Cheryl L'Hirondelle

Cheryl L'Hirondelle is an Alberta-born, Saskatchewan-based Metis interdisciplinary artist. She has worked in the area of performance art since 1983, performing at such diverse locations as The Graceland Art Rodeo in Calgary, Alberta; AKA Gallery in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; grunt gallery in Vancouver, B.C.; The Euclid Theatre in Toronto, Ontario; The Walter Phillips Gallery in Banff, Alberta; and the Cleveland Public Theatre in Cleveland , Ohio.
Though largely unpublished as a poet and songwriter, Cheryl is a member of SOCAN and has been steadily performing her original works for over 13 years. Cheryl co-produced, wrote and directed her first music video entitled "40 BLOCKS" (distributed by V-Tape and the Aboriginal Film and Video Art Alliance, Ontario) which recently premiered at the 4th Annual Dreamspeaker's Film Festival in Edmonton and the Two Rivers Film Festival in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is currently in production with her second music video, entitled Everyone's An Eagle to be filmed in both downtown Toronto and Northwest Saskatchewan in the fall of 1996.
Cheryl has worked with many fine musicians in the Calgary area, including Anne Loree, who's song "Insensitive", recorded by Alberta-based Juno award winner Jann Arden reached platinum worldwide.
In August 1996, Cheryl and her singing partner Joseph Naytowhow performed during Indian Market at the Native Roots and Rhythms Festival in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the Paulo. She has also been an opening act for such well-known songwriters and musicians as John Hiatt, James Kee-laghan and Snakefinger, and has been honoured to have shared the same stage with Pura Fe & Soni, Buffy Ste. Marie, Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman, Jani Lauzon, and Tom Jackson.
Last May (1995), she performed in Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskwew's performance project Asowaha with Sandi Schofield, Kelly White and others as part of Vancouver's grunt gallery Half Bred Performance Series. During the summer of '95, Cheryl performed her original songs in Toronto at REAL REZ BLUEZ - THE WEEKEND, at the Silver Dollar Room and at Aboriginal Voices at Ontario Place - both part of the Aboriginal Music Project. She was featured on 3 songs on Calgary-based bluesman Back Alley John's recently released 2nd CD entitled "More a Feeling than a Living" and in October of 1995 was in Cleveland, Ohio where she performed with Reona Brass in a performance piece entitled "Tragedies to Live By..."
Since moving to Saskatchewan, she has been busy writing rounddance/blues hybrid songs with singer and storyteller Joseph Naytowhow and performing mostly around Saskatchewan at various schools and special events.
Cheryl L'Hirondelle is a mezzo-soprano/contralto singer who has studied euro-based classical vocal production, technique, performance and diction as well as composition, theory and history for several years. She credits half of her musicality to her large extended family of aunts and uncles who are all fine musicians in the Edmonton and Northern Alberta area.
Cheryl's great grandparents are from Papaschayo Reserve #136 (where the city of Edmonton sits) and her mother is from Kikino Metis Settlement in Northern Alberta