News

Rachelle van Zanten Video Release & Concert Tour - Kispiox Valley

Date and time: Wed, April 27, 2011 - 3:00 pm
City/Town: Kispiox Valley, BC
Venue: Kispiox Valley Community Hall
Description:

Slide guitarist, songwriter and all around rock-star Rachelle van Zanten is about to release a music video of her hit song, My Country. This rock-and-roll anthem will not only blow your mind, the powerfully emotional video will get you fired up!
The Sacred Headwaters is the shared birthplace of BC’s Skeena, Nass and Stikine Rivers, and the site of a coalbed methane gas development proposed by Shell. The new video highlights the region’s wild landscape and social struggle that has put the Sacred Headwaters in the international media spotlight.

“From the moment I saw the photo of Shell employees facing off against the Tahltan elders, women and children trying to protect the Sacred Headwaters, I felt a burning desire to write about it,” said van Zanten, “This new video aims for the heart of the issue – the fact that there is much more at stake than just a special place.”

“Northern BC’s culture and communities are being put at risk by controversial industrial proposals like Shell’s coalbed methane despite unanimous regional opposition. There’s only so much these rivers will take before people are left without the wild salmon and clean water that we depend on.”

Smithers-based videographer Taylor Fox created van Zanten’s latest video and spent six years capturing footage of the Sacred Headwaters story alongside filmmaker Monty Bassett. In 2005, Fox and Bassett filmed the arrest of 15 Tahltan elders after they blockaded Fortune Minerals, a mining company planning to build an open-pit coalmine in the Sacred Headwaters.

“The archival footage of the arrests worked seamlessly with Rachelle’s lyrics and her live performance at the Sacred Headwaters Music Fest in Iskut,” said Fox. “It all came together in such a powerful way.”

“Much of our work focuses on celebrating life in the north with little mention of the underlying issues that threaten the unique social fabric that keeps people in the north connected,” said Shannon McPhail, executive director of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition. “This video scratches the surface to reveal the dirtier side of what happens when multinational companies meet community resistance in northwest BC. It’s a powerfully emotional representation of what happened.”

“The My Country music video is a tribute to all the people around the world standing up for their watersheds,” said van Zanten.

Rachelle has performed with Feist, Blue Rodeo, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, and Sue Foley. Her latest tour schedule took her through Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, India and Nepal. This month, she will be touring with 2 Hazelton youth bands The Racket and Blind Vinyl with band members aged 15-20. The hot, young musicians are sure to get you grooving.

These events are for the whole family. $10 adults, $5 youth and kids 12 & under are free.

Contact:
Shannon McPhail
250.842.2494
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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