FESTIVAL MAINSTAGE

Swollen Members





Moving from San Francisco and sleeping on pizza boxes isn't the ideal scenario for starting a career in hip hop, but for Mad Child that's exactly how things went down. During what was supposed to be a short visit home, Mad Child met Prevail, an MC who was rapidly making a name for himself in the West Coast underground, due to his ability to deliver some of the deadliest freestyles around. The two MC's joined forces and Swollen Members was born.

The duo have collaborated with an awesome array of talented DJs and MCs, including Aceyalone (Freestyle Fellowship), Mix Master Mike (Beastie Boys), Dilated Peoples, Everlast and Chali Tuna (Jurassic 5), and have also played show with Souls of Mischief, Funkdoobiest and others. After dropping four singles, which each sold 10,000 copies, Swollen Members released their debut album, "Balance" on Mad Child's own label, BattleAxe Records. To date the album has independently sold over 35,000 copies worldwide, no doubt in large part to Swollen Members touring schedule, which has seen them perform in Australia, United States, UK, Canada, Japan, and Europe (where, in '99, they played at Glastonbury Music Festival to 10,000 people).

In March, the duo were honoured to receive a Juno Award, for best Rap Recording for their debut album. Instead of sitting back and enjoying the rewards, they have continued to work hard, and they have recorded their second full length, which will hit the streets like a bomb this fall.




Chief Leonard George and Children of Takaya




Chief Leonard George is the primary and elected Chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, and is a man of great vision and dedication. As the spiritual leader of the Children of Takaya Wolf Clan, he has annually taken the festival mainstage and brought forth issues and deep perspectives of his people. He is joined by the traditional drummers and dancers of Children of Takaya.




Subsistencia




Subsistencia are an Indigenous Tribal political punk band from Los Angeles. Marco, on of the members, performed at Volcano last summer, with Aztlan Underground (when one of their vocalists couldn't make the festival), and he is returning to represent, this time with his own project.

The following bio was sent while the band were on tour in Mexico.
Subsistencia was born out of the frustration and the realization of our oppression as a people with a history stemming over 500 years. Rooted in the anarcho-punk scene, the band consciously began to develop a deeper desire to understand and educate ourselves in our culture, our history and our freedom as an indigenous people of this continent. We believe we have suffered social degredation, political oppression and economic exploitation. Part of our mission as a collective of musicians is to be able to create a space where the ideas to combat the enemy on these three levels is possible. We believe through education and the unity of our nation we can truly defeat the enemy, that not only steals our land and imprisons our warriors, but the world in general.

Subsistencia is the word for subsistence in Spanish. We believe that is what our people have done for the last 5 centuries. Our time of subsistence must pass and be born into a time of life and growth. Part of our message is the genetic memory that we carry as a people, and we include in our music the blend of pre-hispanic instruments and modern day instruments. The message of our music is that unity, history, culture, spirituality and the personal revolution. Our collective began over four years ago and we continue to grow and learn more. We hope that through dialogue we can overcome many of the issues that separate us as humans, so that we can see ahead and try to build something for our children and for the generations to come. We invite all nations to learn their history and their culture. Though this may not be an easy road to take, it is one that will enable us to reach our true humanity.




The Dickel Brothers




They're on an established punk label. They've played with metal bands, garage bands and most infamously, MTV-darlings Everclear. Their live antics are legendary. They don't wanna be called bluegrass. They hate being dubbed "fashionably rootsy coutry dudes". They've not even brothers. What they are is a studiously dedicated Appalachian string band, making music last heard, in most circles, about 50 years ago. They successfully capture the spirit of the original string band artists of the 20's and 30's, while adding a new twist. They hail from Portland, Oregon.

They came to preach an ancient music gospel. Open your mind and ears and prepare to be converted!!!!!




dj Downlow
Serving up a delicious mix of jazz, funk, and hip hop. Sunday morning styles to bring in the day.

Downlow has been moving dance floors up and down the coast for the last 4 years. Known for his morning sets that refresh and revive and leave you bouncing and smiling the rest of the day.




