Roots and Shoots with Cris Derksen

Canadian cellist and composer Cris Derksen in a special digital edition of Roots and Shoots, a music education outreach program for Vancouver area elementary schools presented by the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC. In a brand new recording from her home in Toronto, Derksen shares a bit about her background, explains how she produces her work, and performs a selection of her favourite pieces.
Program:
0:39 - Introduction to Cris Derksen
2:00 - Instruments and gear
5:17 - “New Heya”
11:35 - “What Did You Do Boy?”
14:44 - Making nature sounds on the cello
15:50 - “North”
20:03 - “Our Home on Native Land”
Cris Derksen is an acclaimed Indigenous cellist and composer, and a proud UBC School of Music alum. Originally from Northern Alberta, she comes from a line of chiefs from the North Tallcree Reserve on her father’s side, and a line of strong Mennonite homesteaders on her mother’s. The Juno Award-nominated artist started playing the cello with the Edmonton Public Strings Program when she was just 10 years old and since then, her compositions have gained worldwide recognition for their brilliant musicality and ultra-unique sound. Derksen braids the traditional and contemporary, weaving her classical background and her ancestry together with new school electronics to create genre-defying music. Derksen performs nationally and internationally as a solo artist, as well as alongside some of Canada’s finest artists and minds including Tanya Tagaq, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Naomi Klein, and Leanne Simpson.
More info: chancentre.com...