Music

Shandra loves many different kinds of music, from The Dead Milkmen to Redbull, and from Stephen Sondheim to Mozart.  Positive energy, creative self-expression and laughter are what it's all about for her. Over the years, Shandra has done solo and group performances throughout Canada and parts of the United States.  She has sung with several traditional hand-drum groups, including the Nishnawbe Quek Singers, Sweetgrass City Singers and as a guest with Posawawajek.  Originally, Shandra sang with her church choir from a very young age.  She never lost her passion for music, but was more interested in acting and visual arts in high school.  It wasn't until she began learning to sing traditional Native songs that her voice re-emerged. In 1993, while working as Tour Coordinator for Native Theatre School (now the Centre for Indigenous Theatre), and the following autumn, Shandra participated in several workshops with Pura Fe, a singer who Shandra admired greatly.  With Pura Fe's encouragement, Shandra began to take her singing more seriously.  Years later, Shandra was able to record with Pura Fe, on a project still-to-be-released, with Marcos Arcentales of Kanatan Aski.

While singing with the Nishnawbe Quek Singers, Shandra was introduced to Jani Lauzon, another fabulous Native singer who was performing some great "funky blues" at the time.  [Check out Jani's webpage for more info on her new original stuff...]  Since then, Shandra has performed and/or recorded with Jani and her wonderful band on every possible occasion, as a guest singer on Jani's CDs THIRST and BLUE VOICE, NEW VOICE, both nominated for Juno Awards in the Best Music of Aboriginal Canada category. Shandra was also pleased to have the opportunity to perform with Murray Porter in CBC's "Brian Orser:  Blame it on the Blues," a special that aired in 1995. This won a Gemini Award in 1996 for Best Music, Variety Program or Series!  Meanwhile, the Nishnawbe Quek Singers re-formed as the Sweetgrass City Singers, with original NQS members Sandra Laronde, Rose Stella, Gloria May Eshkibok, Shandra and Merlin Homer.  Sweetgrass City sang at The Three Fires Music Festival, Sunfest, Curve Lake, The Remarkable Women Awards, memorials for Rita Bomberry and the 14 women killed in Montreal and the City of Toronto's First Nations Day celebrations, and members have now gone on to form other groups.

In 1996, following Shandra's vocal training at the National Voice Intensive, she was asked to teach singing and drumming to women at Anishnawbe Health Toronto, which she did for two years.  In that time, Shandra taught voice technique and singing to over 120 Native women and girls.  She also taught in New Credit, Toronto and Saskatoon. In Windsor, Shandra was a founding member of Windsor First Nations Performing Arts, which developed performing spaces for grassroots community members.  From 1999 to 2000, Shandra helped organize, and performed at, four coffee houses, which showcased dozens of talented writers, singers, musicians, drummers and actors. Shandra's recent performances include:      *  Buffalo Jump First Nations Day celebrations, 2004      *  Shelley Niro:  Presentation to the University of Windsor (solo), 2001      *  City of Toronto's First Nations Day (Sweetgrass City), 2001      *  ERacism: University of Windsor Human Rights office (solo), 2001      *  Fridays Live:  The Windsor Art Gallery (solo), 2001      *  Canada Day at Queen's Park (with Jani), 2000      *  Windsor First Nations Performing Arts Coffee Houses (solo - handdrum and          keyboard), 1999-2000      *  December 6th Memorial:  Toronto Board of Ed. (Sweetgrass City), 1999 Currently, Shandra is learning to accompany herself, and write music for keyboard, as well as working on some new songs for the handdrum.