May 25, 2024

Father-daughter singing duo win contest, spread happiness through pandemic | CBC News

When Shane Redstar noticed his daughter was becoming very sad at the beginning of the pandemic, he thought singing with her might help her heal. 

“I’ve seen a lot of people struggling, going through hard times on Facebook, people making statuses about the difficult times that they’re having with the pandemic,” said Redstar.

“We started to sing and then we started to post videos and we were getting somewhat of a reaction because of her singing, being so young.”

Redstar is from Whitebear First Nation, which is 186 km southeast of Regina, Sask, and he now lives in Enoch, Alta. He’s a singer and composer.

When Redstar and his daughter Shaneya’s singing videos started garnering attention on social media, they began entering some contests.

One contest was held by Indigenous Cloud inc., a recording label and online streaming platform for Indigenous music. The father-daughter duo won the contest and will be recording a round dance album in the next few weeks.

The Redstars will be recording a round dance album in the next few weeks with producer George Parker. (submitted by Charity Redstar)

“I cannot express all the pride, the emotion that I am feeling, that I’m going through for me,” said Redstar.

“You know, I see a very great gift in her and her singing.”

Eight-year-old Shaneya has now been singing for almost two years and says that it makes her feel happy. 

“It’s an encouragement for other children and encouragement for other parents to do these things with their children,” said Redstar. 

They will be recording with producer George Parker at Indigneous Cloud.

Parker has been producing Indigenous music for the last 30 years and began Indigenous Cloud with his two sons as a way to preserve Indigenous music for future generations.

“We had quite a few really good entries in our First Singing competition,” said Parker.

“I loved the Redstars from the beginning and they quickly became fan favourites.”

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