Jennifer
Elizabeth Kreisberg
Mother, Singer,
Composer, Producer, Teacher, and Activist - Jennifer (Tuscarora,
North Carolina) comes from four generations of Seven Singing Sisters
through the
maternal line, and has been singing since she was young. She is known for her
fierce vocals and soaring range. Her lilting, breath-taking harmonies will
delight your ears.
Jennifer has been singing with the critically acclaimed Native women’s Trio
ULALI
since she was seventeen. Her voice has perfectly woven the high strand of
Ulali’s renowned harmony with incomparable skill, and grace for over seventeen
years, helping to create a new sound in Indian Country. Adding to the group, her
sharp wit and stage presence infused Ulali’s shows with strong vocals, humor and
camaraderie with the audience.
Jennifer was a Master Teaching Artist for the State of
Connecticut Commission on the Arts for over four years. She is
frequently called upon to guest lecture and conduct vocal workshops at
universities, schools, Native communities and at festivals throughout the United
States and Canada. She has done background vocals for various groups and
voice-overs for commercials some of which feature her own compositions and
highlight her production skills.
Jennifer made a guest appearance as Salmon Girl in Sherman
Alexie’s film
The Business of Fancy
Dancing.
The film features her singing the
Deer Song
which she composed in 1997 for the
Aboriginal Women’s
Voices
project in Banff (subsequently featured on the Grammy nominated
DVD "One Giant Leap"). In addition, she also contributed to two
other tracks;
Amazing Grace,
and
Osinilashatin--for
which she composed the melody and produced the track, singing with renowned
Native Actor and longtime collaborator Michelle St. John.
Jennifer composed, produced and performed the acclaimed song
Have Hope
for the film
Unnatural and Accidental.
Her rich and haunting voice can be heard throughout the soundtrack as well.
Michelle St. John is featured on
Have Hope
doing background vocals. Jennifer also composed a song that she and Soni
Moreno sang for a Nickelodeon TV public service short about
September 11th. She and renowned Native Storyteller and Activist Dovie Thomason,
founded The Native American Scholarship Fund at Lynchburg
College in Virginia. Jennifer is also a Core Advisory member of the
First Nations Composers Initiative and is a recipient of the
Connecticut
Commission on Culture and Tourism Artist Fellowship Grant
for 2007, for music
composition. In February 2007,
The Genie Awards
(Canadian Oscar) awarded her with the
Achievement in
Music-Original Song
Genie for her song
Have Hope
(which also received a New York Times
"Critic’s Pick").
She sings a song in the upcoming PBS/National Geographic
children’s production
Momma Mirabelle.
Jennifer is also featured alone and with Ulali on the soundtrack of the upcoming
Canadian television film
Elijah.
Her work with Ulali has carried her all over the world and extensively
throughout Indian Country. As part of the group, she has contributed to many
soundtracks including the TBS series
The Native Americans
and subsequently contributed to two songs on Robbie Robertson’s
album of the same name. Some television appearances include:
The Tonight Show with
Jay Leno,
The Late
Show
(London, UK),
Egg The Arts
(NYC),
Keeping Time: New Music from America’s Roots I
(Sundance Channel), and
the Joe
Suarez Show
(Brazil). Over the years Jennifer has been a recipient of the
Eagle Spirit Achievement
Award
from the American Indian Film Institute in San Francisco; and a
winner of the
Native Women’s
Recognition Award
from Ganondagon, NY; along with the
Key
to the city of Greensboro, North Carolina. As co-writer and vocalist, Jennifer
also contributed to the Soundtrack of the Miramax Film
Smoke Signals,
with the song
Wah jhi le yihm.
Jennifer has happily shared the stage with such performers as Buffy
Saint-Marie, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne,
Ritchie Havens, Sting, Floyd Westerman,
Charlie Hill and many others. In addition, she has performed at
such venues as Woodstock 94, the Smithsonian Institute, NMAI, the 1996 and 2002
Olympics, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, New Orleans Jazz Festival, and the
Hollywood Bowl (for the Dalai Lama). She has also
performed for V-day in Madison Square Garden and in
the Vagina
Monologues
film.
She is currently working on her much anticipated debut solo album titled
Wah Thye
Yeh Rak
(She Mixed It Tuscarora language) due out this winter. Jennifer is collaborating
with Tuscarora (NC) Activist, Actor, and Artist Christopher Lowry for the
Tuscarora language translations on her upcoming album. She is also teaming up
with renowned Creek/Cherokee/Seminole painter Dana Tiger for the album cover
artwork.
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