[Wade Fernandez strumming guitar]
- Sometimes people say, "Well, what kind of artist are you?
Are you a rock player, a blues player,
[plays a riff]
a country, folk, jazz, flamenco?"
"Well, I dabble with it all.”
My name is Wade Fernandez, Wiciwen Apis-Mahwaew.
It sort of translates to "Walks With The Black Wolf."
I'm from the Menominee Nation in Wisconsin.
I'm a musician and also an educator.
? ?
That's my career
and I travel around the world doing it.
? [playing Native American flute] ?
A lot of my music has a strong thread of
growing up on the Menominee Reservation
and being part of the Menominee culture.
["Cry of the Wolf"] ? You hear it in the mountains ?
? The cold wind calls your name ?
As soon as I get my hands on an instrument,
it's like a song wants to come out.
["Cry of the Wolf"] ?You're burning down the forest?
? With your selfish pride ?
? Kill until your fears are pacified ?
When you're writing something,
sometimes you don't even know where it's coming from.
That's what song writing is.
? Listen to the wolf as he cries ?
You feel that faucet starting to drip
and you think, "Well, let me just open it up a little more
and let it flow."
? [vocalizing soulfully] ?
And then, the song comes out.
? [vocalizing] ?
? ?
[cheers and applause]
[performing "Commodity Cheese Blues"]
? I Went downtown to get my commodities ?
I love to perform.
I love to travel.
I love seeing the world.
? Tell me please when I'll get my commod cheese ?
It could be a solo acoustic,
a singer-songwriter type of stuff, or folk kind of stuff,
or it could be a duo with my son.
? Mmm... commod cheese ?
? You keep me filled ?
? My cheese on my fry bread ?
He's been touring with me since he's 11,
and now he's 16.
I love stepping onto the stage
and just feeling what is needed in that moment,
It's a special thing
to share that with your children.
- What's really gratifying to me
is to be able to share everything that you are,
your ancestors, your culture,
the music that flows through you.
Because we are a combination
of everything that came before us
and everything that's around us
in the present still.
I had a teacher once that told me,
"After two years with you,
you still sound like Wade Fernandez."
And he was very angry.
And then I, and I was kind of hurt,
but then I started to think,
"Maybe that's who I'm supposed to sound like.
Maybe that's who I'm supposed to be."
["Cry of the Wolf"] ?Listen to the wolf as he cries?
That's all we can be in life is to be ourselves.
And if we can do that
with a lot of conviction and some hard work,
it's the ultimate life to me.
? [vocalizing during "Cry of the Wolf"] ?
[cheers and applause]