Willie Dunn

To many Canadian First Nations, the name ”Willie Dunn” is synonymous with contemporary ballads depicting the life and death struggle of the Chiefs of various tribes who led their people through difficult times in the eighteen hundreds. 

In the early seventies, Dunn donated proceeds of his second album entitled ”Willie Dunn” to the White Roots of Peace in order for them to further their efforts in publishing a journal of Amerindian life, the Akwesasne Notes. 

Also during the seventies, he worked with the National Film Board of Canada and directed and co-directed a few films to note, The Ballad of Crowfoot and The Other Side of the Ledger. These two films won nine international awards including three gold medals. He has since then, recorded several more LP's for Trikont Records of West Germany entitled ”The Pacific” and ”The Vanity of Human Wishes”.  He has done several tours of western Europe. These tours included eighty to ninety European cities and towns.During his career, he worked with other native artists from other parts of North America, namely Floyd Westerman, Paul Ortega, Buffy St. Marie and Alanese Obomsowin. 

Most of the materials on his tapes and CD’s are written by himself. KASHTIN, one of the top First Nations bands in North America and the world, recorded one of his songs on their second CD (Innu), entitled ”Son of the Sun”.