Joy Harjo to perform at UAF

Submitted by Jim Ruppert
Phone: 907-474-6605
10/04/07

Native American poet and songwriter Joy Harjo will perform at the University of Alaska Fairbanks along with the Arrow Dynamics Band Sunday, Oct. 21 at 4 p.m. The concert will take place at the Charles W. Davis Concert Hall on the Fairbanks campus.

Tickets are $15 for general admission and $10 for students and are available at the UAF Wood Center and the Alaska Native Studies department. The concert is a fundraiser for the 2008 Festival of Native Arts, a student-organized celebration of Native arts and culture, which takes place on the UAF campus each spring.

Harjo, a Muscogee Creek Indian, is an internationally known poet, writer and musician. She has published seven poetry books including the award-winning, "How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems."

Harjo released her first music CD in 1997, "Letter from the End of the 20th Century," on which she is featured as poet and saxophone player. Her second CD, 2004’s "Native Joy for Real," crosses many genres, including tribal music, jazz and rock. Harjo was also the narrator for Turner Broadcasting’s, "The Native Americans" series and the narrator for National Geographic’s Emmy-award-winning show, "Navajo Codetalkers." Harjo received the writer-of-the-year award from Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers for her work on the script "A Thousand Roads 2005," made for the National Museum of the American Indian.

Harjo’s music can be heard or downloaded at www.myspace.com/joyharjo or cdbaby.com/cd/joyharjo.

CONTACT: Jim Ruppert, Alaska Native Studies department, at 907-474-6605 or via e-mail at ffjkr@uaf.edu.