Photo credit: Pati Tyrell
Melody McKiver is a musician and composer based in Treaty #1, Winnipeg Manitoba.
Melody is a violist and drummer/percussionist. They are an Assistant Professor of Indigenous Music in the Desaultels Faculty of Music and the University of Manitoba, and a member of Obishikokaang First Nation in neighbouring Treaty #3.
Returning Home
(Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Anishinaabe composer Melody McKiver’s latest album, Returning Home, was released on December 15 2021, in recognition of the sixth anniversary of the release of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Composed on solo viola and electronics for the award-winning documentary Returning Home, McKiver’s official motion picture soundtrack explores tandem themes of trauma to the land and waters — and the ongoing repercussions of residential schools. Despite the grief, the music is connected by an
undercurrent of love and hope for the land, and the interconnected healing journeys of Indigenous communities and their fish relations.
Returning Home, the first feature from Canadian Geographic Films and Secwépemc director Sean Stiller, interweaves Canada's history of residential schools with the plight of Pacific wild salmon. The film has received top recognition at three western Canadian international film festivals — in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver — taking home the best Canadian documentary award from three respective juries.
Melody McKiver is “the Anishinaabe musician changing the way we think about the viola.” (CBC)
“Melody McKiver didn't grow up dreaming of the day they would become a solo electronic violist. Possibly nobody ever has before. Maybe every electro-violist's career is a kind of happy accident. Certainly as a child studying classical violin in Ottawa, the Anishinaabe composer-musician (whose pronouns are they/them/theirs) never anticipated a future wherein they'd release their first commercial album, an ambitious and haunting EP called Reckoning, and be nominated for an Indigenous Music Award.” (Andrea Warner, CBC)
“One would be foolish not to wander into their unique and captivating world of sound.”
Upcoming Shows
TBA
Select Discography
From solo artist to session player, Melody’s strings and drums have been featured in diverse genres.
Silla & Rise - Galactic Gala (2019)
Sampled on Matriarchs, featuring the late, great Kelly Fraser.
Frank Waln - The Bridge (2017)
Strings and arrangements on “Runaway” by Lakota hip-hop artist Frank Waln.
Lido Pimienta - La Papessa (2016)
Featured soloist on “Fornicarte (Es Un Arte)” on the critically-acclaimed, Polaris Prize-winning album by Afro-Columbian powerhouse Lido Pimienta.
Reckoning EP
Over six songs for solo viola and electronics, McKiver’s debut release paints a haunting soundscape, drawn from the original theatrical production Reckoning by Article 11.