Dena’ina Singer Blends Modern Sounds with Athabascan Tradition

On Nov. 22, CIRI shareholder Bunny Swan brought her signature voice to the Kenai Visitors and Cultural Center for a CD release party and musical celebration. The event also served as a fundraiser for the youth of the Kenaitze Indian Tribe, who will be traveling to the 2004 Arctic Winter Games in Wood Buffalo, Canada. Swan will also be attending the Winter Games as Alaska’s featured cultural performer.
Swan’s latest CD recording, Make Love Last, is said to be a hot blend of rock, folk, and country-western influences. Swan says, “A lot of people can’t believe it’s me singing when they hear my music for the first time, but they get hooked once they do.”

Growing up on the shores of Kenai Lake in Moose Pass, Alaska, Swan has always had a strong affinity to nature and her Native roots. Kenaitze elder Peter Kalifornsky remains one of her role models. Her song “We Are One” pays homage to Kalifornsky and combines the Native understanding of the interconnected fabric of life with the western ethic that individual action is truly at the heart of community transformation.

“Every person and each situation we encounter in life may contain an element of information that is integral for our future survival,” Swan says. “Like my Aunty says, until the future greets us, how do we know what is important and what is not.” Respect and awareness of all of life’s details is a message she likes to transmit from her cultural heritage through her music.

While much of Swan’s new CD is infused with modern sound, “Strangers” is described as a haunting vocal and drum song that compresses the intersection of over 200 years of Alaska Native and Russian/American history into a stirring 5-minute testimony to the fundamental importance of human subsistence in the ever unfolding drama of survival in the Arctic.

The Marriage of Bonnie and Henry

Henry and CIRI shareholder Bonnie Rud were united in marriage on Oct. 25, 2003, at Tanglewoods Golf Club in Anchorage, Alaska. The wedding party included Bonnie’s sisters and niece and Henry’s best friend and brothers. Henry's uncle officiated the ceremony. Henry and Bonnie have been together since July 1999. Bonnie, originally from Nome, Alaska, is employed by CIRI. Henry, who originates from Kake, Alaska, is a Sealaska shareholder and is employed by Arctic Slope Regional Corp.’s well testing division. Henry and Bonnie reside in Wasilla.

Baby Joseph

Joseph Jacobson, Jr. was born Aug. 23, 2003, to CIRI descendant Stephanie Jacobson and Joseph Jacobson, Sr., from Anchorage. Baby Joseph, born at 6:52 a.m., was 7 pounds and 19.5 inches. Pictured here is Baby Joseph with his grandmother, CIRI shareholder Annabelle Goozmer, and his brother, Ernie Baker III.

Baby Kiona

Kiona Ana-Leigh Kuhn was born May 1, 2003, at 9 p.m. Her proud parents are CIRI shareholder Onika Tiedeman and Jesse Kuhn, her grandparents are Fred Tiedeman and CIRI shareholder Ruth Hansen, and paternal grandparents are Jim and Roberta Kuhn, of River Falls, Wis. Kiona weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces and was 21.5 inches.

Patty, Jimmy and Baby Johnathon

Baby Johnathon Lee Waters was born at 9:08 p.m. on Oct. 8, 2003, to Patty and CIRI shareholder Jimmy Waters, Jr. Baby Johnathon weighed 10 pounds, 3.6 ounces.

McCord Graduates from Basic Training

John A. McCord, a CIRI descendant, graduated in October from the U.S. Marine Corps basic training at Camp Pendleton in San Diego, Calif. He plans to further his career in aviation electronics in Pensacola, Fla. Before entering the Marines, he was among 23 students first to graduate from the new Interdistrict Downtown School, in Minneapolis, Minn., in June 2003. John is the son of CIRI shareholder Mary McCord and Bennie J. Smith and grandson of the late Lucy T. Inks, an ASRC shareholder.

CIRI Shareholder Develops Tape Measure Marker

CIRI shareholder John Johnson began developing the Tape Measure Marker in 1994. Now the Tape Measure Marker is made available for licensing to manufacturers interested in new product development, especially in the measurement tools industry. Johnson is hoping to have the Tape Measure Marker in full production and available to the public within the near future. After watching how carpenters and sheetrockers measured and marked their materials, he decided to improve this task by inventing the Tape Measure Marker which measures and marks in one step. More information about this product is available by calling (800) 940-9020, ext. 285.

Ninilchik Singer-Songwriter Releases First CD

Butch Leman, a CIRI shareholder from Ninilchik, is serving up an ear-pleasing banquet with the release of his first album, North Country Fare, independently produced and due for release in time for the 2003 Holiday Season.

Ten original tunes, engineered and recorded in Nashville by John Sturdivant, Jr., spotlight the creative versatility for which Leman is well known. He kicks it into a light-hearted country rhythm with “Luther Brown,” co-written with Dean Crane. Leman and Crane pair talent again on “Green Eyes” and “A Fisherman’s Prayer,” which combines Leman’s love of fishing with a reverence for the sacred. He displays his pride in the land of his birth with “In Alaska,” opens his heart with “I Know Love,” a ballad for his wife, Terri, and gives Ninilchik center-stage with “Melody of Love,” which was co-written with Erling Kvasnikoff and Brian Tibbs.

Since his commercial fishing childhood along the shores of Cook Inlet, audiences have been pleased with Leman’s velvet smooth voice, whether it be a listening flock of the seagulls hovering over the family’s set nets, a rowdy gathering of pipeline construction workers, or the celebratory crowd at Alaska’s 2003 gubernatorial inauguration.

With family that dates back to the settling of Ninilchik in the mid 1800s, that unbroken connection continued with Leman’s birth to Harry Leman and Betty Boyd in 1953. He and Terri live in Ninilchik with their son, Jesse. Their daughter, Brieanna, lives in Anchorage.

To order copies of North Country Fare or to check Butch’s upcoming performance schedule, e-mail butch@butchleman.com, visit the Web at www.butchleman.com, or call (907) 567-3965. (submitted by McKibben Jackinsky)

2004 CIRI Calendar Mailed

The 2004 CIRI calendar was mailed in early December to CIRI shareholders. For the first time, the 2004 calendar depicts photographs of plants and berries that are indigenous to Alaska’s Southcentral region, as well as other areas of the state. Presented as “triptychs” (photographs or paintings consisting of three panels), many of these featured plants have been used for food or medicinal purposes by Native peoples for generations. Warm thanks goes to the Alaska Native Heritage Center for providing information about traditional uses of the plants. Additional information about the plants and berries was gathered from books and botanical guides.