Swarm




Swarm is a 6 piece alternative percussion group, whose performances are an exhilarating merger of invented instruments, world beat percussion and primal movement. Their instruments are "one of a kind" handcrafted sculptures, made from found materials such as crushed metal barrels, carved PVC sewer pipes and other recycled materials. The large scale and versatility of the drums, naturally encourages an intensely physical choreography: the performers move with speed and power, spinning the drums around and reconfiguring the stage set-up while still performing.

The intensity and sonic power has to be seen to be believed!!!!




Nucleous Dance Collective Combine the art of dance, hypnotic tribal rhythms and the timeless mystique and power of the fire, and you have an explosive performance.

Rup, Jenny B., Dee and their entourage of fiery freaks are proud to bring the fire to UTV again this year. Prepare yourselves, cause the Volcano's gonna erupt.




Kuttin Kandi




Hailing from Queens, New York, Kuttin Kandi is one of North America's premier female turntablists. After 7 years of Djing, she has mad skills in mixing, scratching and beat juggling, and is also a poet, spoken word artist and writer. She is a member of the 5th Platoon DJ group, co-founder of the 16 female Hip Hop collective Anomolies and president of her own company (Flip Da Lid Entertainment). She was the Ő98 New York Source DJ champion and also the first female in DMC U.S.A. Finals DJ competition that same year. She has performed with an incredible list of artists including Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Wyclef, LL Cool J, Bahamadia, Naughty By Nature and many more.

Kuttin Kandi is also a spokeswoman and cultural advocate, having participated in many panels, workshops and lectures focusing on women in the hip hop community, the struggle for women's rights and Asian artists. She has worked with Lauryn Hill's Refugee Project, The Filipino American Youth program and also coordinated an event in June 2000, which raised over $5000 for Gabriela Network (in their campaign to stop the sex trafficking of women and children).

A DJ spinning phat beats, while at the same time, dedicating themselves to activist work in their own community, is exactly the DJ we are proud to present at the festival.




Red Hip Hop
The Red Hip Hop programming segment began as a collaboration between UTV and members of The Native Youth Movement.

Tribal Wizdom is a collective of young First Nations MC's, spoken word artists and DJ's, who use music as a tool to educate and empower. Combining the new skool sonics of hip hop, with traditional drumming and singing, Tribal Wizdom has created a unique zone where the common thread is the history of their people. Dealing with issues around colonization and sovereignty, Tribal Wizdom offer powerful messages of resistance.

Individual performers, manik, Chilli and os12 are some of the finest, fiercest and most furious MCs in town.




Noelle Hanrahan




Noelle Hanrahan is an investigative journalist, who, since 1992, has produced radio commentaries of journalist and death row resident Mumia Abu-Jamal. She was the editor of "All Things Censored", his 1998 collection of essays , available in both audio and print format. She also produced Mumia's newest CD, "175 Progress Drive", to be released this July, and which features Mumia's never heard before interviews with Bob Marley, Hugh Masekela, Ossie Davis & others.

Noelle is currently working the Civil Rights Lawsuit against the FBI and the Oakland Police by the estate of Judi Bari, Earth First leader and victim of a FBI counter intelligence operation.

We are proud to present Noelle as the keynote speaker on our Mainstage. She will also co-host an on-site workshop with members of The Prison Justice Day Committee, will participate in a forum at the speakerŐs tent, and will be the guest speaker on Saturday, August 11th at the film night at The Blinding Light Cinema.




Carnegie Music Project




Check out musician's representing the Downtown Eastside, featuring Mark Oakley, Mike Richter and friends.




Cirque De Toilet




Cirque de Toilet is an East Van based circus troop of performers from street theater, dance, circus, theatre sports, comedy and performance art.

Their swirling energy combines circus skills with the humour and drama of everyday life in the service industry. The setting is the bar, where Tom Booze pours the joys and sorrows of life out before you. Bunny goes from fluff to buff when she serves up justice with a straw. Diane Faucet, sea monkey trainer, will be working with her cast of highly trained aquatic performers. Their passion plunging the audience into the underbelly of the mouldy marriage between boss and worker.




Carnival Band




Vancouver East's outrageous horn and percussion band, playing festival tunes from 'round the world: samba, calypso and more.

Join them in the afternoon for an "Art and Revolution" parade, featuring local puppetistas!




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