rd from left)
“Native Heart”
Best Country Recording
“You’ve Got to Go Back the Way That You Came”
Danielle Egnew
Best Folk Recording
“Year of the Thunderbird”
Josh Halverson
Best Gospel/Inspirational
“Awake, Arise and Shine”
Callie Bennett
Best Instrumental Recording
“Songs of the Earth”
Vince Redhouse
Best Native American Church Recording
“Simplicity”
Cheevers Toppah
Best Pop Recording
“Celebration”
Cherokee National Youth Choir
Best Pow Wow Recording
“It’s A Cree Thing”
Northern Cree
Best Rap/Hip Hop/R&B Recording
“The 7th Generation Prophecy”
Sten Joddi
Best Rock / Best Blues Recording
“Take Me Back”
Levi Platero
Best Traditional Recording
“Before America”
James Edmund Greeley
Best Waila Recording
“Creed and Culture”
Native Creed
Lifetime Achievement Award
Gary Farmer
Honorary Award of Excellence
Arthur Redcloud
Hall of Fame
Mickie James
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