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Jaime Robbie Robertson was born in Toronto, Canada, on July 5, 1943.
His father was from Toronto; his mother was Mohawk, raised on the Six Nations Reservation.
Robertson's career as a musician spans four decades: He has played and recorded with artists
as varied as Bob Dylan, John Hammond, Jr., Van Morrison, Peter Gabriel, U2 and, of course, his
long time collaborators, the legendary rock group The Band. He has also composed music for several
films (among them the Martin Scorese films Raging Bull, The King of Comedy and
The Color of Money), in addition to acting in others (including Carny, which he also
co-wrote, produced and scored, and the recent Sean Penn film, The Crossing Guard). Apart
from his work with the Band, Robertson has released two Grammy-nominated solo albums, the
self-titled Robbie Robertson and Storyville. Among his most recent projects is
Music from "The Native Americans" featuring Robbie Robertson and the Red Road,
highlighting songs from the Robertson-scored soundtrack to the televison documentary chronicling
the history of the Native Americans.
Kristian Berg joined KTCA-TV in December 1988, as part of the Emmy-Award winning staff of KTCA's NEWTON'S APPLE, the national PBS science series. In August and September of 1990, Berg wrote, produced, and directed THE MINNESOTA REGIMENTS, a 30-minute local companion piece to Ken Burns' PBS series THE CIVIL WAR. In 1992, with the help and collaboration of Dakota and non-Indian advisors, Berg wrote and produced THE DAKOTA CONFLICT, a 60-minute documentary on the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. It became KTCA's most highly rated documentary and was picked up by PBS for national broadcast in May of 1993. THE DAKOTA CONFLICT was a recipient of a 1994 Ohio State Award and is now part of the PBS Adult Learning Satellite Service, serving university curriculums nationwide. In 1995, Berg produced LOST TWIN CITIES II, the sequel to the popular KTCA documentary LOST TWIN CITIES. DAKOTA EXILE is Berg's fourth documentary for KTCA
Darren Renville is a Dakota/Assiniboine/Gros Ventre writer who currently works for the Institute for Dakota Studies at the Sisseton Wahpeton Community College, where he teaches a class focusing on Native American imagery in literature and film. He also maintains The Dakota Language Homepage, an interactive internet Web site recently chosen as a "Categorically Cool Site of the Day" by Glenn Davis, formerly of Infinet. Renville is a member of the Oak Lake Writers Society, a Dakota/Lakota writers group based in South Dakota.
Jay Redhawk, of Dakota and French-Canadian heritage, has been playing music for 14 years. For the past four years his main focus has been on the Northern Plains courting flute, not only on performing traditional songs but on making flutes and composing original pieces. His recent appearances include performances, presentations and demonstrations for both adults and children in a wide variety of settings, primarily in California and the Twin Cities. Redhawk says, "My main objective when I play or perform is to leave people with a good feeling and a positive impression of native culture and people from this land." He believes that "music is the most fluent and easily translatable universal language that all people understand. It can touch the ear in an instant and in a deep sense, where at times thespoken word is shallow and useless."
Mitch Griffin has worked at KTCA-TV for nearly 11 years. He wrote the opening music for KTCA's award-winning verite documentary series TAPE'S ROLLING!, and is a two-time recipient of a Minnesota Music Award. Over the past 10 years, he has played for a variety of bands, including Curtis A, 2i, Boiled In Lead and Ground Loop. Griffin's great-grandmother was full-blooded Cherokee.
After taking coursework in the theatre department of the University of Minnesota, Mr. Spencer designed his own major for film and graduated in 1990 with his BA. He has been a staff member in the Arts and Cultural Production department for Twin Cities Public Television for the past three years. Mr. Spencer's production credits as associate producer and acting producer include: a profile of jazz musician Jack McDuff for Showcase and documentaries about the St. Paul Saints, boxer Johnny Montantes, the Phillips communities' Phoenix Group, the Minnesota Zoo, and Tibetan refugees for the critically acclaimed KTCA documentary series TAPE'S ROLLING!
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