BURNABY—It isn’t every day that a CUPE BC aboriginal working group meeting manages to squeeze in a live performance by an award-winning songwriter.
But that’s what happened yesterday, when Metis performer and CUPE 15 member Arlette Alcock, a special guest at the year-end meeting, picked up her acoustic guitar and played a few songs from her second album, “Wolfgirl”, to the delight of AWG members and CUPE BC secretary-treasurer Mark Hancock.
In September, Alcock won a Songwriter of the Year award for her composition “Alberta Sunshine” at this year’s Native-E Music Awards in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At the AWG meeting, she shared stories of her life growing up in a family wounded by residential school abuse, sang an upbeat union song, and entertained AWG members with the satirical and saucy “Kitsilano Boys”.
Alcock is a much-in-demand folk and aboriginal music singer/songwriter who has performed at festivals across the country and appeared on CBC radio’s “Richardson’s Roundup” and “The Afternoon Edition” as well as on Aboriginal People’s Television’s “Beyond Words”.
As a CUPE 15 member, she works as a library assistant at Emily Carr University of Art & Design.
For more information about Arlette Alcock and her music visit www.arlettemusic.com