Dead of Winter, Mel Braun - Andrew Balfour: nôtinikêw (2026) [Hi-Res]
![Dead of Winter, Mel Braun - Andrew Balfour: nôtinikêw (2026) [Hi-Res]](https://img.israbox.com/img/2026-10/24/4kdgoa3cbuq9t6ov03ml4lp5y.jpg)
BAND/ARTIST: Dead of Winter, Mel Braun
- Title: Andrew Balfour: nôtinikêw
- Year Of Release: 2026
- Label: Leaf Music
- Genre: Contemporary Classical, Native American, Ambient
- Quality: FLAC 24-Bit/48 kHz; 16-Bit/44.1 kHz
- Total Time: 48m 41s
- Total Size: 274; 552 mb +booklet
- WebSite: Album Preview
In 1915, as Canadian casualties in the First World War mounted, the 107th Timber Wolf Battalion of Winnipeg was formed. It was commanded by Glenlyon Campbell, a Saskatchewan-based settler who spoke Cree and Ojibwe, and its ranks were drawn from First Nations hunters of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario. By 1916 the battalion was on the Western Front, serving as engineers: the soldiers dug trenches, hauled ammunition, built roads, and also worked as snipers. Men who had lived by hunting and trapping found themselves in the mud and horror of France, surrounded by unfamiliar languages and customs, and still distinguished themselves. Yet an unspoken tragedy awaited them at home: they were denied the benefits given to returning white soldiers and were thrust back onto their reserves with no support.
This story is told in “nôtinikêw (I went to war),” a work by composer Andrew Balfour and his vocal ensemble Dead of Winter. It is built as a sequence of episodes following one young soldier. It opens with an Honour Song and the sounds of drill on the parade ground, then grows into the hum and confusion of war. A first-person sniper’s monologue conveys the monstrous role of the marksman, and the soldier’s lament calls for a return to Ceremony and the Sun Dance. Next come the terror of trench war and the dreaded wait before climbing out toward almost certain death; a grandfather by a campfire shares, for the first and only time, his story of war’s lingering nightmare. The wounded, terrified soldier cries out to his grandmother for healing medicine, and a Traditional Grandmother Song amplifies his cry. Wilfred Owen’s elegy “Anthem for Doomed Youth” follows, mourning the fallen, and then a narrative about ongoing injustice: Indigenous soldiers gave everything for their country, yet were ignored and given no place in history. A Traditional Warrior Song and a Requiem, a call for peace, lead to the close: a return to Ceremony led by Traditional Drumming, with the young soldier calling for healing and hope.
Tracklist:
1. Cory Campbell - nôtinikêw: No. 1, Honour Song
2. Dead of Winter - No. 3, nôtinikêw
3. Dead of Winter - nôtinikêw: No. 2, Calling All okihcitawak
4. Winston Wuttunee - nôtinikêw: No. 4, Sniper's Dream
5. Dead of Winter - nôtinikêw: No. 5, I Went to War
6. Dead of Winter - nôtinikêw: No. 6, pôni-pîmâtisîwin
7. Dead of Winter - nôtinikêw: No. 7, nimosôm
8. Dead of Winter - nôtinikêw: No. 8, nôhkom, Help Me
9. Cory Campbell - nôtinikêw: No. 9, Grandmother Song
10. Dead of Winter - nôtinikêw: No. 10, Anthem for Doomed Youth
11. Leanne Zacharias - nôtinikêw: No. 11, okihcitawak
12. Winston Wuttunee - nôtinikêw: No. 12, Warrior's Song
13. Dead of Winter - nôtinikêw: No. 13, wîtaskîwin(?)
14. Cory Campbell - nôtinikêw: No. 14, Drumming
15. Dead of Winter - nôtinikêw: No. 15, kâkîcihiwêwin
This story is told in “nôtinikêw (I went to war),” a work by composer Andrew Balfour and his vocal ensemble Dead of Winter. It is built as a sequence of episodes following one young soldier. It opens with an Honour Song and the sounds of drill on the parade ground, then grows into the hum and confusion of war. A first-person sniper’s monologue conveys the monstrous role of the marksman, and the soldier’s lament calls for a return to Ceremony and the Sun Dance. Next come the terror of trench war and the dreaded wait before climbing out toward almost certain death; a grandfather by a campfire shares, for the first and only time, his story of war’s lingering nightmare. The wounded, terrified soldier cries out to his grandmother for healing medicine, and a Traditional Grandmother Song amplifies his cry. Wilfred Owen’s elegy “Anthem for Doomed Youth” follows, mourning the fallen, and then a narrative about ongoing injustice: Indigenous soldiers gave everything for their country, yet were ignored and given no place in history. A Traditional Warrior Song and a Requiem, a call for peace, lead to the close: a return to Ceremony led by Traditional Drumming, with the young soldier calling for healing and hope.
Tracklist:
1. Cory Campbell - nôtinikêw: No. 1, Honour Song
2. Dead of Winter - No. 3, nôtinikêw
3. Dead of Winter - nôtinikêw: No. 2, Calling All okihcitawak
4. Winston Wuttunee - nôtinikêw: No. 4, Sniper's Dream
5. Dead of Winter - nôtinikêw: No. 5, I Went to War
6. Dead of Winter - nôtinikêw: No. 6, pôni-pîmâtisîwin
7. Dead of Winter - nôtinikêw: No. 7, nimosôm
8. Dead of Winter - nôtinikêw: No. 8, nôhkom, Help Me
9. Cory Campbell - nôtinikêw: No. 9, Grandmother Song
10. Dead of Winter - nôtinikêw: No. 10, Anthem for Doomed Youth
11. Leanne Zacharias - nôtinikêw: No. 11, okihcitawak
12. Winston Wuttunee - nôtinikêw: No. 12, Warrior's Song
13. Dead of Winter - nôtinikêw: No. 13, wîtaskîwin(?)
14. Cory Campbell - nôtinikêw: No. 14, Drumming
15. Dead of Winter - nôtinikêw: No. 15, kâkîcihiwêwin
| Classical | Ethnic | Ambient | FLAC / APE | HD & Vinyl
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