Deredk Edenshaw (Kils Guula Gaayas) is from the GakYalsKigawaay or Raven Clan of Grizzly Bear Town ( Skedans ). He is also Metis from the Calihoo peoples in Alberta which is a mix of Cree and Mohawk.
He is a lifelong student of Haida culture which he credits to his parents who had him singing and dancing in the Rediscovery program, and in Claude Davidsons Dance Groups in the early 1980s. His late Mother Leona Edenshaw [ Squee ] and his Gaagi Guuj are his main inspirations in a life of understanding his Haida peoples history, present and future.
He developed a reputation as a hip Hop artist and television host/producer having released numerous cd’s, music videos and television programs under the alias Manik 1derful. He sees these two dimensions of cultural practice as being intimately connected, with Haida art, song, drum, dance, and storytelling resonating in hip-hop forms: graffiti murals, breakdancing, rap, rhythmic beats, and spoken word, all of which he performs.
A passionate spokesperson and advocate for Indigenous youth and a Native Youth Movement member, Edenshaw burst onto the hip-hop scene in the 1990s and organized the first Annual Native Hip-Hop Festival in Vancouver in 2013. He has traveled far and wide spreading a message of Indigenous empowerment and cultural revitalization. A message that 'our existence is a reminder that the church and state's attempts to eliminate our peoples was a failed attempt at destroying something that will be forever.' In 2017 he started a Facebook group ‘Fraudulent Native Art Exposed’ in conjunction with Lucinda Turner. He has exposed many fraudulent activities.
Sea Chief Painted Hand Drum. Female Sea Lion Painted Hand Drum.
