International award winning recording Artists MEDICINE DREAM, an Intertribal First Nations band that performs contemporary Native American Rock music, has been together since 1996 and is based out of Anchorage, Alaska, USA. They represent many nations coming together to share the group's message as well as promote cultural unity. The members of the group are as diverse culturally as they are musically, representing the Athabascan, Apache, Aleut, Choctaw, Inupiaq, Mi’kmaq, Yaqui, Yup’ik and European nations.
Their first release on Canyon Records, Mawio'mi, received three nominations at the Native American Music Awards (NAMA) in 2000. Their music video In This World won the NAM for Best Short or Long Form Video in 2006, and was produced and co-directed by Medicine Dream percussionist and vocalist Steven Wounded Deer Alvarez.
Medicine Dream's second Canyon Records release, entitled Tomegan Gospem, features a focused look into the Ktaqmkuk Mi'kmaq people of Newfoundland, Canada. Its message conveys who their people are from an Elder’s point of view. Their music has been included in a number of compilations including the 2002 Canyon Records release, Voices Across the Canyon, which won the NAMA for best compilation. Now for their third recording, in efforts to maintain more creative control of their sound, Medicine Dream’s Learning to Fly has been released independently. Paul Pike, principal songwriter and producer for the band, describes the new music as “songs that generate hope and inspire us to celebrate the joy of life”. This new recording has been nominated in Canada at the Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards, and is considered by far Medicine Dream's greatest recording to date.
Medicine Dream has toured extensively through out the United States, recently performing for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C, in Salem, Massachusetts for the Peabody Essex Museum’s grand re-opening and traveled to Ireland in 2001 performing for the World Peace and Prayer Day ceremonies. They have toured and performed in Arizona, New Mexico and Idaho, and their music is heard worldwide on college radio, and many other stations that promote Native American and world music genres.
The group contributes greatly to the fight against drug and alcohol abuse as well as suicide prevention, by promoting sobriety and both physical and spiritual wellness. They have shared this message by performing in a myriad of venues both in front of thousands at concert halls as well as intimate settings such as schools, youth and treatment centers and correctional facilities. Their hope is to reach youth at risk, build self-esteem and encourage First Nations people to be proud of being an Aboriginal person. It is the band’s desire to build understanding between all peoples by communicating spiritual growth through living the Wellness Path.
Medicine Dream's unique sound has brought them to the forefront of the Native American music scene. It has been described as music that “transcends boundaries, possessing strong vocals, thick keyboards and guitars coupled with multi-layered rhythmic grooves. Their music takes the listener into a realm that offers spiritual peace without losing its tribal rock energy”.
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