Strawberry Moon Festival
The Strawberry Moon Festival celebrates the indigenous cultures of the Niagara region through storytelling, music, dance, and arts & crafts. Guests will participate in an inclusive and engaging Native American community gathering. They’ll also be entertained by an eclectic lineup of Native artists performing in the Artpark Amphitheater, including ...
Martha Redbone Roots Project
Lakota John
Charly Lowry
Tonemah
(see full Festival lineup and artist bios below)
“Not just a music festival, Strawberry Moon celebrates the fact the sky does not acknowledge borders, as different cultural factions from Western New York and Canada gathered to honor the beginning of a new season and tip their collective cap to the land that sustains us all.”
The Buffalo News (from review of the 2019 festival)
FESTIVAL LINEUP
Gates open at 4PM, program begins at 4:30PM
Listed in order of appearance:
Smoke Dance Competition
Back by popular demand, the mesmerizing and exciting Smoke Dance Competition. The Smoke Dance is a rapid quick step dance that is exceedingly fast and difficult and that requires dancers to stop on the very last note.
VIDEO:
Rekindling our Roots: A Musical Conversation
Uniting our shared histories
The audience will be taken through a musical journey of the history of Tuscarora Nation. The ensemble of renown and award winning Tuscarora musicians; Darryl Tonemah, Charly Lowry and Lakota John will share their historical common ground as they go back to their Roots and explore the path that leads them to the present day with storytelling, song and dance.
“The Rekindling our Roots concert is an opportunity to gather, reconnect, and create community. Music is a conduit to connection. It is especially important to focus on relationships and the value of one another coming out of COVID season. We have the opportunity to appreciate our shared history and nurture a new history. We suffer in silo's and thrive in community.” Singer-Songwriter Darryl Tonemah, Tuscarora Nation.
Martha Redbone Roots Project
Martha Redbone's music embodies the folk and mountain blues of her childhood in Appalachian Kentucky. Throw in the grit of her teenage years in pre-gentrified Brooklyn, the influence of her gospel-singing father and the spirit of her Cherokee/Choctaw mother, and you’ve got quite a raw and riveting combination. The Huffington Post praised her incomparable sound, claiming her music to be, “an organic, gorgeous feast for ears and minds.” The New Yorker called Martha Redbone a “powerful blues and soul singer” and her music a “brilliant collision of cultures.”
We couldn’t agree more!
concerts on the amphitheater stage
GATES: 4PM
Tickets $7 -- click here to purchase
Admissions policy (updated 6/16/21): Proof of full vaccination is no longer required to attend. Fully vaccinated patrons do not have to social distance or wear masks. Unvaccinated patrons are required to wear a mask whenever social distancing cannot be maintained.
Visit our Know Before You Go page for more details
Featuring:
Martha redbone roots project
Martha Redbone is a Native & African-American vocalist/songwriter/composer/educator. She is known for her unique gumbo of folk, blues, and gospel from her childhood in Harlan County, Kentucky infused with the eclectic grit of pre-gentrified Brooklyn.
With songs and storytelling that share her life experience as a Native and Black woman and mother in the new millennium, Redbone gives voice to issues of social justice, bridging traditions from past to present, connecting cultures, and celebrating the human spirit.
MARTHA REDBONE VIDEOS:
rekindling our roots: a musical conversation
lakota john
charly lowry
tonemah
Lakota john
Lakota John is an old soul with a love for the blues. A talented Native American (Oglala Lakota/Lumbee) blues guitarist and vocalist, who plays roots, bottleneck slide, country blues and the Piedmont guitar style from Southeastern North Carolina. He grew up listening to his dad’s music library and got an early start at age 10, learning in the classroom of many blues master's , including John Cephas and Phil Wiggins, and performing with legends like John Dee Holeman. Lakota tours nationally, opening up for or sharing the stage with renowned Native artist Pura Fe; blues icon Taj Mahal; Native American blues rocker Keith Secola; American songster Dom Flemons and many others. He was nominated for Best Blues Recording in 2015 at the Native American Music Awards (NAMA) in Niagara Falls, NY.
LAKOTA JOHN VIDEOS:
Charly Lowry
Charly Lowry, a musical powerhouse from Pembroke, NC, is proud to be an Indigenous woman belonging to the Lumbee/Tuscarora Tribes. She is passionate about raising awareness around issues that plague underdeveloped and underserved communities. Since her teenage years, Charly has established a career as a professional singer-songwriter with unique passion and voice. In addition to performing solo, she is the front-woman for the band, Dark Water Rising. She is a voice for her ancestors as well as the youth of today, creating a compelling mix of hip-hop, R&B, soul and Native rhythms and melodies.
CHARLY LOWRY VIDEOS:
Tonemah
If the Eagles, Steve Earle, Dave Matthews and James Taylor had a lovechild, they would have named him Darryl Tonemah. A full-blooded Native American (Kiowa/Comanche/Tuscarora), Tonemah's performances combine the energy of rock, the intelligence of folk and the heart of country, to create a musical niche he calls, "Native Americana."
Kiowa, Comanche and Tuscarora, Tonemah has won and/or been nominated numerous times for “Best Folk Recording,” and “Best Male Artist”, “Songwriter of the Year”, “Artist of the Year” and “Best Rock Album” by the Native American Music Awards, Indian Summer Music Awards and First Americans in the Arts, and for “Best International Artist” by the Aboriginal Peoples Choice Awards. His CD “Welcome to Your Rainy Day,” was called a Masterpiece by Whispering Wind Magazine.
TONEMAH VIDEOS:
Elders Advisory Council
Allan Jamieson, Sr., Cayuga Nation / Neil Patterson Sr., Tuscarora Nation
Produced by Artpark, curated by Artpark Indigenous Producer, Michele-Elise Burnett